Built In Camera's

C

clamshellibooks

Registered
Wouldn't it make sense for Apple to put standard on their computers, along with the microphone they already have, a camera? I know, I know, there's always iSight, but it's not built in and there's that cord. No, somthing simpler. It would make sense. We can record audio on our mac without anything extra, now why not images/video? It would make video messaging in iChat that much simpler for grandma to work!
 
you never know - could happen - and i'm sure there must be prototypes out there in apple land with built in cameras...

the kind you currently get on high end video / picture mobile fones would be perfect - looking at my powerbook now - if there was a small camera just below the latch on the lid / screen it would be a 'neat' feature.

sony had a laptop with a built in camera a little while ago.

sure - right now it might not be as top notch as the quality on the isight but it would still serve its immediate purpose well. like you say - it would be a very simple end solution - just like the current mic.
 
Might be some pivacy issues here. For example my friend who has a emac didnt know it came with a Mic, so when he installed Skype, he was suprised when it worked! The same would be true of a cam, aggreed Apple would state that the machine came with a cam, but in time people would forget, opening the doors for remote access etc.

But given the robustness of OS X i do dobut that that would be possible. It is a good idea :) To intergrate it would be intresting

[Mock up's anyone?]

Adam
 
A privacy issue? Not really. But businesses already don't like mobile phones with cameras - so they don't like notebooks with integrated cameras, either... I think Apple rather lets the user choose here, whether he wants a cam or not. Why should I - if I don't want one - pay for it and every day have to stare at it... I've got one of those older Sony VAIOs, really small: I've never used its camera, and it's in the way. The machine could've been smaller without it...
 
ok - so don't berate me for this! i just had half an hour at hand and knocked up this image... it just shows the small camera from the back of my camera phone on the bezel of the PB screen... the pics were taken with another camera phone and then shrunk so i could upload them. hence the lo-fi quality!

the 'camera' area is actual size. nothing has been re-sized (apart from the final image for upload) or skewed in any way whatsoever. i made sure that both images (the PB lid and back of fone) were taken at the same angle under the same conditions so it was easier to meld the two...

The Pic Is Here!
 
I like it! i think it would work, but as fryke said, do people want it? depends on the ownership of isight?
 
But the camera would at least need to swivel to be useful... I really guess such a PowerBook camera would be a definite no-go for Apple...
 
"2006 will be the year of... VGA resolution and underexposed, grainy images" -- Jobs at MWSF 06 keynote? :rolleyes:
 
ksv - i think you've missed the point a little.

the image i made is grainy - thats because i made it very low res on purpose so i could transfer it from my fone fast - get it up on the net quickly - i think it was actually VGA quality i had it set to!

but... the camera is 1.2 mp - and the full size images are great quality - below is a link to an example - i'm sure you'll agree theres not much grainy about it. And considering it was taken whilst walking forward, strong sunlight - the exposure is pretty great too! and the videocamera is is just as good! i'd show you a range of pics but most have people in (including myself!) them and i dont think it would be fair or right to post pics of people without permission.

and there are already higher Megapixel cameras coming to market in even smaller form factors.

thats what i'd see as a built in option... jobs at '06 keynote? well considering in the space of around a year and a half we went from VGA to megapixels - '3/4mp camera with 'basic' (basic for 2006!) but pretty damn great video capabilities too - built in - right there for you to use. you want fullscreen beautiful video? the get the isight (which by 2006 will no doubt be even better too!)' - its a great upgrade path!

i.e. - i used the internal mic for a few weeks with skpye - in the end i wanted a better solution - so i went and got a BT headset. The initial solution inbuilt did the job, it introduced me to new tech and pushed things forward.

also - there are camerafones on market that already employ high quality cameras that 'swivel' on the hinge - so the tech has moved on considerably since the sony laptop.

as a concept / idea - its possible - i'm pretty sure that if Apple could offer the solution in the same way as they do their internal mics, lowcost, unobtrusive, standard - no-one would complain! and by '06 onwards we might have isight quality cams the size of the ones currently in fones! who knows?!

High Quality Pic Here
 
the image i made is grainy - thats because i made it very low res on purpose so i could transfer it from my fone fast - get it up on the net quickly - i think it was actually VGA quality i had it set to!
Click to expand...

Parb.Johal, I'm pretty sure that KSV wasn't picking on the quality of your image, but rather on the quality of the images that are extracted from mobile-phone cameras. Ad also making a play on Steve Jobs' comments at the last Macworld that "2005 will be the year of High-Definition Video".
 
Isn't Asus making notebooks with swivel camera's built in. Though, i think the quality of the images the camera would produce would be very mobile phone like considering the place where they would be placed. Even though Sony Ericcson is already up to an 1.5 MegaPixel camera (or 1.25 something like that) i think it would be tottally incomparable to an iSight.
 
I actually think it's possible to have such a small camera be better than an iSight. But as has been mentioned before: Not really that useful. Now what I _would_ be interested in: an iSight mini. The original iSight is great for putting on a Cinema Display, but looks a tad too big on the PowerBook and iBook. Now: Why not create a smaller version (maybe make it connect to USB-2 instead of FireWire) and sell it to the Windows crowds, too. They obviously love Apple gadgetry.
 
While small cameras can have great resolution, the picture quality suffers because of the small lens and CCD. Small lens means little light and small CCD means less color sensitivity and clarity. Remember that a web camera is mainly used indoors and not outdoors in sunny weather.
 
fryke said:
I actually think it's possible to have such a small camera be better than an iSight. But as has been mentioned before: Not really that useful. Now what I _would_ be interested in: an iSight mini. The original iSight is great for putting on a Cinema Display, but looks a tad too big on the PowerBook and iBook. Now: Why not create a smaller version (maybe make it connect to USB-2 instead of FireWire) and sell it to the Windows crowds, too. They obviously love Apple gadgetry.
Click to expand...

I'd Love to have an iSight for my Windows PC...heck i'd love to have iChat as well but i doubt that's it gonna happen. Love the fact that iChat to iChat chats know what ports to open and close, while iChat to AIM sucks...
 
you wouldn't need to swivel the camera - the lid tilts for rake, and you can rotate the whole powerbook - full movement.
 
? ... if I rotate the whole PowerBook to film something behind it, I can't look at the monitor anymore.
 
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