SightFlex
Background
I acquired an Apple iSight soon after it was released, and although I was reasonably happy with the camera and its performance, I was rather disappointed
with Apple's mounting solutions for it. The iSight comes with three mounting stands: an adhesive based horizontal stand, a similar vertical stand and a clamp-on stand for notebooks. I suspect many would not particularly look forward to gluing the stands to their Cinema Displays, say. Since I have a PowerBook, I tried the clamp-on stand, but was dismayed to find that if I did not screw it very tightly, the camera fell forward when I pulled the screen downwards. If I do tighten the screw enough, there are scuff marks on the aluminum. Although I could simply wipe off the marks, I did not think this was a perfect mounting solution (every time I carry the notebook, I would have to remove the camera).
Thereafter I did some experimentation with various home-brew mounting solutions, as described here. The outcome of this effort was my discovery of the fact that it is indeed possible to use an off-the-shelf mini-tripod with the iSight. This helped me use the iSight without encumbering my PowerBook.
SightFlex
Shortly afterwards, I received a review unit of SightFlex from MacMice. I had earlier considered it to be an interesting product, and having used this stand for a few days, I must say that the SightFlex is the best mounting solution for the iSight at the moment.
Construction
The SightFlex has a hemispherical weighted base that is painted silver. A 6-pin translucent FireWire cable (that goes into your computer or hub) comes out of the base. A thin chrome plated gooseneck is attached to the base in the vertical plane with a 6-pin FireWire plug (that goes into the iSight's socket) at the other end. The look of the SightFlex matches the iSight reasonably well, although the material of the base is not the same as the iSight's (in feel and quality). I wish it were, but I wouldn't complain too much.
Flexibility
The SightFlex's gooseneck is its most useful feature. It is easy to make spatial adjustments as the gooseneck can be arbitrarily modified to position the camera exactly as desired. Consequently, this setup has far more flexibility than is possible with just the ball joint on the camera. In my case, the camera conveniently "floats" above my PowerBook 17's screen, without the PowerBook's involvement - exactly what I had desired! MacMice claims that as long as you keep the center of gravity of the iSight within approximately 6 inches of the SightFlex base, the setup is stable. I found this to be the case.
Value
The SightFlex retails for $30, which is 20% of the iSight's retail price, and might seem high to some, although it is not bad when you consider that Kaidan's tripod mount is $24.95 by itself, and you need a tripod in addition. Moreover, if you are using a mini-tripod, it may not be high enough to position the camera behind and above your screen (which would likely be the case if you have a Cinema Display). At the time of this writing, the SightFlex is simply the best iSight mounting solution in my opinion. In addition to being a standalone mount, the excellent flexibility it provides should be worth the money to most buyers.
Pictures
Click on the pictures to see bigger versions.
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