- Apple Macbook Pro Webcam
- Best Webcam Macbook Pro
- Apple Macbook Pro Indonesia
- Webcam Apple Macbook Pro 13.3
- Best Webcam For Macbook Air
- Webcam Apple Macbook Pro Leather Case
Oct 18, 2020 The cams listed here are ideal as an add-on webcam for an Apple Mac mini or Pro tower. They can also provide iMac and MacBook users more flexibiity in camera placement and quality over their built-in iSight. CloudValley Webcam Cover Slide2-Pack, 0.023 Inch Ultra-Thin Metal Web Camera Cover for MacBook Pro, iMac, Laptop, PC, iPad Pro, iPhone 8/7/6 Plus, Protect Your Visual Prvacy Black 4.3.
Mac Webcams That Just Work
Looking to buy a driver-free, fully Macintosh compatible webcam? Have USB 2.0, 3.0 or 3.1 ports? The external webcam models listed here are UVC - USB Video Class compliant. They're simply Plug and Play on modern Macs running MacOS Sur, Catalina, Mojave and Sierra, as well as OSX El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Lion, and Leopard. Some older cameras made for Windows PC's may not work on Apple Macintosh computers, or Mac web camera drivers may not exist.Save yourself wasted money and frustration. Make certain you have USB 2.0 speed or faster ports, OSX 10.5+, and a Mac faster than 1Ghz. You can then confidently choose one of these Apple friendly driverless UVC webcam models listed below and elsewhere on the site. We're devoted to tracking the Mac friendly web camera and video conferencing peripheral scene.
Plug-N-Play Mac Webcam Picks
Recommended UVC compliant external cams for OSXLast Updated: October 18th, 2020
(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
Best Logitech Cameras For Mac
C922 Stream Pro w/Tripod Mount
Improved Frame Rates Up To 60FPS
#1 CHOICE : Mac Compatible HD Webcam With Standard Tripod Mount
Like: Revised C920-series optimized for high frame-rate live streaming: 1080p @ 30FPS and 720p @ 60FPS with H.264 video compression. Optical quality glass lens. Stereo Dual microphones.
For 90% of Mac users, this is your BEST CHOICE for high-quality video capture, conferencing and live streams. Besides Amazon, you can find competitive pricing for the C922 webcam on eBay as well.
Dislike: Logitech packages two different confusing SKU's: The C922 model comes bundled with a mini-tripod, the C922X (x=without) model doesn't.
Wide-Angle HD Camera
90 Degree Field Of View
#2 CHOICE : Premium Logitech C930e HD Webcam
Incredible State-Of-The-Art Image Detail, Smooth Autofocus, H.264 Compression.
Like: Tripod Mount. 1080p HD Webcam. Zeiss Optical Lens. Dual Microphones.
Dislike: You Might Not Prefer A 90 Degree Wide-Angle View.
Logitech C920S Cam
High Quality : Great Value
#3 CHOICE : Mac Compatible Logitech HD Webcam
Excellent detail and clarity, Hardware Autofocus, H.264 Compression
Like: Tripod Mounting Hole. Zeiss Glass Lens. Stereo Microphone. Privacy Shutter. Though superceded by the newer 922, this remains an excellent camera - especially at it's lower street price.
Dislike: None. Excellent All-Around Choice - Razor Sharp.
Portable HD Webcam
Tripod Camera Mount
Like: Lower-priced 1080p HD webcam. Glass lens. Standard camera tripod mount for flexibility in camera angles and placement. Folds flat for travel.
Dislike: Considered a 'Portable' cam - Has a rather short 3' cable.
Best Microsoft Webcams For Mac
Microsoft HD Pro Webcam For Mac
Optical Lens w/AutoFocus
Like: Premium 1080p Resolution. Excellent Audio, Color Balance and Light Sensitivity.
Dislike: Flexi-Bend Clip May Not Be Ideal - But Has Standard Tripod Mounting Hole.
MS LifeCam HD For Mac
720p HD With AutoFocus
Like: Autofocus. Sharp Optical Glass Lens. Excellent Color Fidelity.
Dislike: No Tripod Mount. 720p Max Resolution HD Camera.
Best Creative Web Cameras For Mac
Creative Live Cam Chat
720p HD Resolution
Like: 720p HD Resolution, Fixed Focus, Echo Cancelling Microphone.
Dislike: Image not as sharp as Logitech C310 at this price point.
3rd-Party Apple Compatible Cameras
Although Logitech, Creative Labs, and Microsoft have dominated the OSX friendly videoconferencing cam market, several other brand-name cameras are worthy of consideration, espcially if you're on a budget.Hue Flexible Neck Webcam
Excellent For Adult Video Play
Like: Ultimate Positioning Freedom. Clear HD Image. Internal Mic.
