Grainy Image on MacBook Air 2020

yes. I had purchased exact same 2020 MacBook Air model and it had worse camera than 2015 MacBook Pro. After a lot of research I figured out that since 2018 Apple changed the MacBook design and made the lid slimmer and put in the same camera they’ve used on older macbooks but made the camera hole much smaller. If you compare both camera holes side by side and look at the size you’ll see the new MacBook has small tiny camera hole which leads to less light and all photos and videos look grainy in low light thus your new MacBook has grainy and low quality camera. It doesn’t actually have a worse camera but due to this flaw in the design the camera sensors get less light and makes it blurry. The only fix is to add more brightness with better lighting but it doesn’t help much or to pay for an app and download it to enhance your webcam to apply filters over it and increase the brightness of the image. There doesn’t seem to be any other fix. Just return the MacBook if you aren’t satisfied and wait for new one or buy an external wireless camera or use your phone as the camera or iPad. A lot of users on here have this issue but on reddit and other places most people have ignored this issue and instead blamed the users for not knowing how to use the MacBook properly and not doing their “research” for calling this a downgrade in camera quality. They’re ignorant of the fact that in 2018 this design change happened. The brand new users who don’t complain are either upgrading from latest macbooks or those who never bothered paying attention to camera quality or don’t care or new MacBook users. Only people with older macbooks like 2015 or 2012 are the ones complaining and if you google 2018 MacBook camera issues or 2018 MacBook low quality grainy camera you’ll find tons of posts and stories and even YouTube videos and some general advice or fixes. That’s the best advice I can give you. Google that maybe you’ll find something there. That’s how I found out about this whole issue. You can even google check my webcam resolution and I compared the resolution and sensor of 2015 MacBook and 2020 MacBook side by side and the 2020 has same exact model of camera same exact resolution just worse contrast and brightness due to low light. But do the experiments to find yourself. Good luck!

Basically what it means is that they are very very aware of this issue.

Their process is to classify issues as either expected or unexpected. If it's expected it means it's "our fault" for not knowing the camera image quality is impacted by poor design not allowing for enough light to enter the lens. That they have no recourse to fix it. It is hardware and it's a design flaw. It actually has nothing to do with the camera quality. Not something they are currently able to fix. I said its false advertising and they said prove it. That's why your camera quality is better on older models. More light coming into the camera. Its beyond stupid they let this happen. haha Someone got fired for sure I imagine.

I have a Macbook pro 2019 I just purchased in Dec for 5500.

Its way better in natural light.

Who the **** has access to natural light in their office lol. I am lucky to have some and can see the clear difference, but at night it is unusable.

When I bought my computer for the Macbook pro this was still not classified expected behaviour. It became expected as I was negotiating with them.

This is why they sent me free accessories.

Now, they have changed the classification to "expected." This means you have no recourse whatsoever with Apple other than complain and hope they offer something in the future who those who did.

All you can do is return it and buy something else or wait for their next release otherwise.

Yes, you and all of these other people have fallen through the cracks. (As of Feb 25.) If "Apple cares" they would immediately fix this issue. They just pretend too like the others. Not a special company lol.

Increase the lighting in your environment or buy an external HD webcam. Unfortunately Apple has not upgraded their camera to go along with the pricy new computers . I have spoken to Apple Support several times and took my computer to the Genius Bar. No solution.

Apple has not used this webcam for years. This problem is only occurring in 2020 MacBook line up. This issue isn't very well known yet but I personally have bought 3 2020 MacBooks and all of them have had this problem and I have compared it side by side to my 2015 Macbook Pro and the camera quality difference is night and day. 2015 Macbook actually seems to have a 720p camera whereas this one seems like 360p or 480p. Someone at apple messed up. Either this is hardware related in which case apple will have a huge recall program on their hands or its a software bug that should be fixed soon. This isn't a isolated incident if I have found it in 3 different MacBooks (different models) and as you can see on forums this issue is well known to 2020 Macbook owners. 2019 and previous MacBook webcams seem fine. This seems like another butterfly keyboard type disaster and I would advise everyone who has a 2020 Macbook to either return it or get Apple to fix it. I really liked the laptop but after paying so much money for a laptop I expect better. Similar quality to 2015 Macbook would have been fine but this is an expensive downgrade. I'll contact apple care tomorrow and if they only offer an exchange (I've made 2 exchanges so far) I will be returning this laptop for good.

This may be worth a read...

CNET: Why your MacBook webcam looks bad in Zoom meetings and how to fix it

Meanwhile, I think a small bright light will greatly improve your camera quality concerns.

I currently use one my wife bought for Zoom meetings, it's made by a UK company called "Daylight." I've used it several times for screencasts (e.g., Loom) and Zoom meetings, the difference is clarity is pretty striking.

