Skype Video: Lighting
I sometimes joke about the completely furnished Skype video studio. 
High end microphones, spit guards, sets, makeup and lighting. But the Griffin SightLight is one of those cool products built for most desktop webcam situations, at least for Mac users.
It slips on to an iSight so it points where the camera is looking, is positioned behind the opening to the lens so you won't have glare, sensors that adjust brightness, LCDs with balanced color, low power draw off the firewire it shares with the camera, and fresnel lenses that keep the illumination on target.
OS News' review says it's hard to look into the camera when the lights are bright. I also like lighting that doesn't interfere with seeing the computer monitor during a session.
Mac vloggers should be all over the SightLight, at least for webcam video. Here's hoping Logitech and the other webcam makers follow suit for the PC community. Lights, please.
Comments
I found the SightLight works rather poorly - the light output is insufficient for a good image in my environment.
What does work is a simple lighting setup (if you are halfway serious about a good image).. go to any bookstore and thumb through photography books on studio lighting. I added two cheap lights from a hardware store (about $20 total) to my existing lighting and the image quality improved dramatically. I even took an old slide projector screen and hang a sheet of white poster board from it when I want a studio look.
There are many DIY techniques around ...
Posted by: steve | February 27, 2006 05:54 AM
Of course, the irony is that us Mac users don't have Skype video support. One can only hope.
Posted by: Peter Parkes | February 27, 2006 08:58 AM
The iSight despite it beauty simply won't work with a PC. It has a tremendous mic on it. On set ups I've seen the iSight and good speakers can make for a great hands free calling and video experience.
Posted by: stuart | February 27, 2006 09:02 AM
This goes back to designing platforming strategies for every type of product, not just software ones. for example, where do you bolt third party hardware on to the Logitech Fusion webcam?
Posted by: Phil Wolff | February 27, 2006 06:34 PM
pls open skype messenger
Posted by: Mohan | March 25, 2006 11:42 AM