Dislike: Manual Focus. LED Lights Can Be Annoying Head-On.
Hewlett-Packard UVC Webcam
HP's Premium HD Camera
Like: 1080p Resolution. Autofocus. High-Quality Microphone.
Dislike: Snapshot Buttons Non-Functional on OSX. Excellent HD Cam.
RocketFish Mac HD Webcam
Autofocus + Stereo Microphones
Like: 720-1080P Resolution. Good Light Sensitivity and Color Balance.
Dislike: Discontinued. Snapshot Button Non-Functional.
Best Cheap Webcam
RocketFish 720p HD Camera
Like: Great Image! Responsive AutoFocus and Excellent Microphone Quality.
Dislike: Discontinued - But Still Available. Flimsy Mounting Clip.
1080p HD GearHead Webcam
Cheap 1080p Mac Webcam
Like: High HD Resolution. Auto-Focus. Stereo Mics.
Dislike: Lacks Precision Optics, Not As Sharp An Image.
About Driver-Free UVC Webcams
UVC is a compatibility standard for USB video chat cameras. Apple's UVC Kernel Extensions are built into MacOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave and Sierra, as well as OSX ElCapitan, Yosemitie, Mavericks, Lion and Leopard. That means any UVC compliant external USB camera should just work when plugged into a Mac's USB 2.0 speed or faster port. No additional webcam drivers are required. Windows, Linux, Andrioid, and Chrome OS also now natively support UVC class video camera device standard.The cams listed here are ideal as an add-on webcam for an Apple Mac mini or Pro tower. They can also provide iMac and MacBook users more flexibiity in camera placement and quality over their built-in iSight. They're also good cross-platform PC and Linux webcams for those who use VMWare Fusion, Parallels or Apple's BootCamp on their Macs to run other operating systems.
All recent Logitech's webcam models are now UVC compliant and officially supported on a Mac. However, many older discontinued mid-to-low end Logitech cameras were not UVC compliant: Depends on model number, different internal sensors, and part numbers.
Dirt Cheap Generic UVC Mac Webcams
'You get what you pay for..' seems to apply to many dirt-cheap no-name import USB video class web cameras. Feeling lucky? Don't care about warranty or returning it? Then explore cheap webcams on eBay or Amazon for ought-to, should, might probably work on an Apple web camera options from China. In our testing, many of the cheap import cameras available for $10-$15 had high dead-on-arrival failure rates. Image quality varied widely. Some claimed to be High-Def 'HD' but were only low-resolution camera sensors. Microphones sounded poor or were non-functional. Even some of the cams with a decent image simply stopped working soon after purchase. Overall they were poorly-constructed, cheap junk with a few rare exceptions.Apple Compatible Web Cameras For Old Macs
For long obsolete Macs from the G4 and G5 era, remember UVC compliant webcams require USB 2.0 or faster ports. With their slow CPUs, 640x480 resoultion won't overwelm them. The Mac MUST also be running OSX 10.4.x at a minimum - the point where Apple began including UVC device support into the OS.Apple Macbook Pro Webcam
VGA QuickCam Ultra - 640x480 Fixed Focus
Microsoft Live! Web Cam - Value Priced
Like: Suprising Image Quality, Adjustable Focus Ring, Low-Cost
Dislike: Stand Designed For Desktop Not Laptop. No Microphone
Webcams For Obsolete Macs?
Trying to keep an antique Macintosh in use? Think FireWire instead. Modern high-resolution UVC cams simply WILL NOT WORK on old 800mhz or less Macs, who's slow and incompatible USB 1.x speed ports are FOURTY TIMES slower than USB 2.0. Those that claim to be USB 1.1 compatible in their specification listings may have utterly abysmal frame-rates on USB 1.x or show NO image at all, even though Apple's System Profiler may show that the camera exists on the USB 1.1 bus. Otherwise you're left dinking around with any of hundreds of old, discontinued webcams made for Windows and fiddling with Macam open-source drivers hoping for a combination that will work.You can still find decent, used Apple iSight cams at Amazon or find a deal on an iSight on eBay. Sadly, Apple stopped manufacturing their very high-quality 1394 FireWire auto-focus web camera rather quickly. 1394 is better than USB for video conferencing and chat in many technical aspects: External FireWire webcam compatibility with iMovie, less CPU overhead, high frame-rates and avoids USB device contention when slugging it out on a USB hub. USB cameras aren't the only options to provide Macintosh users with high quality choices to chat and videoconference using popular Mac OSX applications like FaceTime, Zoom, Apple Messages, Skype, and ISPQ VideoChat, or for capturing and uploading clips to YouTube, Vimeo, Daily Motion or other video sites.
