I turned on the camera at the top of the screen of the MacBook the other day.
Behind me was an advertising billboard, and I couldn't help notice the writing came up on the screen as a mirror image.
I've since tried holding a sheet of text in front of the camera, and the result is the same, a mirror image of what's written.
I may be being incredibly dumb here, but why is this?
If I point my Nikon compact at a page it shows the text as I see it.
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The camera shows the image to you as being backwards as you are used to seeing yourself and your movements in a mirror. Having the image the 'right' way round would be incredibly counter-intuitive, somewhat counter-intuitively.
Interestingly, if you use the camera for a video chat, the person at the other end will see you the right way round - the mirroring is only a local display feature.
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Its the right way round on my Windows powered webcam.
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Wrog way round on the webcams I've used when being used as a webcam. Use as a camera and they are the right way round, so to speak.
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...Having the image the 'right' way round would be incredibly counter-intuitive, somewhat counter-intuitively...
I can see that makes sense, although....
I'm currently sat in a cafe with the camera pointing at my face.
There is a light fitting hung from the ceiling which is over my right shoulder 'in real life'.
It appears on the right side of the photo on the screen, but over my left shoulder.
However, because I'm looking at myself from the front, the light fitting appears where it should be, it would seem odd if it was on t'other side.
I did have a poke around in the photo booth program to see if there is a command to reverse the image, but there doesn't appear to be.
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It's faulty, take it back.
:-)
John
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Just tested it
Held a copy of today's times behind my head. It was readable the correct way round on my webcam image that I was looking at.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 8 Dec 10 at 14:11
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...Just tested it...
Interesting.
I'll check my Windows netbook when I'm near it later on, if I can work out how to switch on the camera.
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Start, Programs, Windows Movie Maker is one way.
My netbook shows the "right way" round i.e. not mirror image.
John
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...It's faulty, take it back...
Perhaps they'll give me a dnufer!
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As a deceptively trivial exercise for the reader - can you explain why a mirror reflects left and right, but not top to bottom?
(When you've done that, see if you can answer completely why the sky is blue in less than 28 million words and jolly good luck to you.)
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 8 Dec 10 at 15:52
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They are both simple enough questions. Think about them for a while C, give your brain some exercise.
John
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>> a copy of today's times behind my head. It was readable the correct way round on my webcam image
the power of the murdoch press to distort reality knows no bounds. :-)
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>> They are both simple enough questions. Think about them for a while C, give your
>> brain some exercise.
I wouldn't have thought it possible to so spectacularly miss the point, but there we are.
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>> Why does my iCamera take pics backwards?
Because Steve Jobs designed it that way. It's the apple in his eye.
discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12121221
discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5230154
discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1448758
p.s. most "PC" webcams default it this way too, but usually there is a setting in their software to flip the view the "right" way around for those who prefer not to see the mirror image.
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John,
Thanks for hunting out those links.
The posters there are quite right, there is an 'auto flip new photos' command.
It's still slightly weird, because when you 'take' the photo, everything is still the wrong way around, but when the photo appears as a thumbnail, it has been flipped.
Will be able to sleep a little easier tonight, now.
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I think it would be odd if it did not mirror it for your preview of the image. I think they got the design right.
The new laptop has a camera but not sure if Windows 7 has been setup to use it - it is a work laptop. Surprised it's got one as most of them have blanking plates instead of the camera.
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Those of us who use to use a twin lens reflex camera will remember that the viewfinder image was the correct way up, but any movement was the opposite to what would be expected i.e someone moving left to right would have to be tracked right to left.
The brain adapts very quickly to this and it quickly became second nature to users.
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>> I think it would be odd if it did not mirror it for your preview
>> of the image. I think they got the design right.
Agreed, although it's wise to have the option.
I'm like most people in having an asymmetrical face, and think I look very odd when I see me as others do ie. the right way round instead of mirror-reversed. Or maybe I just spend too much time looking in the mirror :)
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Knowing Apple there will be a way of changing the config for this but you'd have to resort to the command line.
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I'm a bit puzzled as to the nature of the question.
If you are peering into a webcam it is displaying your image as someone else would see you - that's why you can read any text "held behind your head".
The camera can't lie, can it?
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For applications like Photo Booth Apple flips the image so it's like looking in a mirror. iMovie doesn't do this and the people on say a web video call see the proper image too.
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>> I'm a bit puzzled as to the nature of the question.
>>
Whose/which question are you replying to?
>> If you are peering into a webcam it is displaying your image as someone else
>> would see you - that's why you can read any text "held behind your head".
>>
No, on most PC* webcam images taken by your your webcam that you see on own monitor are set to default to a mirror image. So you see text "backwards" as the OP's title and post claim.
At the receiving end, the other party sees your image in the true form, not as a mirror image, and they can read the text.
*Can't speak about Apple products, as I have no experience of them.
Last edited by: John H on Thu 9 Dec 10 at 13:14
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As rtj and John H say:
If I open the photobooth program and hold a piece of text in front of the camera, the text comes up on the screen as a mirror image.
There is an option to 'flip' it when capturing the image, but the default position is a mirror.
