ISight: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:59, 3 February 2006

Revision as of 14:01, 7 February 2006

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The iSight was designed for [[iChat AV]], Apple's video-conferencing client. [[iMovie|iMovie 4]] and later can be used to capture video from the device, which is also the recommended camera for use with [[Freeverse Software]]'s [[ToySight]] game collection.

Some advocates claim the iSight has superior colour quality and striking industrial design. The 1/4-inch color CCD sensor has a 640x480 [[VGA]] resolution on the external and internal PPC versions, a reportedly 1280x960905x678 VGA resolution on the MacBook Pro and a reportedly 2560x19201280x960 VGA resolution on the Intel Core Duo iMacs. Apple calls iSight's three-part [[F-number|F/2.8]] [[Lens (optics)|lens]] with two spherical elements custom-designed. It features auto-focusing from 50 mm up and autoexposure and can capture video at 30 frames per second in 24-bit color and use a variety of shutter speeds. All iSights include internal [[microphone|microphones]], which, Apple advertises, feature dual-element noise-suppression. Its unique design and light weight allow it to be attached just above the monitor using one of the four included mounts, meaning that the image seen by the recipient during a video chat will be at eye level and not from beneath, as many webcams require.

The external iSight is compatible with [[Mac OS X]] as well as [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] (though reputedly, notoriously difficult to set up properly) and [[Linux|GNU/Linux]] computers; the [http://www.sf.net/projects/libdc1394 libdc1394] library is required under Linux and a [[GUI]] is available ([http://damien.douxchamps.net/ieee1394/coriander/ Coriander]). However, the internal microphones will only operate on a Mac with the [[iChat AV]] software installed; work is in progress to decode the audio protocol and provide a Linux driver.