Built in isight camera problem

I use isight with skype and until today with no problems. The image is out of focus and I assume that the problem arose since the latest software update. I tried ichat with the same result. I would appreciate any suggestions to resolve the problem.

You're welcome, dp0941
Note: In all cases below, I am discussing your iSight's focus of your image. If your problem is that the image from your video contacts is soft, you have a different problem.
If you have tried all the suggestions offered above, I can think of two remaining possibilities.
(1) First possibility: Your iSight's focus of your image looks good to you in Skype's and iChat's video previews before you connect with anyone, but it looks soft when you connect with a contact.
If this is the case, you both should Check your Broadband Speed. At least one of you may need more available bandwidth.
Also, if you are running more than one application when using video, you should quit all applications and launch ONLY your video chat application. Then start video and see if your results are better.
After you have found and corrected your problem, you can try launching another app after you have established your video connection to see if video degrades. If necessary, you can adjust your chat technique based on what you find.
(2) Another possibility: Your iSight video is soft even in video preview windows.
You can test to try to determine whether your Mac may have a problem.
First, make sure you have plenty of light. Best quality video requires more light than normal room lighting.
When you are ready to test, quit all applications. iSight can only be operated by software applications, but high-quality video is processor intensive. Therefore, to remove as many variables as possible, you should launch only the application you are using for the test.
Make a high-contrast focus target as suggested in the focus test section of How to test your iSight to ensure it is functional.
The actual testing method described in this link is for External iSights. External iSight has an auto-focus mechanism, while built-in iSight is a fixed-focus camera. Therefore, you will need to test differently. Here are the steps I suggest:(a) Mount or position the test target so that it holds very still in the field of view of your iSight at a distance of about one foot.
Carefully inspect the image in your video preview window and note how soft the focus appears.
(I would make video snapshots of the images at each test distance for comparison purposes, but you may be able to find your answers without the snapshots.)
(b) Move the test target out to about one-and-a-half feet from your iSight and repeat the careful image inspection.
(c) Repeat the process at two, two-and-a-half, and three feet.
(d) Repeat all the above with both iChat and Skype to see whether the problem is application dependent.
(e) If you have not already tested to determine whether the problem is user dependent, repeat the tests in a different user account.You should be able to find the optimum focus distance for your iSight with this test. To send the best picture to your video contacts, position yourself at approximately the optimum distance while you video chatting.
If all test results are similar and/or all are too soft, your Mac likely has a problem. In that case, unless you get better suggestions here, I think you should contact your Apple-Authorized Service Provider for a professional check.
Jim
Mac OS X (10.4.9) G5 DP 1.8 External iSight

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IMovie 6.0.3 does not recognize built in iSight Camera on new iMac

New iMac, Intel, OS 10.5.4, QT 7.5.
Built in Camera works with Photo Booth, the new iMovie 7.1.3 and iChat.
iMovie HD 6.0.3 or 6.0.4 does not recognize the camera. Opening a new project results in a No Camera Connected error. I have tried selecting various options in the video format drop down when creating a new project. I have repaired permissions, tried it under various users, removed the imovie plist, reinstalled imovie (both 6.0.3 and 6.0.4) without success. All 10 of the new computers are exhibiting this problem.
Any help would be appreciated.

That is not an option that I can select on the imac's. On my iBook under 10.5.4 with iMovie HD 6.0.3 or 6.0.4 I can click on the triangle next to the camera icon and select the built in iSight camera. On the new iMacs that does not work. The built in iSight is not listed as an option.

How can I use the built-in Isight camera with an external camera (usb/firewire) at the same time?

