iSight almost pitch black

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patrick j - 17 Jul 2008 22:35 GMT

Hi

For the first time in a couple of months I've used my iSight camera
which is built into my Intel iMac and found that it is requiring an
enormous amount of light but still producing an extremely dark picture.
In fact it is totally unusable.

When I go to try it out with iChat Video Preview it will produce a
faint glimmer of an image for about half a second then go black. The
sound is working fine. It behaves exactly the same with Skype as with
iChat.

When I last used these programs, a couple of months ago, everything was
fine and I could get a good picture even with very low levels of light.

I have upgraded the OS since that time. I don't know if that will have
had an impact. I could have been on 10.5.2 when I last used the camera,
I can't remember, but I'm now using 10.5.4.

Thoughts anyone?

Thank you.

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Patrick

<http://www.patrickjames.me.uk>

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Jolly Roger - 27 Jul 2008 18:56 GMT

> For the first time in a couple of months I've used my iSight camera
> which is built into my Intel iMac and found that it is requiring an
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Thoughts anyone?

With my external iSight, I find that when the white balance is off,
placing something solid (a book, my hand) over the lens for a few
seconds while the iSight is turned on, then removing the obstruction
causes the iSight to recalculate the white balance, fixing the issue.
You might try that.

Otherwise, does this problem last through a restart?

Does the problem happen in a brand-new Mac OS X user account?

Have you called Apple Support about the issue? If not, you probably
should.

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patrick j - 29 Jul 2008 02:19 GMT

> With my external iSight, I find that when the white balance is off,
> placing something solid (a book, my hand) over the lens for a few
> seconds while the iSight is turned on, then removing the obstruction
> causes the iSight to recalculate the white balance, fixing the issue.
> You might try that.

I will :)

> Otherwise, does this problem last through a restart?

Yes

> Does the problem happen in a brand-new Mac OS X user account?

I'm going to try this.

> Have you called Apple Support about the issue? If not, you probably
> should.

I did phone them a couple of days ago and the guy I spoke to was very
good and helpful. He gave me a list of things to try, which I already
know about in truth, and which I'm going to do.

New user-account is one and the other usuals:

Turn off computer, disconnect all wires, press and hold powerbutton for
10 secs.
Zap the P-RAM.
Trash iSight P-List
Restart in safe boot.
If these don't work then I contact Apple again. I have a case number
now, so I should be on the way to a fix.
Thank you :)

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Patrick

<http://www.patrickjames.me.uk>

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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / July 2008

iSight almost pitch black