At WWDC 2022, Apple announced a new camera feature as part of Continuity Mode. Now, if the user does not have enough built-in webcam on Mac, you can use your iPhone by attaching it to the top edge of your computer screen using a special holder. Cupertino did not limit itself to ordinary shooting and added additional settings to improve the quality of the final image. The only question is whether users need it because the front camera is used mainly for business calls but not for creating serious photos and videos.
iPhone as a webcam
This use of the iPhone looks very strange.
First and foremost, you need to use the camera in Continuity to ensure that your Mac has macOS Ventura installed and your iPhone has iOS 16. Both operating systems are currently in beta, so you perform all installation steps at your peril and risk. Before installation, do not forget to create backup copies to avoid losing data.
After installing new operating systems, you should connect your computer and phone to the same Wi-Fi network and unlock your smartphone. Since the Continuity camera is a system camera, the iPhone can be selected as the camera in any application with a selection option. The iPhone 13 Pro Max and Skype were used as an experiment. Although the program has not been updated for the new operating system, the iPhone got out without problems instead of the built-in camera.
The options are displayed in the Control Center. The camera and microphone can be configured separately from each other. This allows users to use any other microphone of their choice. You can combine as you like.
Quality of shooting:
To improve the quality of shooting, Apple has added a few additional settings:
- In the Spotlight
- Portrait
- studio light
Spotlight lets you keep your face in the center of the image using the ultra-wide camera. Since this lens has a lower aperture than a wide-angle lens, much more light is needed when using it. Or, there would be a lot of noise during shooting. When this mode is turned off, the iPhone will switch to the standard camera. And the shooting quality will increase significantly.
Desk View is designed to demonstrate the space on the table in front of the computer and the keyboard. This mode with the holder presented at the presentation is simply inconvenient. Desk View uses an ultra-wide camera. The angle of the iPhone installation is such that in the final image. The camera shows the picture not in front of the Mac itself but at a distance.
When using desktop computers, this will not be a problem – you can move back a little, but if you use a laptop, then moving, for example, the keyboard from it will not work. The camera lacks a viewing angle. Desk View is well suited for large desks and iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio users. These may be problems with the beta version, but the viewing angle for the camera will not be expanded with a stable version.
Camera on Mac
The holder, of course, will need to be purchased separately.
Many users of Apple computers have a natural question – why? Why did they devise a sophisticated way to improve shooting quality instead of just installing a normal camera on computers?
Yes, the new MacBook Air and Pro on the M2 chip have upgraded the camera from 720p to 1080p, but the old cameras were enough for most users. Remote work, which came to the masses with the Covid-19 pandemic, drove employees home, but no one has yet been fired because the front camera in work meetings was not the same as the main camera of the iPhone.