How can I use the built-in Isight camera and an external video camera at the same time?
I'm wanting to stream over Oovoo/Skype/etc. using 2 cameras.
Thanks

Simple question with a not so simple answer.
(a) If you mean that you want to run multiple apps simultaneously using a different camera with each app, you may encounter computing power limitations. Digital video is processor intensive. The only way to know if your Mac can do this it to try it. If the video does not work together but each app works when it it the only app running, you are likely overloading your Mac's ability to process and/or move all the required data in your data bus. You can get a better indication of whether this is the case by watching your Activity Monitor utility while running the apps you want to use.
(b) If you mean that you want to have more than one compatible camera connected to your Mac simultaneously for ease of changing between video sources, some, but not necessarily all, apps you are using to operate your camera(s) allow you to select between your cameras.
How you select among connected cameras depends on which application you are using. Here is how camera selection works in a few examples:
(1) For iChat, you can choose which iSight you use in the "Camera:" choices bar in iChat > Preferences... > Audio/Video that appears when more than one compatible camera is connected. Although your camera choices will be different, the choices bar will look something similar to the Preferences settings shown here:
If you cannot see the "Camera" choices bar, your Mac is recognizing only one (or none) of your cameras. In that case, consider the suggestions fromhttp://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090 for iSight problems or refer to your other camera's documentation for help.
This particular choices bar solution applies ONLY to iChat. Most other applications also have settings that allow you to choose which camera to use. However, they do not all work the same way.
(2) For instance, iMovie HD's camera choice is NOT set via Preferences. When you have more than one compatible camera connected, iMovie6 HD uses a drop-down menu choice something like this (depending on which version of iMovie you use):
Note: Because I had no built-in iSight connected when I made this example, and because my external iSight was not connected, the drop-down menu showed only "Time Lapse." Because your Mac has a built-in iSight, your built-in iSight would show in the drop-down menu even when no other camera is connected. Connecting an additional Mac compatible webcam should allow you to choose either camera.
Other iMovie versions work slightly differently.
iMovie 9 (from iLife '11) uses a different camera choice button shown in this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iMovie/9.0/en/mov39f84285.html
iMovie 8 (from iLife '09) is slightly different as explained in this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iMovie/8.0/en/10172.html
In general, you can use your Mac's help for the application in use to find out how to select among more than one connected camera.
(3) Photo Booth in Snow Leopard 10.6.x and later uses the Photo Booth > Camera menu command to select which camera to use.
Note for readers with older Mac OS X: The previous version of Photo Booth that came with Tiger (10.4.x) is such a simple, basic app that it offers no menu selectable choice. Unless your built-in iSight is already occupied as the camera being used by some open application before you launch Photo Booth, Photo Booth will use ONLY your built-in iSight.
However, you can use the trick from ¶ 4 of http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302781 to let Photo Booth use an external camera.
(If you have an external Firewire camera connected, it may be used in preference to any USB webcam. If that is a problem for you, merely disconnect the problem Firewire device.)
(4) For FaceTime, launch the app and click the Video menu item.
If your Mac recognizes more than one connected compatible camera, a "Camera" section listing the cameras from which you can choose will appear there. Clicking on the desired camera name will let you select the one you want as shown in this image from my Mac Pro and LED Cinema Display:
If your Mac recognizes only one compatible camera, the "Camera" section will not appear in the Video menu, but FaceTime will automatically use the connected camera that is recognized by OS X.
(5) I do not use Skype oir Oovoo. For those or other apps, see Help for each app for info on how to select your desired camera.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Built in iSight camera no longer showing up or recognized by iMac

