diff --git a/src/Widgets/CameraView.vala b/src/Widgets/CameraView.vala
index 765c04b53..70b1a7ac0 100644
--- a/src/Widgets/CameraView.vala
+++ b/src/Widgets/CameraView.vala
@@ -211,7 +211,10 @@ public class Camera.Widgets.CameraView : Gtk.Box {
 
             for (uint i = 0; i < caps.get_size (); i++) {
                 unowned var s = caps.get_structure (i);
-                if (s.get_name () == "image/jpeg") {
+                // Consider raw modes too: some cameras (e.g. the PCIe FaceTime
+                // HD on 2015 MacBook Pros) offer no JPEG caps at all, and the
+                // 640×480 fallback distorts photos from 16:9-only sensors
+                if (s.get_name () == "image/jpeg" || s.get_name () == "video/x-raw") {
                     int w, h;
                     s.get_int ("width", out w);
                     s.get_int ("height", out h);
@@ -246,6 +249,14 @@ public class Camera.Widgets.CameraView : Gtk.Box {
             videorate.drop_only = true;
 
             dynamic Gst.Element gtksink = Gst.ElementFactory.make ("gtk4paintablesink", "sink");
+            if (gtksink == null) {
+                // Without this check the preview silently stays black while
+                // capture keeps working, since the preview branch dead-ends
+                // behind the leaky queue
+                string[] messages = { Gst.PbUtils.missing_element_installer_detail_new ("gtk4paintablesink") };
+                Gst.PbUtils.install_plugins_async (messages, null, (result) => {});
+                throw new IOError.NOT_FOUND ("Missing GStreamer element \"gtk4paintablesink\"");
+            }
 
             pipeline.add (gtksink);
             pipeline.get_by_name ("videoscale").link (gtksink);
@@ -347,6 +358,14 @@ public class Camera.Widgets.CameraView : Gtk.Box {
         var encoder = Gst.ElementFactory.make ("vp8enc", null);
         if (encoder == null) {
             missing_messages += Gst.PbUtils.missing_element_installer_detail_new ("vp8enc");
+        } else {
+            // vp8enc defaults (256 kbps target, exhaustive-quality deadline)
+            // cannot encode HD in real time: frames drop and quality collapses
+            encoder["deadline"] = (int64) 1;
+            encoder["cpu-used"] = 4;
+            encoder["threads"] = (int) GLib.get_num_processors ();
+            encoder["keyframe-max-dist"] = 60;
+            encoder["target-bitrate"] = picture_width * picture_height * 4;
         }
 
         var muxer = Gst.ElementFactory.make ("webmmux", null);