Facetime camera settings on Macbook Pro Retina

I have the same problem. If I compare the video quality with my early 2011 mbp 15" then the new retina seems to be worst. 😮 Actually I have thought that apple upgraded it and not a downgrade how it looks like now. Would appreciate if someone has any idea to fix that. cheers

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I'm dealing with the same issue. It's really bumming me out actully! It's SO BAD that I was worrying that something was specifically wrong with "my" comp. I was under the impression these new MBPr's (13") had the same facetime camera as the iphone 5? It's not even on the same planet as my iphone 5 front cam. I'll be anxious to hear some other feedback. The image quality I'm getting is definitely not acceptable. Firmware update hopefully?

I called the Apple support and they couldn"t really help me with the cam issue. Therefore they suggested that I should go to an Apple store and compare the image quality of the facetime cam with the macs there. And guess what, all looked same and one of the guy's there told me this is because I had a 15 inch before which was brighter because of the bigger screen. I'm using my Mac always under low light conditions and due to the smaller screen with the 13 inch now the image quality is not that good anymore. So the solution is I just need more light in my room and then I have a good image and it worked. 🙂

Thanks for the update but for me the fact that the camera images on all the display units look the same only shows that there's a problem with all of them. The fact remains that EVERY other apple device I have with a camera looks better than my new $1700 13" MBPr. Even a cheap crappy camera will show a clear image when extremely well lit. The iPhone 5 screen is significantly smaller than our 13" laptops and again the clarity of the FaceTime cam on there is worlds better than the MBPr. Im not buying it, we need a real solution. Either the hardware in these are really lousy (circa 2000ish) or we need a firmware/software update. I absolutely love my my new retina MacBook other than this.

Dear all,

i'm just sitting in front of my new MacBook Pro 15,4 Retina and i'm really shocked about the quality of the iSight Camera. It seems there is a kind of filter in front of the picture which makes it very, very worse. I installed glasses and I can improve the picture a little bit. When I compare with my iPad 3, my iPhone 5 and my old MacBook 13,1 (without retina), all of this are much, much better than the new iSight Cam.

First I thought about a damage, but i am afraid, this is just normal.

What does Apple say????

(The MacBook was bought in Germany)

NYMacLover wrote: ... How can I correct this, or is reliable third party software available ...

See if restarting Mac, modem, and router (if you use one) fixes the problem.

After restarting, if your camera has problems ONLY with apps like FaceTime that are connected, your internet service may be too slow. Try connecting somewhere with higher speed internet.

If your camera doesn't work well with any app (Photo Booth, QuickTimeX, iMovie, etc.), try adding light to the subject. If you cannot add lots of bright room light, or if that does not does not help you, http://ecamm.com/mac/iglasses/instructions.html can adjust many of your cam's parameters.

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.2

Armin0406 wrote: ... What does Apple say???? ...

Apple info from http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/

(page down near bottom)

Apple info from http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/

(page down near bottom)

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.2

Good joke...from Apple. The other solution: there is a serious damage in my cam. I can't belife that the quality is so low.

Today afternoon I will have a call from Apple (hopefully). I also plan to visit the Apple Store here in Munich to verify the quality by looking at other MacBook Pro's.

Here is an example of the poor quality i mean:

As I allready wrote, it looks like I have a sort of Filter or dust in front of the camera, there was plenty of light in the room... It was taken with Photo Booth, so no problem with a low internet service (same results in Quicktime).

Also with Glasses I just can improve the quality a little bit.

I wonder that this issue wasn't reported in any journals and any internet-sites in Germany. I had to search a lot to find anything about it in German language.

I will report about my experience with the Apple people...

I am pleased to hear that I am not the only one to have this issue.

Indeed I bought over the weekend the new iMAC and certainly the 'HD' from the camera does look very poor indeed.

It was confirmed by my family as I used both my IPAD and imac using twice skype. They confirmed me that IPAD is better than Imac. I just could not believe, at the very leastm, it should be vice versa !

Conclusion it is not about light nor about internet connection.

However I just tried at the london aiport today and my face was not bad. So I am seriously considering bringing it back to the store I bought. I will try the light soon and see if any different.

I have returned my MacBook Pro 15,4 to the seller yesterday. The face time camera began to have cords and stripes. Obviously a defect in the camera. It worked fine for about one day, the second day it began to make trouble.

After all, I think the poor quality ist just "normal". I have an iMac 27 which I bought late 2011. All is fine with it, the camera is much better than the one in the MacBook.

I wonder, why there is no reply by apple in this forum??? Hello, Apple, someone home??? ;-)

Thanks for your info. My iMac is the 21 version bought last weekend. I will call Apple and see if I get any feedbacks. Otherwise I will return it and see if the new one I get is any better...

This is pathetic... Thanks NYMacLover for this thread...

Armin0406 wrote: ...why there is no reply by apple in this forum? ...

• Because you are NOT writing to Apple here. Most who post here are merely users like you. Apple offers this forum to allow users to help each other. You will find additional helpful info in the tutorial pages starting with http://discussions.apple.com/static/apple/tutorial/etiquette.html

• For one on one help from Apple, contact your Apple Store or use on-line options like http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/contact/

• To offer MBP comments or improvement suggestions directly to Apple, use MBP "Feedback": http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

For feedback on other items, select from http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You are unlikely to get a direct response from your "Fedback", but you can be certain that the responsible Apple people will see your input for consideration in future products.

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.8.2

Just purchased a new MBP 13 and I have the same problem the camera is just plain crap on these laptops. My iPhone 5, iPad2, MacBook Air, and iMac is all a better camera. Apple you have a problem and need to fix it! As you can see from all the other post about the MBP 13 camera Apple does not admit to having a problem and there is more than enough people saying the same thing. It is real bad at best on the MBP 13. If I would have known this I would not have bought the MBP 13. If there is a firmware fix do it and stop brushing us off Apple. The sad part this has been going on for ar least 2 years. #fail

I am having a similar issue with the MacBook Pro 15" Retina I purchased this March. The pictures look terrible and the Photobooth does not recognise the enable flash feature. Pictures look dark and blurry in many lighting conditions. Apple advertise the camera as being an upgrade from prevous models and honestly my photos from my 2008 MacBook Pro, although at a lower resolution, still looked clearer than the pictures taken on my new MacBook Pro.

I tried uploading photos, but the website is suddenly buggy. I keep getting an error message.