Hello there - I have a white 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with a built in iSight camera, and the camera is no longer showing up, or is not recognized by the computer any longer. Very strange! The little green LED by the camera is not lit any longer, and the camera is not recognized any longer by Photo Booth, iChat AV, or any of the other apps that would use the camera. This is a real pain, because I am leaving for France in a couple days and am taking my MacBook Pro with me, and am hoping that I can use iChat AV to talk to my kids at home on the iMac. I do have an extra iSight camera that I have hooked up to the iMac and can use in a pinch, but I really want to use the built in camera on the iMac. Any hints / ideas / suggestions on what to do for this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No, unfortunately that did not help. I did the following...
1. See if the issue is application-specific. - Nope. Camera is not recognized in any of the apps that it should be recognized in, I tested iChat AV, PhotoBooth, ImageCapture, and iMovie.
2. See if the issue is user-specific. - There's only one user account on this Mac, so I couldn't do that.
3. Find out if the computer recognizes the iSight. I went into System Profiler and checked the USB profiler, and the camera does not show up.
4. Reset SMC or PMU. These just looked like different ways of restarting, which I did multiple times.
I have also run my Software Updates (on OS 10.5, which I did with a clean install from an OS 10.5 DVD by the way) and still no camera. This problem started happening with the original OS 10.4 (which it came with) and I was hoping a clean install of the OS would help, but no.
I'm wondering if resetting the PRAM might help, but I can't remember those keys you hold down while restarting (was it Apple-Option-P-R ?) or if that is just reaching waaaaay back to the pre OSX days.
Here's the kicker though - if I plug in a FireWire iSight camera, all is well. I'm really hoping that the camera isn't jsut dead, but it's starting to look that way. Would Disk First Aid or maybe DiskWarrior help?

Built in isight camera no longer showing up or recognized

Hello there - I have a white 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with a built in iSight camera, and the camera is no longer showing up, or is not recognized by the computer any longer. Very strange! The little green LED by the camera is not lit any longer, and the camera is not recognized any longer by Photo Booth, iChat AV, or any of the other apps that would use the camera. This is a real pain, because I am leaving for France in a couple days and am taking my MacBook Pro with me, and am hoping that I can use iChat AV to talk to my kids at home on the iMac. I do have an extra iSight camera that I have hooked up to the iMac and can use in a pinch, but I really want to use the built in camera on the iMac. Any hints / ideas / suggestions on what to do for this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry to tell you, you're in the wrong forum, this is for G5 PPC iMacs. You need to be [here|http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1110].

Built in isight camera not working with flash

My built in isight camera on my macbook works just fine in photobooth and in skype or ichat.. but just in the past week or so, it will not work when im on websites that use flash. I've seen some threads that say that I need to go into settings and make sure that the camera chosen is the USB. When i go into flash settings, the only options are Google1, Google2, or Built in isight. It doesn't work with any of them. Does anyone have any idea how I can make it work again?

zeppelinfan1234 wrote:
I don't have google add ons. I followed the path but i have no Google folder in Application Support. Any other suggestions?
Your problem is not the same as that posted by the OP, and your system info shows you using Mac OS X (10.5.6).
For your symptoms with this system, I suggest you do the following:
(1) Apply the 10.5.8 Combo Update using the following process:
• Backup your Mac and turn off Time Machine
• Disconnect peripherals and restart Mac
• Use Disk Utility to repair permissions
• Download and install
http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacOS_X_10_5_8_ComboUpdate
• Repair permissions again immediately following the restart that finishes the update.
• Test whether Flash works for you now.
(• Turn Time Machine on later when you are satisfied that the update worked.)
(2) After applying the 10.5.8 Combo, if you are still having problems, download and install the latest Flash player compatible with your system:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/
Also check any other third-party browser plugins or other add ons. Apply all available updates and uninstall any third-party items that are known to be incompatible with your system.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim
Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz Mac OS X (10.6.5); MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.5)
LED Cinema Display; G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11); iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9); External iSight; iPod touch 4.1

MacBook Pro (Late 2007, 2.4/2.2GHz) - Built-in isight camera issue

I have a MBP (as mentioned, Late 2007) running Lion 10.7.2 (updated yesterday). And I have a problem with the built-in iSight camera
Same with photo booth and skype.
So far I have tried
1) shutdown, unplug power, remove battery, press power for 5 seconds, plug battery back, plug power, boot. No help. No LED's light up to make my day.
2) Press P R - Alt Cmd during boot (2/3 cycles like that)
Could anyone throw some light into this?
Much thanks in advance.

Try reinstalling Lion:
Reinstalling Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alterhatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

Built-in iSight cam randomly stopped working. All I get is a green screen!