Choosing An External Mac Compatible Web Cam
What are key features to look for when shopping for an Apple compatible webcam? Even though the vast majority of Apple computer systems incorporate an iSight camera into the display, there's still tremendous interest in buying an external Mac camera that offers improved image quality, higher frame rates, a better internal microphone, increased HD resolution, or additional flexibility in camera angles, mounting options, and positioning. Please see the Mac Webcam Shopper Guide on this site for a more in-depth review of camera features to look for when pondering the optimal hardware for your business or personal video capture, streaming and conferencing needs.Video Conferencing Microphones & Headsets
Most, but not all Macs have a built-in microphone for 'good enough' sound capture. But another option is a good quality Mac compatible USB webcam with a mic that most (but not all) webcams incorporate. A separate USB desktop microphone might be desired to provide the best sound quality to dramatically improve your online streaming, voice and video capture and recording sessions.Headsets or earbuds can help you have a far better videoconferencing, FaceTime, Zoom or Mac Skype call experience and help minimize background noise, or echo and feedback. USB headsets may have more advantages than 4-Pole 1/8' TRRS Analog mini-jack types that often compete with your external speaker system. A high-quality Mac headset comes in handy for not only Mac VOIP, video conferences and Apple speech recognition, but top notch iTunes audio playback and Podcast recording and listening as well.
Specialty Webcams For MacOS
Beyond conventional chat, streaming and capture cams, this website also features more specialized Apple compatible web camera solutions. These include: Document Cameras for educators and presentations. Mac compatible USB Digital Microscopes for labwork and inspections. There are also both wired and wireless Security and Surveillance Cameras. Lastly, for group video chat we cover Mac friendly webcams that offer fully-featured voice and video conferencing with mic and speakerphone hardware for business meeting and huddle room environments.Apple recently released a new MacBook Pro, and it has all the latest specs: latest generation CPU, blazing-fast SSD, and keyboard so good that they call it Magic. One thing that didn’t change is the camera.
In fact, Apple didn’t change its webcams since 2012. If you check specs for 2020 MacBook Pro and specs for Late 2012 Mac, they both have “720p FaceTime HD camera”.
So, if you are a YouTube blogger or need a good camera for school or work, you either have to use iPhone or buy an external device.
I reviewed multiple webcams, and the following are my best recommendations.
Product Comparison: 3 Best External Cameras for Macbook Air And Pro
Camera | Rating |
---|---|
Logitech BRIO – Ultra HD Webcam for Video Conferencing, Recording, and Streaming | Best 4K Camera★★★★★ |
Logitech C930e 1080P HD Video Webcam | Best USB 2.0 camera★★★★★ |
Allinko 880 Auto Focus Webcam 1080P with Camera Cover | Budget Pick★★★★☆ |
How to Choose A Webcam For A Mac
Image Quality
Let’s start with the fact that 720p cameras outdated. Apple had it on its laptops for 8 years, and eight years is a long time in the technology world.
Why did Apple not change it yet? I guess the reason is that the company likes big margins on its products. While they don’t provide sales numbers, I remember reading somewhere that they sell iPhones with a 50% margin, i.e., they sell a phone that costs them $200 for $400.
And one way to increase margins is to buy cheap parts. Mobile video maker software, free download. Since they can put cheap slow CPU into MacBook, Apple saves on non-essential parts such as webcam or audio.
But let’s compare 720p and 1080p cameras. It sounds that 1080 is not much bigger than 720; however, the difference is quite big.
Apple store mac os x yosemite. A 720p camera has a resolution of 1,280 x 720 (921,600 pixels per image), and 1080p has a resolution of 1,920 × 1,080 (2,073,600 pixels per image). In other words, the 1080p camera has a twice higher resolution.
More pixels mean a more detailed image. Have you ever tried to zoom in a picture until it gets blurry? Well, the depth of how far you can zoom in depends on the number of pixels. If the image has fewer pixels, it means the image quality is lower.
How about 4k cameras?
A resolution in 4K cameras is 3,840 × 2,160, or 8,294,400 pixels per image. As a result, they produce the highest quality.
Image Size
More pixels are better, right?
The answer, as always is it depends. Besides, image quality twice more pixels also means twice more space. And the same length video will be about twice larger as well.
If you have limited storage on the MacBook, then very big files can be a problem. Fortunately, this problem can be easily fixed by purchasing a large external hard drive. These days it is easy to buy a good brand name 4TB drive for less than $100.
Another issue with large size files is it takes longer to transmit them over the network. So, if you need a webcam for video conferencing, getting a 4K camera may not be a good idea because the connection can be quite choppy with the higher video quality.
