EOS Utility for Live Monitoring at DVinfo.net

Steev Dinkins · November 5th, 2009, 06:27 PM

Is anyone using the EOS Utility for LiveView monitoring/recording? I know on the 5DMkII, this was useless. But this seems to function quite well on the 7D.

Video looks fluid on the computer screen. Record button on the software works. Record button on the camera works as well. Camera and software are happy regardless of which one starts/stops the video.

I'm not sure if this is full res or not, but it looks WAY better than HDMI out to the Marshall. I didn't find a way to easily get 1:1 mapping or a 100% size, so just visually resized the screen to eliminate most jaggy edges and it looked decent. I realize this isn't a portable solution, but I can see a use in a controlled environment. After each take you can easily download and review the .mov file, without having to take out the CF card, etc.

Anyone try extended shoots this way? Is the software decently stable? It didn't crash once on me, whereas on the 5D, it was really buggy.

-steev

Benjamin Eckstein · November 5th, 2009, 08:18 PM

This is actually really interesting as I could take a laptop out and give it to the director and still have use of the LCD screen.

I may just have to try this.

Good idea.

B

Andy Wilkinson · November 6th, 2009, 03:27 AM

Wow. This IS interesting indeed if I could use my MBP with the brand new 7D for this in controlled environments! (...like corporate interview type stuff). Thanks for sharing.

EDIT: Just been playing around with this - brilliantly useful!!!! :-) My 15 inch 2008 MBP is a now, as I type, functioning as a good monitor tethered to the 7D with the supplied USB lead...I wonder how long a USB I can get? I can get the preview screen to about 10 inches diagonally on the MBP - should help a ton with focussing etc.

Daniel Browning · November 6th, 2009, 06:28 PM

How long is the delay? Half a second or so?

Andy Wilkinson · November 6th, 2009, 07:42 PM

Delay is probably a fraction less than that...certainly no more....it's just about noticeable (if you look for it) but for the sorts of needs I envisage it won't be an issue at all for me (whereas potentially out of focus shots would be!).

Not sure if the dwell on the delay is related to the speed of the laptop/graphics card etc. (but for the record I tried it on my standard issue mid 2008 Apple MBP, 2.5Ghz Core Duo, 4GB RAM etc.)

Keith Moreau · November 6th, 2009, 08:59 PM

I used the EOS utility monitor scree it with my Macbook Pro today. I don't think it's as good at focusing as a HDMI monitor but it will do in a pinch. The cool thing is that you can remotely control the D7 and turn the video recording on and off. However I couldn't get the autofocus button to work while the video record was on (using the EOS utility focus button). The autofocus back button works while recording video with the switch on the camera. If you stop the video, then the EOS software autofocus back button (I guess that's what you'd call it) works. However, I haven't delved much into the EOS utility completely so there could be some setting I missed.

As an aside, other than this utility, has anybody gotten wired any remote controller to start and stop video recording? I just got a Satech 1 of TR-A Timer Remote Control and though kind of cheap, it works well as a shutter release and half-press as well as nice intervalometer for stills. But even in video mode the shutter release button just acts as a stills shutter release, no video record on/off.

Mark Lyon · November 9th, 2009, 12:27 PM

I used it successfully on a recent corporate video shoot:

.

It worked flawlessly for a full day of shooting. Lag is minimal, color is pretty good. I was director/DP, so I was using the camera LCD, so I can't comment too much on focus pulling with it, but it was great as a client/producer monitor. As a side benefit, our producer was able to grab images from the screen and build a little storyboard as we went along on the day.

A related question: is anyone using the wireless transmitter yet? It would be pretty awesome to send a video feed to an iPhone!

--Mark Lyon

Denny Lajeunesse · November 9th, 2009, 01:54 PM

Password for that vimeo vid?

Mark Lyon · November 9th, 2009, 06:27 PM

Sorry about that--only embedding is turned off for that one, per client request. There isn't a password, though, so you can view it by clicking through to vimeo.