I hope that helps! 😀

John

So I didn’t get it resolved - Apple told me at the store they are an inferior camera. I ended up going back to where I purchased it and basically told them I asked specifically for a good product as I do a lot of Zoom meetings. I said either give me a good webcam for half price or take the Apple back. They didn’t want to return the Apple so they sold me a webcam for half price. That was my choice and I’m really happy now. I got a Logitech webcam with a small tripod and it’s brilliant.

I traded out my 2015 MacBookAir for a 2020 and immediately received complaints that the FaceTime image was grainy. After some experimentation, I found a fix that works during my easy chair social visits. I placed a bright floor lamp a few feet in front of me and aimed it at my face. Great improvement in the picture was reported. Of course, that might not work for business meetings conducted from a desk. I've found with both MacBook and iPhone that a light source from behind me interferes with the picture quality.

I had gone to Apple to address this situation. I was informed Apple intentionally went cheap on the Mac Air, 2020 camera. There is nothing that can be done. The only intervention they recommended was, use the camera in a well lit environment. It's a shame you can spend $1k+ on a device and they go "cheap." This needs to be address with a recall or partial reimbursement.

I think I figured this thing out, finally. I did a few different things, and I'm not sure which one was the one that fixed my video quality. But this is what I did:

1. I uninstalled Zoom and then re-download Zoom for Macs with Apple Silicon chips. Here is the link: https://zoom.us/client/5.6.6.950/zoomusInstallerFull.pkg?archType=arm64
2. When I installed Zoom, I opened the app, selected zoom.us in the Menu Bar, and then selected Preferences.
3. Then I selected Video in the Sidebar, which allowed me to adjust the video quality.
4. Under the Camera subsection, I selected HD.
5. Under the My Video subsection, I selected:
   1. "Touch up my appearance," which allowed me to minimize imperfections and the video look softer.
   2. "Adjust for low light" and selected "Auto" from the drop-down bar; however, you can also select "Manual," and that would allow you to make the adjustments yourself.
6. After this, I selected zoom.us again in the Menu Bar, selected Services and System Preferences, which led me to "Keyboard" settings.
7. I selected the "Accessibility" option, and I ticked both the "Zoom" and "Contrast" options.

I also found this link that has some information on how to change the settings in the desktop client or mobile app for Zoom:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362623-Changing-settings-in-the-desktop-client-or-mobile-app

Hope this helps!

The webcam isn't great, but grinyness goes away with good lighting, try and get close to a light source and the quality should magically improve a LOT

Hi,

btw We are not Apple, we are just Apple users helping other Apple users in need of help.

I’m gonna update that statement above. I made it when I didn’t really know the camera issue then.

and yes, not just for the MacBook Air, but the MacBook Pro. I have gotten some for testing and the let down is actually the webcam. Apple has used this webcam for years without changing it and thus looks quite horrible to today’s standards. Check photo booth. It is blurry, so it can’t be the internet connection. I also suspect it’s because of the webcam quality.

Yes, it is pretty normal and there is nothing wrong with your macbook or the camera. It is just that world's best phone camera manufacturing company decided to put a 720P camera in their best laptops for what reason I would never know.

I instead bought a HD 1080P webcam to just use it for the zoom meetings or webinars.

Apparently it is. After spending a lot of time with an apple advisor and nothing making it any better, she said that it is an issue with the new Air and to go to apple.com/feedback and leave your complaints. Hopefully if they hear from enough people they will rectify the situation. I would also open a ticket with them, outlining the problem so that if your MacBook Air is out of warranty by that time, you have proof that it was an issue while still under warranty. My 10 year old MacBook Pro camera is 10 times better than my brand new Air. So disappointing.

as i personally stated above (sorry to budge in), i personally think this is perfectly normal sadly and overall no matter what you get it'll be like this and overall its just kind of sad considering it'd be pretty simple if i'm going to be honest to just simply include at least a camera from the iPhone 6 or somethin, honestly it'd be better than this terrible camera they gave us, but basically its not just your computer, its everyone's, and honestly i think a lot of things are very unfair and stupid because as i stated above and from what others are inputting, i think apple's getting cheeper with their camera and just covering it up with software (as you can see with the point i make about how the camera honestly changes completely if you run a macbook in windows and turn on the camera, its somehow 10x worse than it already was on MacOS), but, overall, no, this is not just a you thing, and sadly from what i found no, there are no fixes or workarounds besides software or an external webcam

Nothing new to add, but another confirmation of the horrible quality of the camera on the MacBook Air 2020, that Apple support knows about it, and that there is no recourse if you don't return the laptop within the 14-day return window. I even asked about upgrading to a MacBook Pro, but no luck there. The only answer the support person gave me was to provide feedback on their site. I did that, but it doesn't help me at all. I am stuck with poor hardware and have to go buy an external camera.

Anyone hear anything about potential class action lawsuits around this? That will not really compensate us, but it will be more likely to force Apple to fix the problem in the future.