Exactly this. How can we take your analysis seriously with such a glaringly inconsistent lighting situation- some images backlit with a bright ceiling light shining straight at the camera and some just apparently illuminated by light off the computer screen?
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Yes, the 2018 MacBook Air's FaceTime HD Camera is Awful
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Exactly this. How can we take your analysis seriously with such a glaringly inconsistent lighting situation- some images backlit with a bright ceiling light shining straight at the camera and some just apparently illuminated by light off the computer screen?
hi there, when i made that comment about the other persons that defend apple , i didn’t mean you, i was talking about other users but not you, i apologies for any misunderstanding, cheersWell, I actually agree with you... In earlier comments in this thread I said that it seems that Apple doesn't give a rats arse about laptops, and that I recently bought a Surface Pro (tired of Apples over priced products... bad value for what you get... in particular laptops and iPads). I by no means am a defend Apple at all costs pwrson.. I only meant to point out that there are some on here only seemingly wanting to bash Apple and nothing else.
You mean a clickbait headline, right?
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If they could make a high-enough quality camera than thin, we wouldn't have bumps on our iPhones...
All people saying there is no a big deal, should actually see the camera themselves. Photos are one thing, but the video really looks like crap. Comparing to previous MacBook Air it’s much, much worse. It feels like going down from 720p to 240p.
Please check this first in action at the store before defending Apple. This case must be resolved legally, because Apple simply lied to their customers.
Please check this first in action at the store before defending Apple. This case must be resolved legally, because Apple simply lied to their customers.
Re
Try recording something this camera is actually useful for - your face in a room.
Really? Looks completely washed out of crispiness, colors and life. But still, you selected the easiest conditions for a camera. Outdoors in a good weather.
Try recording something this camera is actually useful for - your face in a room.
you are joking right, it look like someone with glasses on the top right corner
you can see the eyes and the eyebrows
then it look like a nose or some one hand in the bottom right corner
it also looks like a virtual reality DJI mavic air menu, right in the middle of the screen
and it also looks like you are making a video capturing what is in the other side of a clear mirror
tell me if my senses or my perception is good or bad
no disrespect but I think you did this video being sarcastic
you have to know that it looks very bad
but if you think that it looks good or there is nothing wrong with it
then wait for other users to tell you what they think
if it was a joke then you succeeded in making me laugh
cheers
And Tim has blamed everything and everyone else but themselves the last few days. Even not caring that some of his false or misleading statements have a ripple effect or some histeria.
FaceTime support 32 users communicating at the same time. Each user’s FaceTime has to deal with another 31 FaceTime screens. Is it the reason why Apple keeping it FaceTime camera at 720p?
You can have a 4K front camera for video chat but it will drain all your data in a few uses.
Even if you have plan with unlimited data or you use your MacBook in an environment with WiFi, the bandwidth to maintain multiple users with high resolution video chat is difficult, the session will become lagging.
You can have a 4K front camera for video chat but it will drain all your data in a few uses.
Even if you have plan with unlimited data or you use your MacBook in an environment with WiFi, the bandwidth to maintain multiple users with high resolution video chat is difficult, the session will become lagging.
FaceTime not only serves Mac but also iOS. Considering a phone need to video conference with just 1 or 2 friends or family member, upgrading the camera to high resolution will drain your data.
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I am not talking the speed of your machine or the OS.
What I concern are the data plan and the WiFi speed.
That’s because there IS no 2018 Macbook Air.
Since the launch of the 2018 MacBook Air, we here at MacRumors have heard multiple complaints from MacRumors readers about the quality of the FaceTime HD camera housed in the device.
There have been multiple threads on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities complaining about the graininess of the camera so we decided to investigate to see if it's worse than recent MacBook Pro models or the older MacBook Air.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Many of the complaints that we saw suggested the camera was poor quality without offering direct comparisons, or with comparisons to FaceTime cameras like those in the iPhone, which are wildly better than the 720p "FaceTime HD" camera Apple uses in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines.
In a direct comparison, photos taken from Photo Booth on a 2018 MacBook Air and a modern 15-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro are almost identical, and both are pretty terrible. The MacBook Air photos are a bit darker, which can be interpreted as "worse," but all in all, both cameras are bad.
When comparing the new MacBook Air and the older 2015 MacBook Air, however, we found a more noticeable difference in quality. The FaceTime HD camera in the 2015 MacBook Air is a bit clearer and brighter, with the 2018 MacBook Air's camera letting in less light and producing an overall grainier, less clear result.
Even though we can clearly see a difference between the 2015 and the 2018 MacBook Air FaceTime HD cameras, it's not a huge gap. Both cameras are subpar, and that the FaceTime HD camera on the MacBook Air appears to have gotten worse over time rather than better is certainly disappointing.
On a modern machine with a Retina display, a 720p FaceTime HD camera just doesn't hold up, especially in comparison to devices like the iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and iPad Pro, which have much higher resolution cameras. FaceTime is limited to 720p on all devices, but the FaceTime HD camera does serve other purposes as well.
2018 MacBook Air owners are disappointed, and honestly, MacBook Pro owners should be too. 720p looks awful and it is outdated technology. Apple implemented a better 1080p FaceTime HD camera in the iMac Pro, and the quality is much better.
Hopefully future Mac notebook updates will feature higher-quality webcams as video quality has become an increasingly important feature that consumers look for when making a purchase.
