iPad gets iSight camera with fifth lens: 5MP stills, 1080p video recording

Another feature of the new iPad is a redesigned camera system that seems to borrow heavily from both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Gone are the poor man’s backside camera on iPad 2. The new iPad boasts Apple’s proven camera system design featured on iPhone 4S.

On the back is the new iSight camera with a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor. It’s got a number of iPhone 4S features, including backside illumination, auto-exposure, auto-focus, face detection in still images, video stabilization, a fifth lens and hybrid IR filter. This crazy camera hardware is driven by an Apple-designed image processor built into the A5X chip. Oh, in case you were wondering – yes, it records video in full HD 1080p resolution at up to 30 seconds with stereo audio.

As for the front-facing videoconferencing camera, it is the same “FaceTime camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second”.

• Apple March 7th iPad event Liveblog (9to5mac.com)
• Apple drops 16GB iPad 2 to $399, $529 for Wi-Fi + 3G (9to5mac.com)
• Apple launches gestures-heavy iPhoto for iPad, can tell you weather in images. Available today for $4.99 (9to5mac.com)
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• The new iPad has 10-hour battery life, is 0.6mm thicker and 0.07lbs heavier (9to5mac.com)
• New iPad preorders start today, available March 16 in ten countries (9to5mac.com)
• Yes, the new iPad is 4G LTE (9to5mac.com)
• iPad gets better cameras: iSight on the front, 5MP with 1080p video recording on the back (9to5mac.com)
• Voice Dictation on new iPad (9to5mac.com)
• Apple confirms A5X with quad-core graphics in new iPad (9to5mac.com)
• The new iPad is here and it’s got a Retina Display packing a million more pixels than your HD TV (9to5mac.com)
• Tim Cook: iPad is the poster child of the post PC world (9to5mac.com)
• Apple unveils new Apple TV: Streamlined UI, 1080p video output, full HD iCloud movies, same $99 price (9to5mac.com)
• Apple launching iOS 5.1 today with Japanese Siri support (9to5mac.com)
• Tim Cook: Post-PC devices made up 76 percent of our revenues (9to5mac.com)
• We now see International 4G iPads in Apple’s inventory system (9to5mac.com)