[Bogartte]

I sort of took it for granted that the iSight would be a great little cam
for video conferencing, but was really letdown when it became apparent
that one needed to be sitting in front of a 300w light bulb!!

I mean, come on, who sits in front of a computer all lit up like a photo shoot??

This is kind of ridiculous, considering the supposed 'state of the art' of this
product. Is video conferencing really not a big deal? Consider a board room,
with low lighting, and then a similar room flooded with high beams???

I was puzzled and disappointed when I discovered that there were no
controls at all, no real software for adjusting light levels.

Now I have to return it and buy a different brand. Any suggestions for
a good cam? Anyone?

Maybe there's 3rd party software for enhancing this iSight??

Sorry for the rant, but jeez, Apple, what a letdown.

JKBogartte

[Eug Wanker]

[Bogartte]

Wow, wanker, you are too cool!!!!!

Thanks, mucho grande!!

[SafariX]

Does anyone here have a SightLight? I've been thinking about picking one up, and want to see people's opinions.

[Nodnarb]

I've never used the sight light thing, but I remember reading in an issue of Mac World that it sucks. They always review a bunch of products, and I think this one got maybe 2 out of 5 stars. I'll try to find the issue and let you know what it said about it.

[tooki]

All electronic cameras need lots of light to pick up good color. The more expensive cameras use bigger sensors which cost a lot more money but capture more light, but in a webcam, it's gonna be a small image sensor that needs lots of light to work well. It's the nature of the beast.

tooki

[buffalolee]

I never had problem with lighting with my iSight. It just seems to work normal for me.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

The reviews of the sightlight say it sucks.

[Leonard]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
The reviews of the sightlight say it sucks.

It might be a bit more informative if you said why the reviews said it sucked or linked to the reviews.

[alternate_bit]

a google search for 'sightlight' review gives this review:
http://www.atpm.com/10.06/sightlight.shtml

if you want your video conferences to be brighter, then iGlasses is worth a buy.

www.ecamm.com/mac/iglasses/

[f1000]

Originally posted by tooki:
All electronic cameras need lots of light to pick up good color. The more expensive cameras use bigger sensors which cost a lot more money but capture more light, but in a webcam, it's gonna be a small image sensor that needs lots of light to work well. It's the nature of the beast.

They need to put a larger aperture on those cameras. Those teeny tiny aspheric lenses don't have any light-gathering power whatsoever.

[dfiler]

Originally posted by alternate_bit:
if you want your video conferences to be brighter, then iGlasses is worth a buy.

www.ecamm.com/mac/iglasses/

Wow! Thanks for the link. I'll start using iGlasses tonight.

I too find the video too dark given the dim lighting I prefer around my computer screen. My solution has been to keep a desk lamp next to my computer and turn it on when vid chatting. Hopefully with iGlasses, I won't need that lamp.

And here's another vote against the sightLight. It's a great concept but it is horrible for actual use. Sharp, white LEDs just don't offer a pleasant spectrum for lighting human skin. Diffused light closer to the spectrum of sunlight or fire is far more pleasing.

[dfiler]

Oh yeah... this thread reminded me to visit the feedback page and remind apple about the problems with dim video.

Apple's iChat feedback page

[PurpleGiant]

Registered user of iGlasses here. It rocks. Best $8 spent on improving iSight quality.

[Bogartte]

Oh, boy, more! iGlasses sounds great! Thanks.

[SeSawaya]

will iGlasses help a video camer like a Canon ZR80? I dont have a iSight.

[Graymalkin]

You can't expect to use any camera in crappy lighting conditions and get good results. You can't throw crap into something and expect gold to come out of the other end. CMOS sensors need a particular amount of light to display a crisp image without a lot of amplification noise. You can use iGlasses to scrub your iSight's output artificially but the better lighting conditions you have the better image you're going to get.

For best webcam results:

• Be frontlit. Backlit still shots often come out horrible, use your frontal lobe to deduce that backlit video will look equally horrible.
• Don't use a busy background. The iSight tries to autofocus, if you've got a lot of visual static in the frame you're not going to have a very focused image.
• Keep your background all one brightness. Having a bright window in the same frame as you is going to throw off the iSight's gain control and white balance. Having a bright white wall with a dark picture in the middle of it will do the same thing.

For best results out of a webcam you need to treat it like a real camera setup, you need to frame shots like you might as a movie director. Even a high quality DV camera will give you crappy results if you have crappy lighting and horrible shot setup.

[dfiler]

Damn. Who crapped in your cheerios?

Preach all you want. iSight/iChat's default settings are too dim for many users. iGlasses fixes the problem by providing a useable video signal.

Turning on a light for a brighter picture? Genius graymalkin. None of us had thought of that.

[Beewee]

I was disappointed with the isight when I found out the close lens feature didn't work like some kind of "iris". Its manual : (

[MilkmanDan]

God I love iGlasses