Explain to me this... iSight.

ganondorfganondorf
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Apple advertises it as basically an extension of iChat, but it looks to me like just a nice webcam that happens to be integrated with the iChat software. Can you still use it like a normal webcam, with other apps, take snapshots of yourself and save them as conventional file types, etc?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Yup.



    Here are some tools to use with iSight.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    ganondorfganondorf Posts: 573member
    Cool. Also, if you know the megapixel # on the iSight, that would be nice to know, because I don't recall seeing it on the Apple site.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    From Apple's iSight page, Tech Specs table near the bottom:



    Sensor

    1/4-inch color CCD image sensor, 640x480 VGA resolution
  • Reply 4 of 23
    ganondorfganondorf Posts: 573member
    Yeah, I saw that, but in my mind I can't really compare that with other webcams and digital cameras I've seen or used with megapixel ratings. If the iSight does not have a megapixel rating, I'd like to know why, and what makes it different. Or what is the specs you just listed translated into megapixel.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Er...



    640 x 480 pixels.



    640 x 480 = 307200 pixels



    307200 pixels / (1 Mpixels / 10^6 pixels)= .307200 Mpixels



    Really simple. It's literally the way it's written, divided by one million.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    What Kickaha said...it's exactly like megabytes, but with pixels.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Er...



    640 x 480 pixels.



    640 x 480 = 307200 pixels



    307200 pixels / (1 Mpixels / 10^6 pixels)= .307200 Mpixels



    Really simple. It's literally the way it's written, divided by one million.





    times 3 right? RGB? That makes it .9 M pixles ~ 1 M pixel.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    times 3 right? RGB? That makes it .9 M pixles ~ 1 M pixel.



    Uh...no.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    So they don't include the three color channels in the calculation? You think they would considering it would up the spec's and regular joe consumer wouldn't know the difference
  • Reply 10 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    So they don't include the three color channels in the calculation? You think they would considering it would up the spec's and regular joe consumer wouldn't know the difference



    It refers to the number of pixels that end up in the image when displayed in preview. You can't argue about a 20X20 image not being 400 pizels.
  • Reply 11 of 23
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    So they don't include the three color channels in the calculation? You think they would considering it would up the spec's and regular joe consumer wouldn't know the difference



    No, because each "color channel" takes up one whole pixel. They've already considered it. A typical RGB sensor has a 1-2-1 ratio of pixels. In a 640x480 sensor, there would be 76800 red pixels, 153600 green pixels and 76800 blue pixels. It doesn't really matter that green is so dominant on the sensor because we suck when it comes to seeing blues and to a lesser extent reds too.



    Example:

    http://nfg.2y.net/games/ntsc/visualx.shtm
  • Reply 12 of 23
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    It refers to the number of pixels that end up in the image when displayed in preview. You can't argue about a 20X20 image not being 400 pizels.



    That's because it's 400 pixels either way, unless you're talking about Foveon X3 sensors, which are pretty much the only ones on the market that do have photodetectors of each color at every pixel location.



    To get 'accurate' colors with conventional mosaic RGB sensors, the surrounding pixels/photodetectors must be used to aid in the guesswork/interpolation.



    That's why pics taken with the 3.3 mp (with 10M photodetectors) Foveon X3 look as good or better than pics taken from conventional 6+ mp sensors.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    cybermonkeycybermonkey Posts: 604member
    You can also use quicktime broadcaster, Just hought i'd throw that in seeing as no one mentioned it.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    proxyproxy Posts: 232member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ganondorf

    Can you still use it like a normal webcam, with other apps, take snapshots of yourself and save them as conventional file types, etc?



    Address book allows you to use iSight to take pics of yourself, but far more importantly the new iMovie announced at MWSF allows you to use the iSight to directly record footage into it. Apple's free QT broadcaster I think allows to you to use FW webcams to record into any codec available in QT pro.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    www.xaqtly.com/Purplehaze.avi



    recorded with my iSight using Gcam, then compressed with QT(though you have the option to do it in Gcam, *22.2MB .avi)
  • Reply 16 of 23
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Wrong Robot

    .avi)



    .AVI



    ok for switchers, I suppose... but you really need to make QT for karma's sake
  • Reply 17 of 23
    proxyproxy Posts: 232member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Wrong Robot

    www.xaqtly.com/Purplehaze.avi



    recorded with my iSight using Gcam, then compressed with QT(though you have the option to do it in Gcam, *22.2MB .avi)



    22MB Cut that thing down man. Sorenson3 on medium compression will do the trick
  • Reply 18 of 23
    cybermonkeycybermonkey Posts: 604member
    To be played only at a death mute cocktail party!!
  • Reply 19 of 23
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Death mutes?



    What the hell are those, killer mime ninjas?!?!?
  • Reply 20 of 23
    cybermonkeycybermonkey Posts: 604member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Death mutes?



    What the hell are those, killer mime ninjas?!?!?







    Its a track from dennis leary's lock and load gig
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