I used it just yesterday with both Photobooth and iChat with no problems what so ever. Now all it shows is a green screen! Anybody know what the problem may be and how to fix it??? Thanks!
-Jonathon

Welcome to Discussions, -Jonathon
Here are the solutions that help most users who encounter green-screen problems. None are complicated, but the only way to find which one will work for you is to try them one-by-one until you find the one that fixes your Mac.
(1) Check your System Preferences as explained in this kbase article about Built-in iSight camera produces blue or green pictures.
(2) If your System Preferences are set correctly, try every suggestion re: Built-in iSight in the "How to Troubleshoot iSight" article.
Be sure to include the checks for whether the problem is "application-specific" and "user-specific".
If you need help creating a new user account to check whether your problem is "user-specific" during Troubleshooting, see this Help article.
(3) If resetting or the other suggestions do correct your problem, try the following:
• Backup your Home Folder, or at very least, your important files.
• Repair permissions. (Click here if you need help.)
• Then download and apply the Mac OS X 10.4.10 Combo Update v1.1 (iNtel).
• Finish with another Permissions Repair, and then check your iSight again.
Users have reported fixes to a variety of audio, video, connectivity, and software conflicts and unreliability issues after properly applying Combo Updates.
(4) A few iNtel Mac laptop users have also reported success after unplugging their Macs and leaving the battery out for half-an-hour to overnight.
(5) If none of these suggestions help, contact Apple or your Apple-Authorized Service Provider for a professional check.
EZ Jim
PowerBook 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.10) G5 DP 1.8 External iSight

Built-in isight camera suddenly stops to work

Almost one year later after buy a Macbook Pro (Mac OS X 10.5.6), the built-in isight camera suddenly stops to work. It was doing well until now. It's a program and user independent bug. During a video conversation, it just stops. It happens when I use mercury or skype (the only video chat programs I use). And just after, when I try to restart the chat, the program doesn't recognize the camera.
Only when I boot the computer (shut down -> cable unplugged -> battery out -> 5s pressing boot button -> battery in -> cable on -> turn on) the problem is fixed for a while... but then the problem happens agains... the problem occurs after the 4th or 5th time Im using the program...
Any suggestions??? Thank you in advance.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090 How to Troubleshoot iSight
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2411 "Your camera is in use by another application" message
my isight camera is not working-not recognised with photo booth or ichat
Are you aware that you marked your post as Solved? That is what the green star means at the top of this thread.
Message was edited by: CMCSK

MacBook pro does not recognize built in iSight cam even after restart/ reset

After years of using Sony hdr500 video cam, iMovie stopped recognizing it and then stopped recognizing the built in iSight cam as well. Now photo booth does not see it either. I have restarted the computer to reset SMC and that did not resolve the problem. I would appreciate any help offered. Thanks JJMANN

see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151 Check cables, connections, too many devices, etc., suggested there.
If your issue persists, try these steps:
Shut down the computer.
Disconnect all devices and cables except the keyboard and mouse cable(s).
Disconnect the computer from the power outlet and wait for 3 to 5 minutes.
Plug the computer back in and turn it on.
Reconnect the device(s) (one at a time if there is more than one) and test. Test with each port if you have more than one.
With all you have already done, if no USB devices are recognized or work on your Mac after you have also considered all the above, you likely have a hardware problem. Contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for service.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim
MBP 15" i7 (Early'11) OSX 10.7.3 13" MBP (Mid'09) 2.26GHz OSX 10.7.3

MacBook Pro using WinXp and Built in iSight camera?

Can't seem to find a thread on this question? Is it possible to use the built in iSight camera on a MacBook Pro while running Win Xp Home SP 2?
Thanks
Dennis Moore

Hi Dennis Moore2,
Does not look like it's working yet. Looks like a driver problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2502129&#2502129
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2160883&#2160883
Good Luck,
John

Built-in iSight recognition problem

Our brand new (three days) iMac G5 (iSight) is having trouble recognizing its own built-in iSight camera.
When Photo Booth is activated a warning message appears that says the program cannot be started because there is no iSight camera or it is currently being used by another program. iChat also does not recognize that a camera is built-in because when you click on the AV pane in the preferences window it says that there is no camera attached.
Mac support suggested (and we completed) the following: 1. SMU reset, and 2. NVRAM reset (commmands "reset-nvram" and "reset-all"). This fix didn't work.
Is anybody having a similar problem, or have a solution?

