Camera - ASD vs M1 iMac 24?

[Morseman]

Of course, I've heard about the camera issues on the ASD. At this time (prior to any update), is the ASD camera inferior to the M1 iMac 24?

 

[sigamy]

I'm not sure if they are the same camera hardware, but I think they are different. iMac Tech Specs page says: "1080p FaceTime HD camera" and ASD lists "12MP Ultra Wide camera with 122° field of view", ƒ/2.4 aperture and Center Stage.

The iMac doesn't support Center Stage. I think CS and the Ultra Wide camera, are contributing to some of the issues as they are taking that 12MP ultra wide image and cropping the image...maybe down to 720p?

I'm hopeful that they can fix the other image quality issues -- poor dynamic range, wonky skin tones, flat image, etc. as that can be adjusted a bit by software. But this decision to use the ultra wide and Center Stage...personally I think it's a mistake. I'd guess that 90% of the time the ASD camera would be used by one person sitting fairly static, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Morseman]

I wonder if use of a "monocle" over the lens could narrow the field, without creating more artifacts. Can you turn off Center Stage?

 

[thatsthequy]

I wonder if use of a "monocle" over the lens could narrow the field, without creating more artifacts. Can you turn off Center Stage?

Yes, you can.

 

[MacDevil7334]

I don’t have a 24” iMac to compare to. But I think it must have the better camera by default. The camera in the ASD is worse than any webcam I have used in any Apple device since they stopped shipping VGA resolution cameras in their products like 8-10 years ago. If anything, I think all the negative reviews were maybe underselling a bit just how awful this camera is. It is NOT just because you are looking at a 1080p image on a 5K screen. The 720p camera in my 2017 iMac 5K this monitor is replacing also looks better, despite being a lower resolution sensor.

The only good thing I can say is that I believe Apple that the poor camera quality (at least partially) is due to a software issue. It has to be. There is simply no way Apple would intentionally ship a camera this poor and advertise it as heavily as they did. Either someone dropped the ball on the software side or Apple’s supplier delivered defective sensors and they all somehow slipped past hardware QC.

 

[uller6]

I had both for a time, but returned the studio display. The studio display (edit: camera) quality was worse than my old 2013 MBP. And the M1 iMac has the best webcam I’ve ever seen in a computer, period. The M1 iMac camera is leagues better than the studio display.