Many of the complaint threads that suggested the MacBook Air camera is worse than other machines did not include comparison images, so we're still working with just a few data points here. If you have a MacBook Air and another machine, please feel free to post comparison images in the thread below so we can further investigate this issue.
Article Link: Yes, the 2018 MacBook Air's FaceTime HD Camera is Awful
Apple KILLED OFF the Macbook Air and replaced it with a rebranded “Macbook” which is a downgrade from the real Macbook Air, (which I have one of the last of, made in 2017,) just as the crappy, defective-by-design iPhones since the SE are worthless, overpriced junk, so is the “2018” Macbook “Air”.
Apple needs to fire its senior “management” and replace them with people who know how to make a decent product, and not just rip loyal customers off, before Apple runs out of them. Apple has turned its core operation from making great products to abusing its remaining loyal customers, and abusing its position just as Microsoft had done in decades past.
Liar Tim Cook claims iPhone sales are down because of people repairing their old iPhones. NOPE. All lies. They’re down because people like me are sick of Apple ripping us off. The same thing is going to happen across all Apple product lines, just you watch.
Just as an FYI, I have owned an iPod 7G, two iPod Nanos, an iPod Touch, three iMacs, a Mac Mini, (briefly,) an old Mac Pro, an old, used Mac Cube G4, a Macbook (not the modern POS one,) and two Macbook Airs, (2013 and 2017,) two iPad minis, an iPad Air, an iPad PRO, an iPhone 5S, an iPhone 6, THREE iPhone SEs...
... and I will never buy another Apple product. I sincerely doubt I’m even CLOSE to alone in this.
Apple is dead to me.
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i don’t wear glasses, i have the eyes of an eagle, can see from far perfectly fine
720p lol
i have a phantom 4 pro drone that i use to shoot 4k videos
when you see how clear , crisp and awesome 4k looks, you will nit even want 1080 much less 720p
the only glasses i wear are the 3d glasses to watch 3d movies in my projector and also to play some nvidia 3d ready games
like a said, i didn’t mean no disrespect but i didn’t know if you were serious or not, maybe you should check the options if you are using some app and turn off the effects
there are apps that put extra images on the screen but i don’t use any of those apps but if you say is fine , no problem with me
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Did you bother to ready the post?
"In a direct comparison, photos taken from Photo Booth on a 2018 MacBook Air and a modern 15-inch Touch Bar MacBook Pro are almost identical, and both are pretty terrible"
ok this an awesome comment, i agree but apple should put 4k cameras that are able to downgrade the resolution to 1080 or 720p so the user can choose what resolution they want based on their internet speed, someone with over 100 mbps will not have any problem streaming a 4k video. so having a 4k camera is not really a problem when this is very easy to fix the way i described, the only reason reason why apple doesn’t do it, is because they don’t want to, because they want to save money in components in order to make mire money on sales
i agree it is a 2 way stream just like download and upload, if the person in the other side only have a 3 mb conection then that person won’t be able to see that 4k in real time without lagging
but that’s why everything has system requirements, i think for 720p the person should have a minimun of 3 to 5 mbps at least but some people want to use FT when they only have less than a MB , so is going to lag even if the video is at the minimum 720p
so i think apple lower the bitrate and use some kind of codec compression in order to make the data packets smaller but that will ruin the image
lower bit rate = smaller file size but it will
look worse
they have 2 options, the video quality can be adjusted automatically by FT based on the internet speed of both users or it can be manually set, but if the person uses the wrong settings by maxing out the quality and if they doesn’t have a fast internet conection then is going to lag
i always ask the person in the other side their internet speed, if is slow i don’t even bother
also i’m sure you can make videos locally using photoboot or quick time at the highest resolution possible and then send that video to the person, so the video camera is not only for FT
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Just like how car manufacturers make their engines only able to go at 50 mph because going faster needs more petrol and some users might not have enough left in the tank to get home.
Oh wait, that never actually happens.
Apple doesn't care about users' data. They care about their margins. Using a cheaper camera saved them money. Simple.
What a ridiculous argumentation. There is a difference between software and hardware limitation. They could easily put decent camera and limit the FaceTime app to use lower quality streaming in this particular context and save your bandwich. I mean, isn’t that obvious?
Apple is always selling the FaceTime as a communication tool instead of a stunning photo taking camera. They can put an iPhone grade camera inside the the MacBook and suppress the resolution to 720p when FaceTiming like a comment said above. But imagine if you want to take beautiful photo or video, would you holding an iPhone to taking picture around or holding a MacBook?
The awful photos attached here are due to back-lighting problem. The light is behind the user and making his face so dark. If the light source moves a bit forward (or the user moving back a little bit), the quality should be decent instead of awful.
Do you really see much of backlight in my photos? Why was the previous generation so MUCH better?
I see there is light source from behind your head.
Why not turn 180 degree with your MacBook and show us some sample?
Unfortunately the old macbook is already sold. The result on the new one does not change even without that small source of backlight (which does not contribute much, to be fair). Anyway, I will do the shot later, to demonstrate (the older shots were made in the evening, so I'll try to reproduce the conditions, just without any potential backlight). Still the 2nd question stays - the older Air managed to get much better quality image, would you agree?
As you requested. No backlight whatsoever. Look at the quality. Awful. Compare to the photo made on the old Air (above)
