3 Ways to View & Record your EVF

Want to view or record the back of your camera screen? Three ways to do it with a Canon mirrorless camera.

Hey everyone! Want to view or record the back of your camera screen? Stick around because I'm going to show you three ways to do it with a Canon mirrorless camera.

I'm Rich Dyson from Edinburgh Photography Workshop, and welcome to Coffee Break Photography!

In my last couple of videos, I've been sharing footage from the back of my camera. A few of you noticed and wondered how I make the screen bigger to view. Well, I've got three ways to make it easier to see the screen, and two of these methods also let you record what you're seeing. Let's dive in!

Well first up, the easiest way that just needs something most of us already have – your mobile phone. Canon’s Camera Connect app is feature-rich and allows you to transfer pictures from your camera to your phone. It's also how we can add GPS info to our pictures and we are going to use the ‘Remote live view shooting’. Connect to the camera's Wi-Fi, and you'll have the camera view on your mobile phone or tablet. You can use the controls on your camera or on the screen to change settings like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, or focus points. There are a couple of issues, though. There's a lag between moving the camera and what you see on your screen, so it's best for shooting static objects. Also, you can't see the light meter bar on the mobile display.

You can record the output from here using your mobile phone’s screen recording function. On an iPhone, drag down from the top right corner and press the button to start recording the screen. However, since the information on the screen isn’t mirroring exactly what you see on the back of the camera, its usefulness might be a little limited.

Options two and three need some additional cables and hardware. Let's start with a view-only option. I use the Neewer F550 Field Camera Monitor. This is a great piece of kit that I use to demonstrate when running my Landscape and Seascape workshops. I got it a few years ago to review, and I'm still using it today. There's an updated slimline model, the F700, available now if you think this might be the option for you. Field camera monitors are great for anyone wanting to make the screen larger and are connected to your camera with the supplied cables.

The HDMI Micro end of the cable goes into the camera, and the full-sized HDMI cable plugs into the HDMI In port. Now we can see an exact replica of the back of the screen on a much larger screen. To be clear, the field camera monitor replaces your existing screen and EVF. If you use this option, you won’t be able to see anything through the viewfinder. That’s an issue for me when demonstrating concepts to a larger group. It would be great to have a longer cable so three or four people could watch while I continue to use the camera normally.

The F700 field camera monitor is currently £340 with two batteries. I’ll put a link below the video. It's an affiliate link, so you won’t pay any more by using it, but I’ll get a commission for referring you to Neewer, which helps run this channel.

The final option needs the same HDMI Micro to HDMI cable. However, you’ll also need another piece of kit. The Video Capture USB C Connector converts the signal from the camera so the computer can read it. It costs around £20, and I'll add an affiliate link below the video, as well as a link to a 3-meter HDMI micro to HDMI cable. The HDMI cable plugs into the connector, and then that plugs into your computer.

Once attached to the computer, we need to make it visible. To do that, we use a piece of free software called OBS – there’s a link underneath the video. Set up a Scene by clicking on the plus sign. Give the scene a name, like Canon R5 Camera. Next, attach a source to the scene by clicking on the plus sign in the sources section. Ensure the Video Capture card is attached and select ‘Capture Card Device’.

Double-click on the new source and configure the device. In Device, select USB3.0 Capture. Set the Input format to 1920 x 1080 (16:9). Set the frame rate to Simple FPS Values and add an FPS value of 20. You should now see an image of the back of your screen.

You can use OBS just to view the back of your screen as a much larger Field View Monitor. However, the advantage of OBS is that you can also record the output if you want to share it. Once you have the camera attached to the video capture device, the EVF and back screen of the camera are disabled when shooting still photos. There is an option in the Canon menus to allow you to see both the back display and the HDMI output when shooting video. If anyone from Canon is watching, it would be great if they could allow us to decide if we could see a combination of the EVF, screen, and HDMI output when we’re shooting stills .

There you have it, three ways to see the back of the screen on a larger output and two ways to record the output. None of them are perfect, especially when trying to record run-and-gun type shooting.

If you’ve enjoyed this video, please like and share it by clicking the thumbs-up button below. That way, more people will get to see it. You can also subscribe to the channel by clicking this button here. I send out a monthly newsletter to my subscribers with news about photography and exclusive offers. Scan this QR code to sign up. I'm Rich Dyson from Edinburgh Photography Workshop, and this has been Coffee Break Photography. See you next time!