Have just purchased a new MacBook Air (2020 model). Have bought to use for home working (Zoom meetings, etc) and the image is really grainy when using Zoom or FaceTime. Is this normal with Macs?
MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15
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!
Guys I have placed a return request and waiting for refund now, theres nothing they can do about the web cam, when I called them they said it’s the expected behaviour, so I will wait for the new MacBook to be released with a 1080p cam or I will go see the M1 how it works with the new image processor,
but have to say MacBook Air 2015 has better images than the 2020 model ,so sad to confirm this.
An update since my earlier post:
Amac (the store I bought my Macbook Pro M1 from), checked with other models in the store and it showed no difference. Apparently, at the moment it is supposed to look this way. They stated that it might get better after an update from Big Sur (but this post shows that this is an issue that was prevalent even before Big Sur). In any case, it is mind-boggling that I get a better camera picture on a similar model (base MBP) which is 5 years older. I really hope that Apple will resolve this issue one way or another. I've already sent in a complaint.
For those of you who cannot return their laptops because they really need a new one now (or were too late in returning it), I have found (to my mind) an acceptable solution: the app 'EpocCam'. It allows you to use your phone as a webcam and you can do this either over a cable or through Wi-Fi (which is not an unnecessary luxury considering we only have 2 ports now). While it is of course not ideal, it does give me a very clear picture while Zooming or Teaming (the irony is that it doesn't work with FaceTime...). The 'pro' version is 9€, which is considerable less expensive than a new separate webcam. As I saw that some people are resorting to using their older laptops for when they need a clearer webcam picture, this might be a more convenient solution.
Of course, it is insane that I have to resort to using a phone camera (in my case from the same brand) as my webcam rather than having an acceptable quality webcam built in already (and that in 2020..). But, alas, this seems to be the case and we have to make do. I would still suggest for everyone to send in a complaint regarding this issue and hopefully we will get a proper solution.
I have spoken to folks in technical dept and in sales. And yes I cant believe they have not heard of any complaints yet the forum is so clear. I told them outright that this has to be escalated to the top. A credit should be provided, an external camera or a swap to a computer that has a better camera.They say there is no current resolution but that I should wait. I purchased my MacBook Air Oct 2020. I want to ensure something is done within the first year. The technical guy said there is a possibility of a hardware update, but I don't believe it and having a client who paid $2000 wait is not acceptable. So now I made an appointment at the Genius Bar because they other agent that I spoke to (sales agent) said I have to start somewhere. I see that I will be fighting a battle with no solution. There are several articles on this topic...seems its normal. https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/best-mac-webcams-3793045/ You need to be in a bright light for a clearer picture. Or you buy an external camera. Total disappointment for a great computer that we pay for, but has faults. Not acceptable.
Guys… they obviously have heard the complaints. Every single person working for apple is aware of this. They aren’t idiots.
They’re being told not to acknowledge this in my experience with them.
I escalated this as high as I could. Got them to send me some free accessories.
But it's too late to do that for everyone else.
It's already called “expected behaviour” for you now.
Either return the computer or buy a webcam.
It seems Apple has decided they don’t care and they can fix it on the next one without losing customers, and honestly, they’re right.
Bottom line.
Check:
1) internet connection
2) wipe any fingerprints from the screen (I’ve seen a lot of MacBooks that are FILLED with fingerprints
Make sure you are under bright light. That makes a huge difference.
Try to go to a room where the light is better. It makes a huge difference
The following ways could help:
gladysfromhadley wrote:
My brand new MBP arrived today and I just signed on to a zoom meeting. My image is very grainy. How can I adjust this?
Zoom (app) will absolutely wash the image a bit if the lighting isn't great, especially if video enhancements are turned on. Zoom will also lower the quality if the connection speed and quality are not ideal.