Benjamin Eckstein · November 11th, 2009, 07:05 PM

Boo. So I put the Remote View program on my laptop and since it is an older MacBook Pro the delay is very long. Not sure if there is a way to decrease this. On my 8-core Mac Pro it works great, but I was hoping to use my laptop as a portable client/director monitor so that I can still use the LCD on the camera (since I just found out that gets shut off if I use an HDMI monitor). Oh well.

Paul Cascio · November 12th, 2009, 07:57 AM

Is this a Mac only program? If not, where do I find it?

Thanks

Chris Hurd · November 12th, 2009, 09:16 AM

There's a PC version on the software CD that comes with the camera. It's called EOS Utility.

Paul Cascio · November 12th, 2009, 02:10 PM

Oh duh, I should have looked. Thanks.

Benjamin Richardson · December 22nd, 2009, 11:52 AM

This seems like such a great solution to on set monitoring.

Unfortunatily I can't get my set-up to work as well as it seems yours have. My EOS Utility monitor is very stuttery.

I am running on a Sony Vaio laptop with an intel core 2 duo T9550, 6GB RAM, with an ATI Radeon HD 3650 video card. My LCD screnn size is 1920 x 1080.

It does seem that the more programs I have running the worse the EOS Utility Image becomes.

Any thoughts?

Mark Lyon · December 23rd, 2009, 10:08 AM

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I'm guessing it's a Mac vs. PC issue. For what it's worth, I'm running an old MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 3GB of 667 MHz DDE2 RAM.

November 5th, 2009, 06:27 PM	#1
Steev Dinkins Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 613	EOS Utility for Live Monitoring Is anyone using the EOS Utility for LiveView monitoring/recording? I know on the 5DMkII, this was useless. But this seems to function quite well on the 7D. Video looks fluid on the computer screen. Record button on the software works. Record button on the camera works as well. Camera and software are happy regardless of which one starts/stops the video. I'm not sure if this is full res or not, but it looks WAY better than HDMI out to the Marshall. I didn't find a way to easily get 1:1 mapping or a 100% size, so just visually resized the screen to eliminate most jaggy edges and it looked decent. I realize this isn't a portable solution, but I can see a use in a controlled environment. After each take you can easily download and review the .mov file, without having to take out the CF card, etc. Anyone try extended shoots this way? Is the software decently stable? It didn't crash once on me, whereas on the 5D, it was really buggy. -steev Attached Thumbnails __________________ www.holyzoo.com

November 6th, 2009, 03:27 AM	#3
Andy Wilkinson Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cambridge UK Posts: 2,853	Wow. This IS interesting indeed if I could use my MBP with the brand new 7D for this in controlled environments! (...like corporate interview type stuff). Thanks for sharing. EDIT: Just been playing around with this - brilliantly useful!!!! :-) My 15 inch 2008 MBP is a now, as I type, functioning as a good monitor tethered to the 7D with the supplied USB lead...I wonder how long a USB I can get? I can get the preview screen to about 10 inches diagonally on the MBP - should help a ton with focussing etc. __________________ Andy K Wilkinson - https://www.shootingimage.co.uk Cambridge (UK) Corporate Video Production Last edited by Andy Wilkinson; November 6th, 2009 at 07:58 AM.

November 6th, 2009, 07:42 PM	#5
Andy Wilkinson Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cambridge UK Posts: 2,853	Delay is probably a fraction less than that...certainly no more....it's just about noticeable (if you look for it) but for the sorts of needs I envisage it won't be an issue at all for me (whereas potentially out of focus shots would be!). Not sure if the dwell on the delay is related to the speed of the laptop/graphics card etc. (but for the record I tried it on my standard issue mid 2008 Apple MBP, 2.5Ghz Core Duo, 4GB RAM etc.) __________________ Andy K Wilkinson - https://www.shootingimage.co.uk Cambridge (UK) Corporate Video Production

