Some of the new front camera features for the new iPad Pro are quite cool, such as portrait mode selfies, and the feature that tracks you and seems to follow you around.
But the lens is still at the portrait mode “top” of the iPad. So if you are using it for Zoom meetings while in landscape mode (like when it’s in the keyboard case) it seems you are never looking at the camera.
The actual lens is not centered even in portrait mode, but somehow they are able to accommodate for that. Is there no way of accommodating for it being in landscape mode so you can appear to be looking at the camera while participating?
I think that any apparent accommodation in portrait mode is more in the “wetware” than the software. That is, I think most humans find it less disturbing to see people looking at their chins or even the floor than looking at a point off to one side.
I have another Zoom class in a couple of hours. I know most of the user are using iPhones or iPads so I’m going to look more closely at this. I think you are right though. I use my Mac for Zoom meetings, so I’m always looking straight on.
It’s too bad there isn’t a technical accommodation for this! If I want to use my iPad for Zoom meetings maybe I should just get a stand so I can use it in portrait mode.
I don’t know if this works, or how well it would fit on an iPad, but I did stumble across this clever bit of hackery. Personally, I don’t feel the need to be always looking straight into the camera because not doing so lets me do so intentionally for emphasis. Anyway, FYI:
From their updates:
MOST IMPORTANTLY- we’ve begun building proprietary video control software for MAC users. This will allow our MAC users to control white-balance, sharpness, FPS, etc. We already have Video Control software for PC provided by our manufacturer, however the next phase of our software library will be to build our own video controls for PC as well. Our software designer has told us 2 more weeks on the MAC software- but we’re conservatively hoping to put it out for public use around the same time you receive your cameras.
FWIW if they can’t get the platform name correct I am not sure I trust the rest of their skill set. No mention of iPad compatibility at all.
Google for “gooseneck web camera” and you can find several similar products, some with clip-on mounts.
If your computer is a desktop instead of laptop, you can also use a normal camera mount in front of your display.
Either way, you’ve got an annoying mount right in the middle of the screen, which is going to be a real pain if you’re trying to see the screen, not just talk into it.
A year ago, I read an article on IEEE Spectrum’s web site showing how you can make a much nicer teleprompter-style system from some pretty simple and cheap parts.
In yesterday’s weekly volunteer teach class, most people were using iPads, and most were in landscape mode. I hadn’t really noticed so much before, but when looking for it I see that they were looking a bit off to one side. Except one person who appeared to be looking straight ahead, but she insisted she was looking at us on the screen. Weird.
For some reason the effect seems exaggerated to me on my new iPad 11-inch. I wonder if that has anything to do with the new face tracking feature.
