iSight is a brand name used by
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...
to refer to webcams on various devices. The name was originally used for the external iSight
webcam
A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...
, which retailed for US$149, connected to a computer via a
FireWire
IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony a ...
cable, and came with a set of mounts to place it atop any then-current Apple display, laptop computer,
all-in-one desktop computer, or round surface.
Apple introduced iSight at the 2003
Worldwide Developers Conference
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...
, and it was intended to be used with
iChat AV, Apple's video-conferencing client.
iMovie
iMovie is a free video editing software, video editing application made by Apple Inc., Apple for the Mac (computer), Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad. It includes a range of video effects and tools like color correction and image stabilization, b ...
(version 4 and later) could also be used to capture video from the device. In April 2005, Apple released a
firmware
In computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...
update for the iSight to improve
audio performance. As of October 13, 2008, the external iSight was no longer for sale in the Apple online store or in retail locations.
Meanwhile, Apple began using the term to refer to the camera built into Apple's
iMac
The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...
,
MacBook,
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is a line of Mac (computer), Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc., Apple since 2008. It features a thin, light structure in a machining, machined aluminum case and currently either a 13-inch or 15-inch ...
, and
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro is a line of Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple. Introduced in 2006, it is the high-end sibling of the MacBook family, sitting above the ultra-portable MacBook Air and previously the low-end MacBook li ...
computers,
Thunderbolt Display, and
Cinema Display. In November 2010, Apple began calling them "
FaceTime
FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facin ...
cameras". However, the term was not retired, as the
iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the iPhone 4s. Following a number of notable leaks, ...
and later,
iPod Touch
The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...
(fifth generation and later),
iPad
The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
(third generation and later), iPad Mini, and iPad Pro all incorporate an “iSight” rear camera in addition to a front-facing “FaceTime” or “FaceTime
HD” camera.
Design

The external iSight's ¼-inch color
CCD sensor has 640×480-pixel
VGA resolution, with a custom-designed three-part
F/2.8 lens
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...
with two aspherical elements. It features autoexposure, autofocusing from 50 mm to infinity, and video capture at 30 frames per second in 24-bit color with a variety of shutter speeds. However, the iSight has an image delay of approximately 120
ms.
The iSight incorporates internal
microphone
A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...
s with dual-element
noise suppression. The actual camera only takes up one-quarter of the unit; the remaining space is primarily occupied by its two microphones and mounting socket.
The iSight camera weighs 2.3 ounces (63.8 grams). It uses a single FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a) cable (included) for audio, video, and power.
Four camera mounts, a plastic tube carrying case, and a FireWire camera mount adapter are also included. The user can select the mounting bracket most appropriate for their monitor or other mounting surface. It is fully compatible with its
native macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
, as well as partially compatible with the
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
and
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
operating systems.
The iSight has a small green
LED that illuminates when the camera is in use. It also has an iris that closes by twisting the front of the camera.
Built-in iSight
Although external and internal iSights have significant differences, Apple has used the "iSight" name to brand its built-in video camera found in their
MacBook (includes
Retina MacBook (2015-2019)),
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is a line of Mac (computer), Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc., Apple since 2008. It features a thin, light structure in a machining, machined aluminum case and currently either a 13-inch or 15-inch ...
and
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro is a line of Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple. Introduced in 2006, it is the high-end sibling of the MacBook family, sitting above the ultra-portable MacBook Air and previously the low-end MacBook li ...
notebook computers,
iMac
The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...
desktop computers produced since late 2005 and the
LED Cinema Display. While the external iSight is similar to the built-in iSight, the built-in iSight uses an internal
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
2.0 interface and not the FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a) interface used by the external iSight camera. Further, the built-in iSight has a plastic lens, is fixed-focus, and uses a
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss
", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...
active pixel sensor, rather than the
CCD used in the external iSight. With the LED-Backlit MacBook Pros, Apple has moved to using a sensor capable of 1280x1024 pixels. The built-in iSight can also be used in the
Photo Booth application on
macOS
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
and
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
.
In 2011, the iSight branding on cameras built-in to displays on the MacBook Pro and iMac was renamed to FaceTime camera. The FaceTime HD cameras included with the 2011 and later models of the MacBook Pro and iMac can output
720p
720p (720 lines progressive) is a progressive HD signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HD (1.78:1). All major HD broadcasting standards (such as SMPTE 292M) includ ...
high-definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ( ...
. The
iMac Pro, released in December 2017, introduced a newer generation FaceTime HD camera which now outputs
1080p
1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...
video. This newer generation camera was later built into the 2020 27-inch iMac model in August 2020.
Security concerns
Some MacBooks are affected by the
iSeeYou vulnerability, potentially allowing their iSight cameras to record the user without the user's knowledge.
iSight on Linux
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...
3.0+ internally contains the driver for the iSight camera.
For previous versions of the kernel, one has to manually take out the firmware from Apple's driver through a specific program. This is because the Apple driver cannot be deployed inside a Linux distribution, the cause being legal issues. This lack of native support in the kernel for iSight persists on MacBook 2.1.
iSight Camera vs. FaceTime Camera
The June 2010 release of the iPhone 4, where Apple introduced the
FaceTime
FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facin ...
communication platform, also involved them naming the integrated front-facing camera on the device a "FaceTime Camera". All subsequent devices and models, including smartphones and personal computers, released after this announcement had the camera branded as FaceTime cameras.
In March 2012, with the release of the
third generation iPad, Apple re-introduced the iSight camera branding for the ''rear'' camera on iPhone and iPod Touch releases (retroactively, in the cases of older models still being sold at the time). Apple would once again discontinue use of the iSight branding in 2015, starting with the release of the iPhone 6s. Similarly, Apple discontinued the use of the FaceTime camera branding with the iPhone 8 as the last phone in 2017 in favour for the TrueDepth Camera branding on the iPhone X.
In general usage the iSight rear camera is used to take higher-resolution photos in scenarios where better quality is usually desired, whereas the front-facing camera is used for lower-resolution casual video conversations using the FaceTime communication platform.
References
External links
iSight Linux audio driverproject page
iSight Linux driver projecton SourceForge
for FireWire iSight cameras on Apple.com
{{Apple hardware since 1998
Apple Inc. peripherals
Webcams
Teleconferencing
Videotelephony
Discontinued Apple Inc. products