Many years have passed and there has not yet been a webcam with such a refined and elegant design as the Apple iSight. However, today for obvious reasons it is an unattractive solution. So why not use a Raspberry Pi Zero to upgrade it and give it better image quality.
PiSight, the webcam you'll want on your computer
Apple's iSight has been for many one of the company's best-designed products. A webcam that at the time was all a revolution for aesthetics and also for image quality. Thanks to its Firewire connection, it offered greater data transfer and that translated into a much smoother video.
The problem is that Apple did not continue updating it and when the rest of the manufacturers began to launch models with higher resolution and capacities, it stopped making sense. To this was added that the company itself began to add webcams to all its laptops, iMacs and even its screens for those who used a Mac mini or Mac Pro.
However, there are those who today continue to use the iSight as a webcam. Of course, the updated one to offer a better image quality. How have you achieved it? Well, very easy, using a Pi Zero and the official camera for the Raspberry Pi. This is how PiSight was born.
How to build your own PiSight
If you liked the idea of upgrading Apple's iSight to have your own PiSight, this is all you will need. To start, one of Apple's webcams, which you can get second-hand by searching on eBay or other buying/selling platforms.
Once you have it, what you will also need is a Raspberry Pi Zero and its official camera. These two things are easy to get because in amazon the Raspberry Pi Zero only costs 26 euros and official camera about 30 euros. The rest are a series of additional components that you can consult in the GitHub page Created by Max Braun, the author of this project.
With all the materials and components in your possession, the only thing you have to do is empty the interior of the Apple iSight and be left with only what you will need: the outer casing. From there and with the use of a 3D printer you create a part that will allow you to hold the Raspberry Pi Zero and its camera.
With all this done, all you need is install and configure the software that allows you to use the Raspberry Pi Zero as a webcam on any computer. To do this, you just have to follow the instructions that Max Braun also shares on his GitHub page. If you have done other projects with Raspberry Pi you will know that it is not something complicated.
Once done, you will not only have one of the coolest webcams, but also a device that improves video quality. Although for quality nothing better than using a camera from one of the manufacturers that offer support to use them as a webcam after installing its own Driver and the camera to a computer via USB.