Hi, i have the same problem..
but i was told to reset the SMU, then the PRAM..
tried the new solution above, reseting SMU, then NVRAM, but nothing happen when i press option, O & F together..
anyone can teach me how to resolve this?
By the way, the profiler>USB>USB high-speed bus only shows that i have Hub>IR receiver... am i supposed to see a 'camera' listed there as well?
please help, its getting very frustrating.. thanks!
regards
Dennis

Built-in iSight Camera

My built-in iSight camera does not work. When I pull up iMovie, Quicktime X (10), or iChat is says camera not connected. PLEASE HELP!

My Built-in iSight Camera wrote:
My built-in iSight camera does not work. When I pull up iMovie, Quicktime X (10), or iChat is says camera not connected. PLEASE HELP!
For any iSight problems, first try restarting the Mac. If the problems persist, try all relevant suggestions from:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090
If your iSight problem still occurs in more than one app and more than one user account, the reset suggested there often restores proper function of inbuilt iSight.
However, if your built-in iSight still does not work after carefully following all the suggestions in the "How to Troubleshoot iSight" article, and if iSight does not show as a USB hardware device in your Mac's System Profiler utility, yours is most likely a hardware problem. In that case, contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for service.
Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz Mac OS X (10.6.5); MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.5)
LED Cinema Display; G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11); iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9); External iSight; iPod touch 4.1

Is there any way to change the settings for the built in isight camera?

I'm sure someone else has probably already asked this, but is there any way to change the settings for the built in isight camera? The resolution is horrible.

Welcome to  Discussions, Prissymissysays
The last Apple-published resolution data I saw said that iSight's resolution is 640x480 VGA. I do not know of any way to change iSight's resolution, but that level is plenty of quality for my webcam needs.
The software you use to operate your iSight controls it, so specific answers will depend on what software you are using when you need more resolution. Check Help in that application to see if it can change iSight's resolution.
Some software, such as Apple's QuickTime 7 Pro allow you to change iSight's video quality and compression level with its QuickTime Player > Preferences > Recording > Quality: setting. You can add iGlasses software to manually override some iSight settings that are otherwise controlled automatically by the software using iSight. However, I do not think either of these options really changes iSight's resolution.
Check whether your iSight's lens cover has fingerprints or smudges on it. Then check iSight's image quality of your face in full sunlight about two feet from the lens. Best image quality requires more light than what most people would consider normal room lighting.
If you are still having problems, consider the applicable suggestions from How to Troubleshoot iSight.
If you need better resolution than iSight can deliver for some special imaging requirement such as close-up or high-accuracy images, you may need to consider using a different camera that better meets your special needs.
EZ Jim
PowerBook 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.10) G5 DP 1.8 External iSight

IMovie '08: Built-in iSight camera not recognized in Yosemite

On this page
http://support.apple.com/en-us/TS2472
iMovie '08: Built-in iSight camera not recognized
it says:
In Finder, navigate to /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/
Select the file com.apple.mio.VDCAssistant.plist and delete.
Restart your system.
You should now be able to use your iSight camera with iMovie.
However, in Yosemite, it only has this file name
com.apple.cmio.VDCAssistant.plist
and I don't want to delete it as instructed without someone who knows telling me it won't hurt my newly installed and thus far working well OS 10.10.1, with iMovie 7.1.4 on my iMac 24 inch, Early 2008, 2.8 GHz Intel Dore 2 Duo, 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. It worked with Leopard, and I don't recall having to use the above mentioned support page.

Contact Apple. I believe you have a hardware issue there if it's not showing up in your System profiler.
Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Macsimum News Associate Editor  Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support'

Built in isight camera problem

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