Focus on Built-in iSight - Intel iMac

Anyone out there with a new Intel iMac that has a blurry iSight?
I have the new machine at home and a G5 with external iSight at office and when chatting for first time with home, noticed that image on my end was blurry. After getting home and looking into it, even the "video preview" is out of focus.
Anybody else having similar problems? Any tweeks or suggestions are appreciated

David,
My problem exactly. My external iSight knocks the built-in dead in the dirt. Apparently my up/down speeds are OK, so seems like I need to visit an Apple store and see what theirs' look like. I still think it could be memory, especially since my image degraded so much between a two person chat and a three preson chat.
I would like to hear from some other folks that have a new imac with built in that are loving it, cause I sure do think something is wrong with mine.
Good luck with your Moms' machine.
John

Similar Messages

Built-in iSight on iMac

Hi, I just bought a new 20" Intel iMac. I did some tests with the iSight camera and everything was perfect. The next day I tried to work with the camera I got the message: "Photo Booth cannot open because no camera is attached or the camera is in use by another application - Make sure your digital video camera is properly attached and turned on. If you are using the camera with another application, close that application before trying to open Photo Booth again."
I have not started any other application and since my camera is built-in I can't figure out how it got disconnected...
How can I make sure I have no other applications using the camera or even better how to find out if it's "connected" properly?
Thanks a lot for your support!
Pablo

As I have been posting all over this discussion board, there is NO SOLUTION to this problem. People everywhere are having trouble with their iSight cameras and there is no permanent fix to their loss of function. In fact, I posted a topic on this very issue--discussing the fact that there seems to be no solution to people's iSight problems, and it has now been largely ignored. It's obvious here on this post that people are having problems and need solutions.. but there is like only one person here on this board who really tries to provide help on this issue but he really doesn't have the answer. I am frustrated and I want my iSight to work again.. but I guess it has a limited lifetime (in my case) of 3 days. Your iSight is basically broken until somebody from Apple decides to figure out why their product is defective.

Using a different webcam with Intel iMac with built-in isight cam.

Hi...I hope someone can shed some light on this.
I have an intel core duo iMac 20 with built-in isight.
I use Yahoo Messenger (the new version) and have no problems getting my isight to work with it.
For most circumstances, the built-in isight is fine... but sometimes having a camera with a zoom feature and the ability to pan further up or down would be most beneficial.
I also own a usb Logitech (pro-4000) webcam (the last series for which they have Mac support) and have installed the latest Mac drivers for it. I can get the Logitec to run its built-in applications, but when I try to select a webcam to use for Yahoo (in the yahoo preferences webcam section), the only selection available to me is the built-in isight.
Is there any way to get the option to choose between the Logitech and the isight?
Thanks for any help you can give me...
Intel Core Duo iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2GHz/2GB 256VRAM

http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/
macam driver and macam component installation resolves this issue

Intel iMac Core Duo: iSight/iChatAV 3 Focus Problems

My dad and I have matching Intel iMac's with same RAM etc. What I am finding with iChatAV in a 1-on-1 video chat is that in the little window that shows me what I look like, my video looks awesome, yet my dad's video looks quite out of focus. He experiences the same thing on his end. He looks fine, and I am out of focus. We are both trying iGlasses as well because the iSight is just too dang dark on its own.
Now when I had my PowerBook G4, Panther, and an external iSight whenever I chatted with buddies both my video and theirs looked AWESOME. Almost like watching HDTV.
This is very strange. I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing this in iChat under the new Intel iMac's, as this is VERY unacceptable quality. I'm sure it cannot be a bandwidth issue as we both have 7Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. And the quality I saw on the Keynote was much better than this.
Anyone else used both cameras and is finding this with the new Intel's?

Thank you, I had looked there and musta missed the 480Mb/s rating. So yes that is USB 2.0.
There is a article at CNet comparing the two cameras:
"In summary:
1) The external isight camera is very good (Firewire, F2.8 glass lens, auto-focus, CCD, 30 fps).
2) The internal isight is quite poor in comparison (USB, plastic lens, fixed-focus, CMOS sensor)."
I tried a few chats with other people using new iMac's today, with the same poor results. It is an inferior camera, hands down.

Using built-in iSight w/iMovie on the Intel iMac? Help!

