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I have an external display plugged into my MacBook Pro. The external display has a webcam built in.

In some lighting situations, macOS struggles to determine the correct exposure/gamma, and jumps it around trying to find an appropriate setting in a way that is very distracting on video calls.

I've used the "Manual Camera - Webcam Control" app in the past, but it stopped working recently (either a broken app update or due to upgrading to Big Sur, I'm not sure which).

What is the best way to manually lock my camera settings so that my picture stays consistent during video calls?

Edit: I am looking for a solution that works on Big Sur, for either external or built-in displays (though based on previous experience I would expect a solution that works for one to work for the other).

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  • What’s the make & model of this external display?
    – IconDaemon
    Commented Dec 18, 2020 at 0:28
  • It's an LG Ultrafine 5K, but I don't believe it makes a difference – the webcam built into my MacBook automatically has its exposure adjusted as well, and I want to control that at the system level.
    – TehShrike
    Commented Dec 18, 2020 at 16:58
  • It is possible macOS has no control of external webcams. The App Store listing for the app you mentioned indicates it now has Big Sur support.
    – IconDaemon
    Commented Dec 18, 2020 at 19:52
  • The app mentioned was able to control external webcams as well as built-in webcams. The app claims it has Big Sur support, but it doesn't do anything any more – no effect on the camera.
    – TehShrike
    Commented Dec 18, 2020 at 21:59

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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I use Webcam Settings which works fine for me on Big Sur (although not specifically updated for it yet), but I use an external webcam.

I'm not sure if it would work for you or not. It does provide some controls for the built-in webcam on my M1 MacBook Air.

It sells for $8 on the US version of the Mac App Store, and you could always request a refund if it did not work (although this is a clear example of a case where it would be helpful if Apple allowed for demo apps on the Mac App Store, that does not seem like something they are ever going to do).

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  • Nice. This definitely works better than Manual Camera, though some parts of the UI still seem broken (the slider for white balance temperature seems to be broken, for instance). I'll give this a go unless another more reliable option appears.
    – TehShrike
    Commented Dec 21, 2020 at 16:03
  • I see some of that as well, and I wonder if there are some cameras that don't have features or don't reveal controls to some features, but since they are already in the UI, the app just shows them as "disabled"? I don't know.
    – TJ Luoma
    Commented Dec 21, 2020 at 17:43
  • Heads up. Before you spend your money on this app, it does not seem to work at all with the newer HD Facetime camera on my imac 5K 2020 model.
    – StevieD
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 11:43
  • Very interesting, this is pretty much the sole occurence on the internet of someone with an Apple Silicone Mac trying Webcam Settings and saying it somewhat works. I'll try it. Thanks!
    – Drew
    Commented Sep 7 at 20:20
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Same as @TJ Luoma suggested but different app has worked for me Exposure Adjustor you can always request a refund but it works for me.

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    Thanks, I started having issues with Webcam Settings eventually, thanks for a new suggestion!
    – TehShrike
    Commented Sep 16, 2021 at 15:25
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This may be a hardware issue: I had the same issue described above for about 6 months. Then the monitor developed another problem (terrible backlight flashing). I had that repaired by LG. The repaired monitor no longer jumps around continually adjusting the exposure.

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