Q: Will old iSight camera work with new Mac mini?

Matthewlopez wrote: will an old isight camera work with a late 2014 Mac mini?...

Yes (if the old external iSight works.)

Apple's long ago discontinued Firewire External iSights were great webcams, but they are old (as consumer electronics go) and some may have had pretty rough treatment. Even NOS (new old stock) items may have been damaged in storage or handling.

If you have access to an external iSight, you can test it using the suggestions from this page: http://www.ralphjohns.co.uk/EZJim/EZJimpage4.html.  To reduce the possibility of conflicts for old Firewire iSights, I suggest you disconnect all other Firewire peripherals until you get your external iSight working with your mini. Then connect other needed items one at a time and test each to determine whether you can use any without conflict.

If you are considering buying an external iSight now, a new webcam (with warranty) may be a better choice. Many available alternatives are listed here: http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/

If you want more examples of external iSight and newer minis, take a look at some of the results of this search for your question.

Matthewlopez wrote: ... If so what adapters will I need?

You will need a Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter.  This adapter offers only a Firewire 800 connection.

The Firewire connection on old external iSights is a Firewire 400 connector.  Therefore, you need some way to connect to the FW800 connector on your adapter:

• To use the FW400 6pin-6pin cable that comes with iSight, you can use a 6pin-9pin adapter

  like one of these:

  http://tinyurl.com/ydsbb6m  (I use this one.)

  http://tinyurl.com/cgll7o

  http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw_adapter.html

• This Firewire 400-800 cable can work:

  http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA833ZM/A/ (I use this one.)

• Some report that this low-priced alternative cable works:

  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189097

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.10.2