If I do the same in the iMovie program, the text is readable off the screen.
Flipping can be used as a simple design device when laying out a page.
For example, you have a pic of a person's profile in a slot on the right hand side of the page and the person is looking to the right - off the edge of the page.
It looks better if the person is looking 'inwards' - to the left, across the page, so you would flip the image to achieve that.
But you couldn't if they were in front of a readable sign, because the text would then appear as a mirror.
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>>No, on most PC* webcam images taken by your your webcam that you see on own monitor are set to default to a mirror image. So you see text "backwards" as the OP's title and post claim.>>
I've had webcams for years - been using Skype, for instance, since it was first launched - and I've never had one that showed other than an image of what someone looking at you would see.
Even my current Trust 1.3Mp webcam uses virtually the same software/drivers as my original Creative webcam; the Microsoft AMCAP version is 8.12, which dates back to 1997-2001 (latest version is 9.20).
noeld.com/programs.asp?cat=video
In fact it's probably time it was updated, even though the webcam is only a couple of years old..:-)
The other features (auto face tracking etc) are set via Skype's configuration link.
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>> No, on most PC* webcam images taken by your your webcam that you see on
>> own monitor are set to default to a mirror image. So you see text "backwards"
>> as the OP's title and post claim.
Let me see., could you describe Yahoo messenger as uncommon? Because the image on that is the right way round.
I would say thats the way most windows PCs operate.
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>> Let me see., could you describe Yahoo messenger as uncommon? Because the image on that
>> is the right way round.
>>
Sorry, I should have said most PCs I know of, and all of them using Skype.
Your and Stuartli's experience is obviously different to waht I have come across so far. Incidentally, the mirror image "problem" is frequently asked about on various forums. Google search will reveal a few.
see tinyurl.com/2d3l9sv
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>>Google search will reveal a few.>>
To be honest, it's the first time I've ever heard of this "problem"..:-)
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...To be honest, it's the first time I've ever heard of this "problem"..:-)...
Get yerself a Mac, Stu, find out what you're missing.
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>>Get yerself a Mac, Stu, find out what you're missing.>>
Thanks, but no thanks..:-)
Last used them in the early 1990s.
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>> To be honest, it's the first time I've ever heard of this "problem"..:-)
>>
You are obviously using an inferior webcam. ;-)
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100925182931AAKdLUc
p.s. bathtubtom asked similar question a few weeks ago
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=3439
Last edited by: John H on Thu 9 Dec 10 at 18:49
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>>You are obviously using an inferior webcam. ;-)>>
I've had three or four different makes of webcams, from Creative and D-Link to Trust..:-)
My inclination is that displaying on screen what someone looking at you would see is perfectly natural.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Fri 10 Dec 10 at 15:03
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>> >>You are obviously using an inferior webcam. ;-)>>
>>
>> I've had three or four different makes of webcams, from Creative and D-Link to Trust..:-)
>>
Are you sure you are not seeing a mirror image in the picture-in-picture? Try viewing yourself with text held behind you.
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>>Are you sure you are not seeing a mirror image in the picture-in-picture? Try viewing yourself with text held behind you.>>
I'm stupid, but not that stupid...:-)
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Iffy, I've only just come across this thread. I had a problem on my new laptop that the webcam showed everything upside down, which is a similar problem. It was resolved by uninstalling the webcam from Device Manager, and reinstalling it using the Windows 7 driver disk that came with the laptop - leaving it to its own devices it used Windows Update to retrieve a driver and it ALWAYS found the wrong one! I've no Mac experience, so I don't know how this fits in with how they work, but thought this might help. The point is, it wasn't a hardware fault but a software one.
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Some people seem to be missing the point that MacOSX does this on purpose in some apps, e.g. PhotoBooth when you see yourself and Skype. But the saved result can be corrected in PhotoBooth and the user you're Skyping will see the correct image.
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>> Some people seem to be missing the point that MacOSX does this on purpose in
>> some apps,
Why?
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I know nowt about Macs, but the camera on my Sony laptop will either give a mirror image (so if you want to comb your hair, you'll see what you see in a mirror) or a right-way-round image (as others see yo). Change the settings.
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What we are all missing here is;
why is Iffy sat looking at himself on his pc screen?
John
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See above. He's combing what remains of his hair.
Or he might be trying to read the paper while holding it behind his head.
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...Or he might be trying to read the paper while holding it behind his head...
˙ʇɹɐd ʇsǝpɹɐɥ ǝɥʇ ǝq oʇ pǝʌoɹd s,pɹoʍssoɹɔ ǝɥʇ ƃuıop
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How did you do that when you should be in bed anyway?
Pat
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/bɹo˙ʇxǝʇdıןɟ˙ʍA
3;ʍ//:dʇʇɥ
:ʇı dıןɟ puɐ uʍop ǝpısdn ʇxǝʇ uɹnʇ ɥɔıɥʍ sǝʇıs ʍǝɟ ɐ ǝɹɐ ǝɹǝɥʇ
OK, I'll stop being irritating.
Have a play here: www.fliptext.org/
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Why does my iCamera take pics backwards? - Statistical Outlier