Best Webcam Macbook Pro
Privacy Cover
Yesterday I received an email from one of my readers, which reads as follows, “I suspect my MAC has been compromised (I have a Macbook Pro) and all the software is up to date. I got a email from someone stating that they have recorded items via my macbook camera.”
I suggested purchasing a webcam cover on his MacBook.
The same recommendation applies to external cameras. Fortunately, some of them have privacy cover included, so there is no need to research and buy an extra part.
Microphone
Many webcams come with microphones as well. While MacBooks have a decent mic, sometimes it makes sense to use the one included in an external camera. It’s just one more feature to consider before making a purchase.
Apple Macbook Pro Indonesia
Connection Type
When choosing an external device, you have to know which ports are available on your computer.
For instance, if you have only USB-C ports, then having a camera which only supports USB 2.0 will not do any good. They are simply incompatible. It is true that you can buy an adapter, but having extra adapters is such a hustle, especially with MacBooks.
Ideally, I’d love to have Bluetooth devices whenever it is possible for two reasons. First, I don’t like to have extra cables around my laptops; managing them is a nightmare. Second, if all ports are being used by other devices, you may not have a free one to attach the camera.
Unfortunately, I was not able to find good Bluetooth cameras. I believe it’s because its bandwidth is not enough to transfer lots of data reliably. So, you have to choose between USB type A and type C.
Use USB type-A connectors with older Apple laptops: MacBook Pro 2015 or older and MacBook Air 2017 or older.
Use USB type-C connectors with newer Apple laptops: MacBook Pro 2016 or newer and MacBook Air 2018 or newer.
How to choose a camera for YouTube, FaceTime, Zoom or Skype
I have three simple rules when choosing webcams:
- If your goal is to produce YouTube videos, then pick a camera with the highest resolution. While 4K videos maybe overkill now, I am confident that in a couple of years, they will be mainstream for YouTube. If you don’t invest in a good quality camera, later, when your channel will have hundreds of videos, you will regret that you didn’t shoot them with the best hardware. I heard some YouTubers had to redo videos for the same reason.
- If the goal to use webcam in video calls and conferences, then Full HD (1080p) is good enough for the quality. At the same time, it does not require too much bandwidth, which is critical during the calls. You may need to allow webcam access for a particular app.
- Avoid 720p cameras. They are the thing of the past, even if Apple does not recognize it yet.
Our Recommendations for Best External Camera for MacBook
Logitech BRIO – Ultra HD Webcam for Video Conferencing, Recording, and Streaming
Logitech is a brand well known in peripheral devices for computers and BRIO its top of the line product for external cameras.
It is being recommended virtually by every technology-minded site, and there are many reasons behind the recommendations.
The video quality is very high. You can see how BRIO compares to cameras built-in on MacBook, iMac, and Dell Inspiron laptop.
Webcam Apple Macbook Pro 13.3
If you go to Amazon, you can see how BRIO compares to other Logitech cameras. BRIO supports multiple view angles (90, 78, or 65 degrees), which can be selected by its software. At the same time, the camera is UVC-compliant, which means it’s a plug and play device.
Things I like:
- 4K video resolution, it can also produce 1080p and 720p videos
- 5x digital zoom
- Autofocus
- Premium Light Correction
- Support for USB type A and C (can be used with old and new MacBooks)
- Built-in microphone
- Privacy cover
Best Webcam For Macbook Air
Things I don’t like:
- Background removal beta feature does not work well on MacBook
- Expensive
Logitech C930e 1080P HD Video Webcam – 90-Degree Extended View
Another good product from Logitech. This camera is best for video calls when you want a good image quality without taxing network bandwidth. This camera is being used by many users for many years, and it’s more appropriate for older MacBooks (without USB-C ports).
Things I like:
- 1080p video qiality
- 4X Digital Zoom
- Autofocus
- Light Correction
- H264 Compression allows having good quality videos with smaller file sizes and bandwidth
- Built-in microphone
- Privacy cover
Things I don’t like:
- Does not support USB type C
Webcam Apple Macbook Pro Leather Case
Allinko 880 Auto Focus Webcam 1080P with Camera Cover, Noise Cancelling Mic
If you are on a budget, this webcam worth looking at. The truth is that not everyone needs a premium device, especially if you need for video calls only. It has the decent image quality and the longest cable to connect to the USB port.
Things I like:
- 1080p video qiality
- Plug and Play
- Automatic Light Correction
- Built-in microphone
- Privacy cover: there are multiple versions of the camera, so make sure to get the one with the cover
Things I don’t like:
- No Autofocus: you have to focus manually