Apple to current Macs with the exception of Mac mini a Mac Pro mounts a built-in iSight camera, which you can even find in Apple LED Cinema displays. The cameras have a decent resolution, which is absolutely enough for your normal work, and if you talk via Skype with anyone who has a built-in camera, they will definitely not have the same quality of display as you. Macally, however, bet on the flexibility that built-in cameras do not offer with its new Macally MegaCam, let's take a look at this new product.
Package contents
In addition to the camera itself, the transparent plastic box also contains a long Micro-USB cable that has no problem reaching anywhere, even a really large table. Of course, there is also the necessary instructions, unfortunately it is not in Czech, although Macally usually supplies them with its products. miniThere is a Czech description, don't look for it here. The instructions are in English, German, Spanish, French.ancEnglish and Italian.
Design
The camera has a very nice design, Macally probably bet that it would be bought by users of older machines, or MacBook White, so do the owners of the aluminum ones. The colors are white and silver, which resembles aluminum, making it suitable for all machines Apple. On the front side, in addition to the camera lens itself, there is also a microphone and a blue LED, but it does not shine, but is covered with a layer of translucent plastic, so it only shines so that it cannot disturb you. On the other hand, the LED light, thanks to its immediate location near the lens, can be used as an observation point so that you always look directly into the camera. The silver piece of the camera on which the microphone is located serves as a lens cover, as it is sliding. The biggest advantage of the camera is the already mentioned flexibility, you can easily attach it to any monitor from the widest iMac to the thinnest MacBook Air 2010, thanks to the unique attachment system it will hold steady everywhere, and it can also be placed on a table, which is suitable for macro shots. The parts that directly touch the display are rubberized, so the precious display cannot be scratched during normal use. The only thing that is a bit of a shame in my opinion are the materials used. Of course, the camera is plastic, unfortunately it looks a bit like a toy made of Kinder eggs. The materials are high quality, you can't just destroy the joints, but it could simply have been much more attractive in terms of appearance.
Quality
Apple started as one of the first manufacturers to install built-in webcams in their computers, in 2007 in white iMacs and MacBooks, first there were cameras with a resolution of 640x480 pixels and a 0,3 Megapixel chip. They currently have cameras built in Apple LED Cinema, MacBooks and iMacs 1,3Mpix and resolution up to 1280×1024, which allows you to use, for example QuicktimeMacally decided that the built-in camera forces users to always film with the entire machine and, for example, filming product reviews that are lying on the table is impossible. That's why they came up with the Macally MegaCam, which offers max2Mpix CMOS chip, which can handle a resolution of 1600×1200 at 30 frames per second. However, the actual resolution of the camera, which the chip is capable of recording, is VGA, i.e. 640×480 pixels. To achieve the declared resolution of 1600×1200, everything is solved in software, which is of course clearly noticeable in the result! All podcasts Letem svetem Applem were filmed at Apple LED Cinema 24″ built-in iSight and their quality is definitely higher than if I was using this camera. In short, iSight copes with the artificial increase in resolution much better than the Macally MegaCam. I was secretly hoping for something a little different, something a lot different actually, a quality camera that you can actually use to shoot basic videocasts or something like that. Unfortunately, the quality of the iSight far surpasses that of the Macally MegaCam.
Mini360p quality
Medium quality 480p
Max1080p HD quality
Summary
As you can see, the camera has a resolution of 1600x1200 pixels, but unfortunately this resolution is completely unusable and magicYou can only achieve a high HD resolution of 1080p at the cost of a significantly chopped image that is unusable. At lower quality, the iSight camera is of better quality and its only drawback remains zero flexibility. With the Macally MegaCam, thanks to its low profile, remarkable footage can be recorded, which is unfortunately affected by the very low quality of the camera. It's a shame, because if Macally could improve the image quality, it would definitely be great for recording product reviews, for example.
Thanks for the article. Quite a surprise that only after 5,5 years I discover a would-be clone of the original Apple iSight. By the way, I still use it to this day rather than the small ones that are in today's iMacs or portable Macs (compromise for size, of course - asking for a CCD element the size of a pinhead is impossible). It's a shame that the Megacam manufacturer doesn't state the aperture of the lens or the width of the lens. Apple iSight has optics with F2.8 which is the value of L-series Canon professional lenses with a red stripe. and the sound from the built-in microphone is also top-notch – probably not here. It is also not clear from the article whether Megacam has autofocus (it does mini USB without power? so probably not, Apple iSight drives via FireWire 6-pin with power and focus ). Although it leads in terms of resolution, we all know that a 6 Mpix SLR camera with a quality lens takes better pictures than a 15 Mpix compact. Of course, this product will probably be very cheap and will probably meet expectations. Thanks again for the review, which confirmed to me that it is timeless Apple is catching up hard.
Definitely yes. It was equipped with many holders and adapters from the then white iMacs to iBooks. The magnetic holder of this camera on the iMac or Cinema Display was removed from below. Not many people know that even on the current iMac, there is a magnet on the top left of the built-in webcam holding the iron place on which my iSight is held. It is interesting to turn on the camera - by turning the lens cover - then a small green LED lights up at the top and a white mechanical shutter opens above the lens - unlike today's built-in cameras, the user could see when the camera could shoot him and when it could not, thanks to the white shutter. The metal material with holes ala WOZ's business card was fascinating. In February 2005, it cost me CZK 5500.
Yeah, I'll upload something over the weekend to my MobileMe space and email the link to:
roman.zavrel@letemsvetemapplem.eu
Hi…slightly off topic, can you please tell me where I can get this type of clock??? I have been looking for a clock like this for quite some time..classic mechanical flippers! Thanks for the info! :)
Great thanks a lot! :)
..hmm, there are two types, but that's not the right one, can you please tell me the exact type and possibly the manufacturer of the ones in the video?? thank you very much
Well, I finally found something on eBay.com
http://cgi.ebay.com/Retro-Flip-Desktop-Alarm-Clock-Gear-Operated-Cube-704-/250725544399?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a606831cf#ht_2165wt_907
:)