HP/Compaq :: Envy 15 Webcam Blue-shifted

I no longer own an Envy15, but I did for about 23 days.

I found this article on engadget: HP Envy 15 said to be suffering from blank screen issues, lousy webcam -- Engadget

Cliffnotes: Fluorescent light produces nice images, incandescent and sunlight produce blue-shifted images.

This might have to do with the camera detecting more into the IR spectrum than a normal camera. We know this because it uses IR LEDs for low-light "night vision." Direct sunlight and incandescent put out a lot of IR light and the camera probably interprets infrared light as bluish. Fluorescent lights produce much less IR light than incandescent and sunlight, so that's probably the issue.

From wiki:
"Many light sources, such as the fluorescent lamp, high-intensity discharge lamps and LED lamps offer higher efficiency, and some have been designed to be retrofitted in existing fixtures. These devices produce light by luminescence, instead of heating a filament to incandescence. These mechanisms produce discrete spectral lines and so don't have the broad "tail" of wasted invisible infrared emissions produced by incandescent emitters." - Incandescent light article

"The heated filament emits light that approximates a continuous spectrum. The useful part of the emitted energy is visible light, but most energy is given off as heat in the near-infrared wavelengths.'' - Incandescent light article

I'm about 90% sure this is the problem. If you have an Envy15 and don't mind spending a few bucks to test this, try purchase an infrared cut-off filter and put it over your web cam.