Ambient and direct lighting will have an impact on image quality, as well.
honestly overall just to set it in stone, and also the person i'm replying to is very non specific and it really honestly applies to everyone who thinks their computer has this "problem". this (bad MacBook camera's) is very normal and if you want to know how i know and why i am saying this with so much confidence, it is because if you actually run windows on your MacBook with BootCamp you will notice that actually in windows the camera is even WORSE, like, honestly by far, and i would show you but i can't because i'm a little busy right now but honestly i may later if i remember, and i personally declare this as the final decider because actually considering how much i use my camera "unfiltered" in apps like discord, zoom (without the filters on), etc, i can most definitely say that the camera i saw in windows compared to MacOS was definitely worse and in fact MacOS seems to actually have built in "filters" itself, for example, open an app that uses your camera on MacOS and stand ABSOLUTELY still, it will start to denoise until you move, now in windows, do the same thing and well, if you don't want to check yourself lets just say not only is the camera slightly darker, it also doesn't have denoise (in windows), and honestly just overall the noise is by far 10x worse in windows and also don't worry, yes, i am noticing after posting this that this ending is very odd and abrupt, idk what to do about it and gave up
TL;DR, bad cameras with the MacBooks is actually not only expected, but honestly normal sadly, and if you didn't read above but still want to know why i have this conclusion, if you go into windows to get the true, ACTUAL raw camera feed you will notice that it is actually much worse than the already bad camera you see in MacOS, and if you want to check for yourself you can use the built in app called BootCamp and set up windows and see for yourself just how much processing MacOS does to the camera that you aren't really told about, and even i myself have never found any article, Apple official or not, that has the same discovery which is kind of surprising
Similar experience .
Bought a MacBook Air M1 4 days back and noticed significant difference in camera quality. Picture is very blurry. While doing a FaceTime with my wife, I found her picture quality from on older MacBook model to be far clearer than my new machine, which she also pointed out right away.
Another surprising issue is that whenever there is an LED light in the background, it interferes with the FaceTime camera lense and one can see a thick vertical ray of light running across the screen.
Surprising part is that on contacting the apple store and apple call centre, I was just given the response that “Apple is aware of the LED issue”.
The picture quality during FaceTime was so bad that I was thoroughly convinced that the camera is faulty. However service center executive maintained that it is not a hardware issue and also somewhat conceded that camera in the new machine are not that good and that there is nothing he can do.
It is really disappointing.
I broke down and purchased a 1080p HD webcam which is infuriating considering how much I just spent on a laptop. They don't have to change anything because they know most of us wouldn't consider purchasing a windows computer no matter how good the camera was. I hate that fact that in a couple of years when they finally figure out the camera issue I'll have to trade up again. So annoying.
I’m afraid the 2017 onwards MacBook Air models have really bad cameras. My 2016 model is a lot better and when I phoned in to query the 2020 model I was told by Apple that there’s nothing wrong with the camera and it’s just not a very good one! So disappointed.
I returned my first MacBook Air M1 in April thinking there was a fault with the camera. That was before I googled the issue and realised it's just a rubbish camera. Older Macs with the same 720p camera are better quality because they have a bigger aperture allowing more light in. Apple tried to compensate for this by applying a heavy blurry instagram-style filter with the software update which is just embarrassing.
The website spec states the 720p camera "with image signal processor of M1 for drastically improved performance" which is just not true. I called to ask if they're planning to do a recall program to replace the camera and they said only if enough people complain (like with the keyboard issue). Seems crazy in 2020/2021 when video calling is an essential part of most people's new daily life to have such poor technology.
I took my MacBook Air 2020 to the Apple Store and to my surprise their is nothing they can do to solve this. All the MacBook's 2020 (Air & Pro) have inferior quality of camera hardware. When I compare the quality of video calls with my 2015 MacBook Air, in the same room & light conditions, the MacBook Air from 2015 has a much better and pretty good video quality. Even in darker light conditions. Co-workers with $300 computers have excellent camera's compared to my 2020 MacBook Air. It is embarrassing! I have never been disappointed in an Apple product. Well now I am! So much so, I signed a petition on change dot org. I feel lied to by Apple, telling the MacBook 2020 has a HD camera.
Grainy Image on MacBook Air 2020