I just got a new intel iMac- and the instructions for using the built-in iSight camera to record video into iMovie 6 are really difficult to find- and most seem to refer to either earlier versions-
Can anyone give me a quick walk through, or point me in the direction of instructions for the built-in iMac and iMovie 6? I'm having a heck of a time figuring it out.
Thanks.
I looked at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61929
& other applications aren't on, etc.-

Welcome, Sheila. For what I know about built-in iSight, see Built-in iSight ( Late 2005 -> ). There should be little problem using your internal iSight to record into iMovie 6 if you have the slider under the edit window set at the "camera" (import) icon rather than the "scissors" (edit) icon.
Your questions are more likely related to using iMovie. If the above link and iMovie > Help on your Mac do not get you going, try Apple's Mac 101, Lesson 13: iMovie HD tutorial. That should get you going.
If you need more help with iMovie 6, try searching or posting in the iMovie HD 6 Discussions area.
Jim

Re: Intel iMac, built-in iSight woes

Hi- That solution did not work for me. My isight is still completely unrecognized by the computer. Help! I did a SMC reset and that didn't help. I keep getting the error message that the camera is in use by another application, even though nothing else is open. I don't even see it in the system profiler though. Any ideas?

Welcome to Apple Discussions, Jes.
If you have tried all the suggestion in this link responding to Jinx
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4403376#4403376
but your problem persists, your Mac may need evaluation by a professional Apple Service Technician. However, you may want to consider the following first:
You say that your "isight is still completely unrecognized by the computer."
Does that mean that you have looked in your Mac's System Profiler utility for USB devices? A successful search for your built-in iSight should look like this:
After you have clicked on the USB item in the Hardware column, if necessary, click on the USB High-Speed Bus triangle in the USB Device Tree window pane to make the triangle point down as shown in the image above. Then click on "Built-in iSight" to see your iSight's info below.
If you do not see "Built-in iSight" item in the USB Device Tree pane, take your MacBook back to the retailer who sold it to you or to an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for a professional check.
<hr width="85%">
If System Profiler does recognize your iSight, tell us which applications you tested to determine whether your issue is application-specific when you tried the How to Troubleshoot iSight suggestions. If you get an error, copy and paste the exact message you get in your response here. Unless you get exactly the same results with all applications, identify each application next to each unique error message in your response.
Also tell us whether your How to Troubleshoot iSight testing gave exactly the same results with multiple user names. Were any of the user names you tested new accounts created specifically for this test, or were all of them pre-existing account names?
We may be able to offer further suggestions based on your responses to the above questions.
Jim
Mac OS X (10.4.9) G5 DP 1.8 External iSight

New iMac's built-in iSight seems out of socus

I have one of the new 24" 3.06GHz iMacs.
The focus of my built-in iSight is somewhat blurry for objects 1-2 feet away from the monitor (like, the human in front of the computer).
It seems like items in the background 10 feet or so behind me are in better focus.
Is the focus controllable?

Hello again, -Allan
... picture ... taken with a built-in iSight?
Here is one comparison example I did some time back. The one on the left is with a built-in iSight, but the current cameras may perform differently.
As is normal for different digital cameras, images comparing two cameras are very different. Which you like better will likely depend on personal taste and may vary with subject matter and lighting conditions. To remove as many variables as possible, I made the following comparison image showing the same subject in the same location during the same video chat using the two different cameras (internal vs external iSight) on same iNtel iMac Core Duo. You can see some of the differences in color balance, sharpening, and contrast settings used by the two cameras. Click the image below if you want a larger picture:
... Photo Booth ... picture ... overexposed.
Patrick's (PT) tip on how to suppress the screen "flash" is a good one.
If you wan to try an alternative to suppressing the screen "flash", either (a) turning the room lights brighter or (b) turning your monitor's brightness down _before you use the screen flash_ can help reduce the overexposure you experience.
Jim
G5 DP 1.8GHz w/Mac OS X (10.5.6) PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11) iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9) External iSight

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.

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?

Can u use a USB webcam on an iMac with built-in isight for Yahoo Messenge?

Hi...I hope someone can shed some light on this.
I have an intel core duo iMac 20 with built-in isight.
I use Yahoo Messenger (the new version) and have no problems getting my isight to work with it.
For most circumstances, the built-in isight is fine... but sometimes having a camera with a zoom feature and the ability to pan further up or down would be most beneficial.
I also own a usb Logitech (pro-4000) webcam (the last series for which they have Mac support) and have installed the latest Mac drivers for it. I can get the Logitec to run its built-in applications, but when I try to select a webcam to use for Yahoo (in the yahoo preferences webcam section), the only selection available to me is the built-in isight.
Is there any way to get the option to choose between the Logitech and the isight?
I tried macam drivers, but that just gave me an application that allowed me to record video or snap pics from my Quickcam, Yahoo Messenger still does not recognize it as a source.

http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/
macam driver and macam component installation resolves this issue

Built In iSight camera has stopped working on 27 inch iMac and 27 inch LED.

