Cameras and Image Quality


Ever wondered what the difference between a cheap camera and an expensive one is?

The iSight isn't the cheapest camera available, that's for sure. If you are wondering what camera to buy for your Mac-based video conferencing system, the price may be putting you off. But what sort of quality does it provide? And what about using a camcorder instead? In order to answer these questions, I put myself - badly in need of a haircut - in front of three cameras: an iSight, an iBot, and a Canon GL1 3-CCD camcorder.

All cameras were connected via FireWire, and positioned in approximately the same location on top of my G5 iMac. I then ran iChat, and connected to a second Mac (a PowerBook) and and took screen grabs by pressing Command--C. The images you see are therefore the images that have been compressed, transmitted and uncompressed by iChat, rather than the raw output from the camera. In other words, these are the pictures your buddy would see (if you looked like me).

The line up



Sample images

First, the iSight's output:






Second, the iBot:



Third, the Canon camcorder:




Conclusion

I feel that any camcorder will probably out-perform any webcam, simply because of the size of the CCD element and the quality of the lens. However, camcorders are expensive and it's tedious to have to keep it hooked up all the time and sitting on a tripod. Now, if that doesn't bother you, then by all means use a camcorder to chat, and you won't be disappointed.

If you like a little less clutter and a little more convenience, the iSight is the next best thing. It provides sharp images, the colors are good and the autofocus is a great feature. The iSight's built-in microphone is also pretty good. The iSight is pricey ($150) but it's cheaper than a camcorder.

As you can see, the iBot's image was particularly poor. Maybe I have a bad one, but it looks blurred and no amount of adjusting the manual focus ring made any difference. The iBot is cheaper than the iSight, but based on these results, I wouldn't think it would be worth it.

You can also hook up USB webcams to your iMac if you run various hacks and install drivers. The results from these cameras are generally OK, especially from the more expensive models. However, unless you happen to already own one, I wouldn't recommend buying a USB camera. In my experience, FireWire is more reliable than USB when video conferencing with your Mac.

I hope this has been useful, and the images not too scary!

Posted: Sat - October 30, 2004 at 11:44 AM      

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