Will my old isight camera work with my Macbook pro and HD Cinema display?

Question

I have it hooked up but can't get the computer to switch from the built in camera to the external one.

Answer 1

William Worthington wrote:
I have it hooked up but can't get the computer to switch from the built in camera to the external one.
Firewire iSights can be picky about how they are connected. My first suggestion for your particular trouble is to try connecting directly to one of your Mac's built-in FW ports rather than via the monitor's Firewire hub. More info:
  http://www.ralphjohns.co.uk/EZJim/EZJimpage6.html
If necessary, you can use the suggestions from How to test your (external) iSight to ensure it is functional to be sure it is working with your new Mac.
The solutions to your issues about switching from the built-in camera depends on which application you are using to operate your iSight. 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 this choices bar, your Mac is recognizing only one (or none) of your iSights. In that case, consider the suggestions from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090
This 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, iMovie 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, when my external iSight was disconnected, 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 your external iSight should allow you to choose either camera.
iMove 8 (from iLife '09) uses a different camera choice button shown 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 is a different matter. PB is such a simple, basic app that it offers no menu selectable choice. Unless you make your built-in iSight 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 your Firewire external  iSight:
• Connect your external iSight and turn it on.
• Quit Photo Booth (PB) if it is running.
• Launch any app with a user-selectable camera "Preferences..." menu command.
 (The "tip" suggests that you use iChat, but others should work as well.)
• Open "Preferences..." and set the camera "Preference" to use your built-in iSight.
• Now launch PB. PB should now use the external iSight
 because your built-in camera is in use by the other application.
(4) For apps other than those above, see their Help or other documentation.
(5) If you have specific questions, we will try to help, too.
EZ Jim
Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.2)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.2)
LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight