Customer Reviews

Apple iSight Video Conferencing Webcam with Autofocus Model M8817LL/C

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like most Mac users, I enjoy Apple's products because of their elegant, timeless designs, their ease of use, and their commitment to high quality performance.

The drama involved in opening the iSight is similar to an iPod. They use the same type of clamshell packaging. The camera is beautiful, though a bit larger than I thought--albeit lightweight. Plugged it in, fired up iChat, and it installed the latest iSight software [To the iSight? Not sure.].

That's where the kudos end. The picture was not acceptable in medium light. I had a QuickCam Pro 3000 [RIP] before this, so I have a point of reference. The image I saw was not what I excepted for a camera that costed twice as much as the previous camera.

The Mac OS X integration is great, you can record movies from QuickTime Pro [cool]. It also works with iSPQ VideoChat, my chat software.

I did find a solution for the dark image, iGlasses. This $8 program does what Apple should have done to begin with, it allows you to fine tune the iSight's video.

With iGlasses installed, iSight's rating went to 4, from a definite 3.

Don't mess around trying to get other things to work - this one is wonderful, and well worth the extra money for a well designed cam that 'just works'. When I opened it, I looked for an install disk. Of course, there isn't one. You just plug it in and iChat fires up... Compare that to any other cam.
Great picture, good sound, and good compatability with other software like SightSpeed (free software that interoperates with PC for video conference pretty well).

I was a little disapointed in the lighting quality of the camera. I expected it to be better in average light situations. My other camera is a Logitech Quickcam 3000 and although the image isn't as good as the Isight, the image brightness is better. For the money I think Apple should do a better job with image brightness. I installed IGlass and that helped out with brightness issue but I shouldn't have to spend $8 to have a better image. Maybe the next version will address the issue.

Fuzzy images and feedback. That's not what I expected with the iSight, but it's what I got. After months of holding off, researching and reading reviews, I finally purchased two iSights, the Cadillac of video cams. "Like no other camera," the review says. As an avid Mac fan it pains me to say this, but I'd change that to "Like most other cameras."

When we took the iSights out of the box and installed them, my wife and I were very pleased with the ease of instillation. Plug and play. Simple. But there was noticeable microphone feedback on the sound. No problem, I thought--both iSights are in the same room. So the next day I took my powerbook and iSight to work. Same problem: An echoing feedback that you wouldn't expect from even a mediocre microphone. Also, we really had to speak up to be heard.

The other disappointment was with the picture quality. A little on the fuzzy side. Even when you reduce the viewing window, you never get a truly crisp image. Light helps image quality, but even under good lighting conditions the picture is grainy.

I am very pleased with the frame rate, which is snappy. It looks (and is) very real-time. I'm also happy with the size and weight of the iSight, as well as the carrying case that comes with it. And, of course, you can't beat free video conferencing, even if it's not everything you dreamed.

Note: The iSight comes WITH a mount for flat panel and laptop monitors. I've seen several review complaining that they had to buy the accessory kit to mount their iSight. Simply not true if you have a laptop of flat screen monitor.

Also untrue are any posting telling you that you need to purchase a $99 .Mac account to use the iSight. If you have OSX 10.3+ iChatAV is built in and ready to go.

Apple's iSight is simply a great webcam. I've seen the washed out colors of most webcams, and iSight is just a completely different animal. Everything is automatic, including the autofocus, which is a great feature. The built-in microphone is also of good quality. I use it so that my parents can see their grandson almost anytime.

The iSight comes with several different mounts, so that you can use it with laptops, flat-panel monitors or just as a desktop camera. If you can drop the money on it, and plan on using it frequently, it is well worth it.

Video quality is excellent. The firewire connection and dsl or broadband provides some of the fastest responses in video casting with very, very little jerkyness. We recently had a video conference with our son and daughter-in-law from the birthing room in California after the birth of our granddaughter. Both of us were using PowerMacs and isight webcams. The video quality was great and I was able to take good digital photos of the baby directly from the screen. It was a great experience.

The connection was simple with ichat and AIM. I've also used it with gmail and skype with excellent results. I've used other video cameras of various quality, but the isight lens, auto focus, contrast and other features are the best I've seen. Firewire solves a lot of problems for both quality and data transmission/reception. It's very close to a real time, in the room experience.

I thought the cost was a little steep when I bought this unit a year ago, but the product is top quality and well worth the price.

This was the 3rd iSight that I bought. Not because the other ones were damaged, but because i bought one for my girlfriend and now one for my mom.

I already tried some other cameras on Windows and Linux and non offered the quality of iSight.

This is the best webcam on the market. It's picture is clear and the auto focus never focuses to a blur. I can talk with my sister in Taiwan over the internet for free in real-time AND see her!!! Its worth every penny! Without a doubt.

The iSight webcam is a phenomenal product. It's resolution, clarity and focus are excellent. And, the built in microphone is very good, also. It's integration with other Mac software like QuickTime, iMovie, etc. is flawless.

The only drawbacks are annoying software incompatibilities between Windows and Macs. Old Windows AIM doesn't like to handshake with iChat while Yahoo connects the video but not the audio. Mercury Communicator works just fine.

I purchased two iSights so that I can videoconference with my mom and sister. The cameras work fine (but do get very hot if you keep them on for a long time). The only problem I still have is with the software (iChat). It works videoconferencing with my mom, but does not work videoconferencing with my sister. All of us use Macs. I have researched extensively in the apple support site, without success... changed firewall settings, router settings... none worked. The only way for me to videoconference with my sister is via Skype, which has poorer image quality.

The camera also lacks a mount for the iMac G4, so it has to sit beside the computer screen (not on top of the screen, where it is possible to look in the face of who you are speaking to).