The camera's on my 27 inch i7 imac and 27 inch cinema display all of a sudden just stopped working. I checked in the system profiler, and both show that
they are connected. When I try video chat in iChat the green light comes on and connects like it's a one way video chat... when I try and switch to the display monitor's iSight the green light switches to the other monitor, but the camera is still black... I tried this with Facetime, Skype, and Photobooth, all nothing... Any insght into this would be great. I'm thinking that it could be an internal hardware problem with the machine... Logic or Motherboard....
Any info would be helpful
thank you
F

Built-in iSight cameras
These steps are for iSight cameras that are built into a computer, such as the iMac G5 (iSight) or later, the MacBook, or MacBook Pro.
See if the issue is application-specific.
Try another application (iSight works with applications like iChat, PhotoBooth, and iMovie HD 6) to see if the iSight camera exhibits the same behavior in all applications. If it only happens in one application, try reinstalling that application.
See if the issue is user-specific.
Test your iSight camera in another user account. If the issue only occurs in one user, the issue would be isolated to user settings.
Find out if the computer recognizes the iSight
Check System Profiler (in the Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder). Under the USB header, check to see if the iSight camera is detected.
Reset SMC or PMU
Reset your computer's SMC or PMU, and then check System Profiler again. (SMC reset instructions for iMac G5 (iSight), Intel-based iMacs; PMU reset instructions for MacBook and MacBook Pro.)
source: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2090

Help!!! Built in iSight Not Functioning on Brand New 24" iMac

I just purchased an iMac 24" 2.16 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor computer, and the built-in iSight camera will not function.
The store that I bought the computer from, informed me prior to purchase that several previous customers experienced the same problem, and that I should return to the store should I experience the same thing.
Is there a software fix for this????
Is there a preference fix for this???

As stated. I followed the Apple Support webpage instruction listed below. Still no success. My isight will not function with any other application (ie. iChat, iMovie, PhotoBooth, etc...)\
G5 (iSight) or later, the MacBook, or MacBook Pro.
1. See if the issue is application-specific.
Try another application (iSight works with applications like iChat, PhotoBooth, and iMovie HD 6) to see if the iSight camera exhibits the same behavior in all applications. If it only happens in one application, try reinstalling that application.
2. See if the issue is user-specific.
Test your iSight camera in another user account. If the issue only occurs in one user, the issue would be isolated to user settings.
3. Find out if the computer recognizes the iSight
Check System Profiler (in the Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder). Under the USB header, check to see if the iSight camera is detected.
4. Reset SMC or PMU Reset your computer's SMC or PMU, and then check System Profiler again. (SMC reset instructions for iMac G5 (iSight), Intel-based iMacs; PMU reset instructions for MacBook and MacBook Pro.)
If your built-in iSight camera is still not behaving correctly after trying all these steps, you may need to contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for service.

IMac w/ built in iSight V standalone iSight

Hello,
In a few days time (I can hardly wait!), I will be the proud owner of a 20" iMac iSight. I have a couple of questions, if anyone can oblige:
Is the iMac's iSight better quality than my standalone iSight?
Will I still be able to use my standalone iSight with my new iMac (i.e. override the built in iSight)?
Thanks.
p.s. - Hope that you all have a great Christmas/Hannukah/New Year.
G4 iBook 14 Superdrive - eMac combo 700mhz - 3G 20gb iPod - iSight - Mighty Mouse Mac OS X (10.4.2)
G4 iBook 14 Superdrive - eMac combo 700mhz - 3G 20gb iPod - iSight - Mighty Mouse Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Hello Zach. Although I cannot cite specific facts in answer to your questions, I decided to post in to say congratulations on your new iMac!
Re quality: the published 640x480 dot resolution is the same for both iSights. However some published reviews report that the software has changed to allow operation in lower light levels. You will soon be able to tell us whether you find the changes to be improvements. Please do so.
If you do not get better info here, you might find some of the info in The built-in iSight in the new iMac G5 (iSight) will give you some reading to help the time pass more quickly during your wait.
I KNOW you will have a happy holiday!
Jim

Is iMac G5 (no iSight) harddrive interchangable with Intel iMac (white)?

I have a new (used) Intel iMac, and I'd like to put the harddrive from an iMac G5 (no iSight) into it. Do both these computers use the same type of harddrive? Can I just swap them? Thanks.

I have recently done the same thing with no problems. They are both SATA drives, so there would be no problem with the system recognising them, my only concern because of the "close to the edge" limitations regarding iMac power supplies was whether the larger drive would draw too much current and exceed the safe limit for the system. I checked with the manufacturer's web site and they both drew the same power so there was no problem. I went from a 250GB to a 400GB drive.

Can I use an iMac G5 (with built-in iSight) with an external iSight as well

I like the built-in iSight for chat and video conferencing but I need to use an external webcam for capturing objects.
Can I use an external iSight with my iMac with built-in iSight?

Yes

Focus on Built-in iSight - Intel iMac

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