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Is there a utility that is able to run from the command line to capture a single frame of the iSight inbuilt (and external?) camera? This would save to an image file. I have searched on Google and found utilities that link to websites that don't exist anymore.

Other options are:

  • An Open Source GUI application I can hack into a command-line application?
  • A GUI application being run for a small period of time, that can be configured via the command-line, temporary config files, AppleScript, etc?

This would be quite handy for creating apps for timelapses, security, fun etc.

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3 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

"ImageSnap is a Public Domain command-line tool that lets you capture still images from an iSight or other video source. You might remember Axel Bauer's original isightcapture tool (that is no longer supported but still works on most systems). With ImageSnap I hope we'll be able to move forward and add features, adapt to the ever-changing Apple architectures, etc."


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+1 ImageSnap works fine and the code is provided (with a public domain license). –  ChristopheD Feb 20 '10 at 13:37
ImageSnap is also installable thru homebrew: brew install imagesnap –  Linus Unnebäck Nov 7 '13 at 13:02
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wacaw looks interesting, andcommand line: http://webcam-tools.sourceforge.net/

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Just found one!


It seems that the developer isn't continuing development on it though.

EDIT: Looks like he's closed off iSight completely:

Sorry, isightcapture is no longer available

Re-accepting the other answer!

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interesting, cheers for the link! –  JT.WK Jan 21 '10 at 3:47
Looks like it's no longer available at that link. –  David Grellscheid Jun 11 '11 at 17:21
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