Why does the camera go grainy on my iPad when I switch to record

Are you using the rear camera? I notice if I am in video mode and switch to the front camera it goes grainy but that is because the front camera isn't as good as the rear one. Also, the lighting could be the issue? I kinda have this question too, so let's hope someone can help.

Did you try to use some more light? I found a big difference between shooting video inside and outside in the sun.

With the sun outside your video is super crispy and real, but inside with only a little light or artificial lighting, the video looks grainy. The more light - the better 😉

Yup, Ingo2711 is right, I just tried that. I have a huge window in my living room, sunlight pouring in, no artificial lights on and the video is crisp! Then I go into my kitchen where the overhead bad lighting is on and no sunlight and the video IS grainy.

Experiment, you will see.

What you are seeing as gainy on the screen is actually noise from the camera sensor. Low light means low signal for for the sensor, hence you see the noise. With more light, your signal is higher but the sensor noise is still at the same level, so the graininess will go away.

I think the reason that you do not see the graininess from taking a photograph but see it in video mode is due to exposure time. I do not know 100% since I do not work for Apple, but here is my speculation based on my experience in digital photography.

When taking a photograph in a low lighting situation, the camera can take a longer exposure time (1/2 seconds lets say), which mean it can use the sensor in a less sensitive and less noisy mode, so the photo comes out clear and grain free. But when you switch to video mode, the camera can no longer take a longer exposure for the video because videos is continuously being streamed (continuous meaning at least 50-60 frames per second, likely >100 frames per second). This means the images captured by video mode must be taken at least at 1/60 of a second. In order to get a properly exposed image (an image you can see that is not too dark or too bright) the sensor is forced to run at a more sensitive thus more noisy mode. Hence the grains you see on your screen.

hope this helps :-)

I don't think lighting would make it go grainy on the screen!

It definitely will. Try in better lighting, i.e. outside in the daylight.