November 9th, 2009, 12:27 PM	#7
Mark Lyon Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Solana Beach, California USA Posts: 28	I used it successfully on a recent corporate video shoot: TSIA ?Brand Launch? on Vimeo . It worked flawlessly for a full day of shooting. Lag is minimal, color is pretty good. I was director/DP, so I was using the camera LCD, so I can't comment too much on focus pulling with it, but it was great as a client/producer monitor. As a side benefit, our producer was able to grab images from the screen and build a little storyboard as we went along on the day. A related question: is anyone using the wireless transmitter yet? It would be pretty awesome to send a video feed to an iPhone! --Mark Lyon

November 12th, 2009, 07:57 AM	#11
Paul Cascio Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bristol, CT (Home of EPSN) Posts: 1,192	Is this a Mac only program? If not, where do I find it? Thanks __________________ Paul Cascio www.pictureframingschool.com

November 5th, 2009, 08:18 PM	#2
Benjamin Eckstein Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 380 Images: 1	This is actually really interesting as I could take a laptop out and give it to the director and still have use of the LCD screen. I may just have to try this. Good idea. B

November 6th, 2009, 06:28 PM	#4
Daniel Browning Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 949	How long is the delay? Half a second or so?

November 6th, 2009, 08:59 PM	#6
Keith Moreau Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Brisbane, California Posts: 530	I used the EOS utility monitor scree it with my Macbook Pro today. I don't think it's as good at focusing as a HDMI monitor but it will do in a pinch. The cool thing is that you can remotely control the D7 and turn the video recording on and off. However I couldn't get the autofocus button to work while the video record was on (using the EOS utility focus button). The autofocus back button works while recording video with the switch on the camera. If you stop the video, then the EOS software autofocus back button (I guess that's what you'd call it) works. However, I haven't delved much into the EOS utility completely so there could be some setting I missed. As an aside, other than this utility, has anybody gotten wired any remote controller to start and stop video recording? I just got a Satech 1 of TR-A Timer Remote Control and though kind of cheap, it works well as a shutter release and half-press as well as nice intervalometer for stills. But even in video mode the shutter release button just acts as a stills shutter release, no video record on/off.

November 9th, 2009, 01:54 PM	#8
Denny Lajeunesse Major Player Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Kelowna, BC [Canada, Eh!] Posts: 257	Password for that vimeo vid?

November 9th, 2009, 06:27 PM	#9
Mark Lyon Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Solana Beach, California USA Posts: 28	Sorry about that--only embedding is turned off for that one, per client request. There isn't a password, though, so you can view it by clicking through to vimeo.

November 11th, 2009, 07:05 PM	#10
Benjamin Eckstein Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 380 Images: 1	Boo. So I put the Remote View program on my laptop and since it is an older MacBook Pro the delay is very long. Not sure if there is a way to decrease this. On my 8-core Mac Pro it works great, but I was hoping to use my laptop as a portable client/director monitor so that I can still use the LCD on the camera (since I just found out that gets shut off if I use an HDMI monitor). Oh well.

November 12th, 2009, 09:16 AM	#12
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	There's a PC version on the software CD that comes with the camera. It's called EOS Utility. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

November 12th, 2009, 02:10 PM	#13
Paul Cascio Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bristol, CT (Home of EPSN) Posts: 1,192	Oh duh, I should have looked. Thanks. __________________ Paul Cascio www.pictureframingschool.com

December 22nd, 2009, 11:52 AM	#14
Benjamin Richardson Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Syracuse, NY Posts: 143	This seems like such a great solution to on set monitoring. Unfortunatily I can't get my set-up to work as well as it seems yours have. My EOS Utility monitor is very stuttery. I am running on a Sony Vaio laptop with an intel core 2 duo T9550, 6GB RAM, with an ATI Radeon HD 3650 video card. My LCD screnn size is 1920 x 1080. It does seem that the more programs I have running the worse the EOS Utility Image becomes. Any thoughts?

December 23rd, 2009, 10:08 AM	#15
Mark Lyon Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Solana Beach, California USA Posts: 28	Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I'm guessing it's a Mac vs. PC issue. For what it's worth, I'm running an old MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 3GB of 667 MHz DDE2 RAM.