Q: Grey Isight cam?
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Oct 1, 2013 10:07 PMby HelpMaPlz,Alot of the "issues" with the i-Sight camera can be resolved by doing what's called an SMC reset. On your particular model of mac all you need to do is shutdown the mac and unplug the power from the back. Leave the plug undone for about 30 seconds and replug it. See if your issue persists, if it does you may want to check the software your using with your camera with. For example photo booth has filters that can produce the effects your describing.
See if the issue follows you to other applications. Same results in FaceTime as in Photobooth? This can be indicative of a hardware issue. Lastly try it in safe mode. This will rule out any third party pieces from being the culprit.
Good Luck!
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Oct 2, 2013 10:36 AMby EZ Jim,Creolan wrote: ... Are there any settings to try ...
There is no separate single camera preference panel for any Mac. Each apps you use with your camera automatically control it for that app. Here are where the preferences related to your camera should be for each of these common apps that use the camera:
Photo Booth: Use the Photo Booth > Camera menu command. The only preference change you can make is to select the Camera if you have more than one connected, recognized, webcam. Of course, you can use Photo Booth's buttons to choose between still and video clips and effects, but they are not really camera preferences. As Carolyn suggested in her post, the "Effects" settings might be causing unusual colors or image views. Click "Normal" in the center of each Effects choice window to turn special effects off.
iMovie: Use the iMovie > File > Import from Camera menu command. You can set iMovie camera preferences to select between Camera(s) if you have more than one connected device, and to select the size of the image you will capture by using the Video Size choices bar.
Messages: Use the Messages > Preferences > Audio/Video menu command. You shoujld be able to see the image being viewed by your webcam. If your Mac recognizes more than one connected camera, you can select the video source from the Camera choices bar. You can set no other camera preferences. If your Mac has only one (or no recognized) camera, the Camera choices bar will not appear in iChat Preferences.
FaceTime: Use the FaceTime > Video menu command. Like Messages, FaceTime lets you can select the video source from among connected, recognized, cameras. FaceTime's Camera menu item appears in the Video menu ONLY if your Mac recognizes more than one connected camera. For any working camera, you can set the camera preference for either Landscape or Portrait view and choose Full-Screen or windowed view. If your Mac has only one camera, FaceTime > Video menu command will show only the orientation and window size preference settings.
QuickTime Player (ver 10.s): If you start a new QuickTimeX > File > New Movie Recording, you can set file resolution/size (Quality) as shown here:
As with many other Apple video capable apps, if your Mac recognizes more than one connected compatible camra, you also will be able to choose which to use for the recording.
Creolan wrote: ... or is my excitement slightly surpressed now by a faulty camera? ...
If you are still having trouble, use the suggestions for built-in iSight troubleshooting from Apple's http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090 to determine if your Mac's camera hardware is faulty.
(Over time, Apple has changed the built-in camera's name on newer Macs from "iSight" to "FaceTime" and then to "FaceTime HD." Regardless of the name of your Mac's built-in camera, the same info and troubleshooting applies.)
The "reset" suggested in the linked article often restores normal function. For your iMac, if you need to try the reset, select the SMC reset instructions entitled "Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve".
Because your iMac is so new, it should be working as well as it ever will. If you have ANY major difficulty, contact your retailer to be sure your Mac is working properly.
