iSight Digital Noise (image, not sound)

[D.G.]

Has anyone experienced a large amount of "noise" with the iSight on a new (or old) MBP? I'm talking about the digital graininess you get with cameras usually in lower light conditions.

I could overlook some of this effect, but the problem is highlighted because my new 17" MBP C2D is far worse than my wife’s older 17" MBP CD as you should be able to tell from the attached photobooth images (notebooks sitting side by side in the same lighting conditions).

Note that the noise is much less noticeable in a thumbnail. It's even more noticable if I have my face in the shot, but I didn't want to submit you all to that

I also have the warped case where the right side closes flush, and the left side does not. My concern would be that this could cause problems with the screen down the road. I'm thinking both issues together warrants a call to Apple.

Thoughts?

DG

 

[Danny Futuro]

your lighting appears different in the 2nd photo. not trying to be a trolling nit-picker by any means.

I agree though, the quality of the 2nd photo is piss-poor compared to the other one.

 

[D.G.]

There will be some variation in lighting, but the notebooks were side by side. I also can't tell how much I might have effected the shots by having the junk mail closer or farther away.

Either way, I'm not going for a scientific comparision, just trying to get the effect across. It is a definate noticable difference between the two machines.

What I find is strange is that the noise doesn't seem to change as things move around in the image. It's almost like it's overlaid ontop, if that makes sense. I didn't think to check if the noise on my wife's machine does similar or not--I'll have to wait till she's finished her school work before I can kick her off again...

Maybe I can get a better comparision if I set something up so I take one photo and then swap out the machine without changing anything else.

DG

 

[Danny Futuro]

There will be some variation in lighting, but the notebooks were side by side. I also can't tell how much I might have effected the shots by having the junk mail closer or farther away.

Either way, I'm not going for a scientific comparision, just trying to get the effect across. It is a definate noticable difference between the two machines.

What I find is strange is that the noise doesn't seem to change as things move around in the image. It's almost like it's overlaid ontop, if that makes sense. I didn't think to check if the noise on my wife's machine does similar or not--I'll have to wait till she's finished her school work before I can kick her off again...

Maybe I can get a better comparision if I set something up so I take one photo and then swap out the machine without changing anything else.

DG

does your MBP have the grainy display issue? I'm no technician, but this could be a by-product of a GPU induced display issues.

have you called applecare about it yet?

 

[D.G.]

I think if it had to do with the GPU then a photo taken in photobooth would look normal on another machine? Either way, no I'm not seeing the grainy issue.

I've noticed that the "overlaying" of noise I was trying to decribe above seems to work the same way on my wife's machine, it's just there is far less noise so it's less noticable.

I intend to call Apple tomorrow--I wanted to see if anyone had any comments first. With this combined with the "gap when closed" warp I think it's fair to ask what can be done about it. I'm also worried that it might indicate that other problems could show up in the future.

Anyone know if Apple will cross-ship? Also what is the proceedure if a replacement has problems? I'll be asking them; I just like to have some before I call

DG

 

[D.G.]

Hmm. OK so now (this morning) with sunlight streaming in the window I don't even notice the problem.

I'm going to have to classify this as performing worse in low light conditions when compared it to my wife's machine. As such maybe it doesn't warrant a call, I have to figure out just how bad the warp seems to me.

DG

 

[arnolf]

Hi, i ve the same issue with my c2d MBP, i just discovered that when my friend comed with his new macbook c2d, the ichat quality in low light was was amazingly better.He had no noise whereas mine was very noisy, just like your pics.

Do you think i must change my macbook pro (i ve it since less 15 days) or it's just a firmare problem or something like that which will be fine with an update?

 

[D.G.]

It doesn't feel like it would be a firmware thing, but I don't know. It might be something where there could be a 3rd party application to change some setting with iSight. It could purely be a hardware issue.

I would say that (like me) you have to evaluate how bad it seems to you, how much it will effect you in its current state, and what else (if anything) is wrong with the machine.

The general consensus that I see is that something minor that doesn't really effect you isn't worth worrying about if the rest of the machine is good.

Now that I know it's just a low light issue for me, I don't think it really bothers me too much. If your machine has problems in normal lighting then that could be a different story.

DG

 

[e12a]

does your MBP have the grainy display issue? I'm no technician, but this could be a by-product of a GPU induced display issues.

have you called applecare about it yet?

it wouldnt matter, because the GPU is the same. We're still unclear about whether the graininess is caused by the gpu or the LCD itself.

 

[arnolf]

my girlfriend lives far of me so i use ichat a lot and this isight issue really matters.
i just call apple care and they change my macbook pro to another one. great

 

[drewwerd]

hear hear

i also have this problem with my new c2d 17" mbp, i have had it fo about 3 days, between this and my non right clicking mighty mouse i am beginning to wonder what the hell is going on here

 

[D.G.]

my girlfriend lives far of me so i use ichat a lot and this isight issue really matters.
i just call apple care and they change my macbook pro to another one. great

Great! Was there anything else wrong with the machine? Also, are they cross-shipping it to you (sending the new one before you send the old one)?

DG

 

[symlink]

I just bought a new 17" mbp C2D this past week. I thought that the iSight camera was supposed to be really good. Mine looks like yours does - if not worse. In great lighting conditions its minimized, however in anything other than perfect it looks terrible.

I'm not being picky (I don't think so anyways). When you pay almost $3,000 for a laptop, you should expect good quality.

I'm taking it back this coming week to see what they can do with it.

 

[arnolf]

they sent me the new one 10 min after my call, and i must give mine to the transporter, but the delay for giving it seems not to matter. they just said me, see that with TNT. so i'm not pressed to send it back until the new one arrived.
I just pray god that new one will not be affected by this isight bug.If it does i think i will resign and keep it...