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> "...Continuity Camera. This feature allows you to use an iPhone running iOS 16 as a substitute webcam for a Mac that’s running Ventura. Mac computers tend to

> "...Continuity Camera. This feature allows you to use an iPhone running iOS 16 as a substitute webcam for a Mac that’s running Ventura. Mac computers tend to have not-great cameras, while modern iPhones have excellent ones, so this would be a reasonable decision for people to make." I would definitely use this feature. I'm pretty deep in the Apple ecosystem ("bubble"), so I'm curious to hear from Windows/Linux users if there's already software out there for using smartphone cameras as a webcam.

filoleg 4y ago
There is a third party software product that does exactly that, and I used it before a few times (Reincubate Camo; originally saw it in mentioned in HN comments, actually). Great results, and works cross-platform (tested myself on win10 and macos), but it comes with limitations and is paid through subscription (outside of the basic tier with plenty of restrictions). The UX is also a bit annoying, and it requires a USB cable. If Apple manages to integrate this functionality well as a first party macOS tool, and makes it seamless, it will be a great and welcome feature, imo. People underestimate how shitty laptop webcams are compared to any flagship smartphone camera from at least the past few years (if not earlier). People were consistently blown away by my results with the third party tool I've mentioned, so a lot of people would imo be pleasantly surprised by how awesome the results could be with the native one.
GekkePrutser 4y ago
I'd so much rather pay for an actually good webcam. Tying up my phone is annoying and that screen holder contraption looks ridiculous. And I don't have an iPhone. I'd really pay good money for a good desktop webcam with a great lens and sensor. All the upmarket options from the likes of Logitech and Microsoft are still total crap. Unfortunately all the current newcomers on the market seem to be using the same crap optical stacks but try to improve in software using stuff like machine learning. Even the Opal cam that's meant to fix this only uses an ancient pixel cam from 2016 and really heavy software (I don't want this as a FreeBSD user as it obviously won't work for me). The Lumina webcam uses the same tricks. I don't like heavy drivers on my computer and I just want my webcam to speak UVC. And a real food optical stack is still way better. Garbage in, garbage out.

filoleg 4y ago

There is a third party software product that does exactly that, and I used it before a few times (Reincubate Camo; originally saw it in mentioned in HN comments, actually). Great results, and works cross-platform (tested myself on win10 and macos), but it comes with limitations and is paid through subscription (outside of the basic tier with plenty of restrictions). The UX is also a bit annoying, and it requires a USB cable. If Apple manages to integrate this functionality well as a first party macOS tool, and makes it seamless, it will be a great and welcome feature, imo. People underestimate how shitty laptop webcams are compared to any flagship smartphone camera from at least the past few years (if not earlier). People were consistently blown away by my results with the third party tool I've mentioned, so a lot of people would imo be pleasantly surprised by how awesome the results could be with the native one.

GekkePrutser 4y ago

I'd so much rather pay for an actually good webcam. Tying up my phone is annoying and that screen holder contraption looks ridiculous. And I don't have an iPhone. I'd really pay good money for a good desktop webcam with a great lens and sensor. All the upmarket options from the likes of Logitech and Microsoft are still total crap. Unfortunately all the current newcomers on the market seem to be using the same crap optical stacks but try to improve in software using stuff like machine learning. Even the Opal cam that's meant to fix this only uses an ancient pixel cam from 2016 and really heavy software (I don't want this as a FreeBSD user as it obviously won't work for me). The Lumina webcam uses the same tricks. I don't like heavy drivers on my computer and I just want my webcam to speak UVC. And a real food optical stack is still way better. Garbage in, garbage out.