Canon DSLR to Screenflow 7
I'm a complete beginner to Screenflow... using MacBook Pro, OS 10.12, Screenflow 7.3 and trying to hook up Canon EOS 5D Mark 2. I can get my Mac to see the Canon DSLR (latest Firmware 2.1.2) by using EOS Utility 2.14.31 (Canon > Mac USB) so I know my internal Canon settings are right (LV Stills+Movie). But once in the Screenflow "New Recording" window the only option available under "Record Video From" is the inbuilt Mac Facetime camera. This is such a BASIC question - how to hook up DSLR to Mac - that it doesn't seem to be even addressed in the Screenflow Tutorials. Even YouTube videos on it seem rare - but those I have found say the obvious... Canon Out to Mac In via USB cable. I'm feeling pretty stupid. Please help, anyone?
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Upon doing further searching I'm wondering — do I need this... the BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder? https://www.amazon.com/Blackmagic-Design-UltraStudio-Mini-Recorder/dp/B009D91314/ref=sr_1_1?tag=iamjohnbark0c-20&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1509262338&sr=1-1&keywords=ultrastudio+mini+recorder
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Alan Green ScreenFlow doesn't officially support video capture devices but users have reported that HDMI to USB3 devices that are driverless do work. That would be devices from Magewell, Epiphan, Inogeni. We can't promise they will continue to work since they aren't officially supported but those have been what users have reported. Magewell HDMI to USB3. MiniRecorder won't work.
Outside of webcams, most (nearly all) cameras don't work natively to USB except for data transfer. -
CraigS Thanks so much for your prompt reply. This has been driving me crazy. I'm very much looking forward to working with ScreenFlow because it's clearly the perfect solution for what I need to do — which is long, involved, graphics-intensive Keynote Presentations — but so far without me being present on screen.
When you say you can't promise they will continue to work that implies maybe in future versions of ScreenFlow won't support non-webcams. That's be a bummer but for now I'm going to get the Magewell and start creating with SF.
May I just ask... why would ScreenFlow not want to work with superior cameras? It seems a whole new world of top quality Video/Presentations would be just what Telestream is all about... especially with Wirecast Live Streaming. That's overkill for me right now but it's definitely where I want to end up so... does that platform support Canon DSLRs? Thanks very much for your help.
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Alan Green said:
When you say you can't promise they will continue to work that implies maybe in future versions of ScreenFlow won't support non-webcams.Alan Green said:
May I just ask... why would ScreenFlow not want to work with superior cameras?I think one concern is that it's dependent on technology that we don't have control over.
I definitely think you should request that we officially support these devices. We've certainly used them in house.
ScreenFlow Feature Request -
CraigS Thanks Craig - you've been most helpful. I submitted the Request Form. Warm regards.
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Alan Green You're welcome of course. The developers are certainly listening.
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Alan Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPpjiG0TFCM
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CraigS MiniRecorder works fine if you use BlackSyphon to turn it into a Syphon Stream, and CamTwist to turn that Syphon Stream into a webcam stream that Screenflow understands.
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Charles Schiermeyer Thanks for that workflow tip. Keep in mind that's an unsupported workflow given the dependancies involved. It's not something we can officially recommend to users although they may certainly pursue it. The HDMI to driverless USB3 devices is certainly a simpler workflow.
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CraigS it's also twice the price of the MiniRecorder from BlackMagicDesign. You know their API for interfacing with their hardware is free for developers to use, right? https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/developer/
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Charles Schiermeyer Yes, we use it with Wirecast. ScreenFlow presents additional problems given issues with the Blackmagic drivers.
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Craig - re your previous advice concerning HDMI>USB devices. You said:
"ScreenFlow doesn't officially support video capture devices but users have reported that HDMI to USB3 devices that are driverless do work. That would be devices from Magewell, Epiphan, Inogeni. We can't promise they will continue to work since they aren't officially supported but those have been what users have reported. Magewell HDMI to USB3. MiniRecorder won't work."
So upon your recommendation I bought the Magewell HDMI to USB3. It's about $350. Regrettably my experience with it is less than promising. I have a Canon 7D - which I thought had the ability to do Face Recognition Auto Focus WHILST in MOVIE mode. So - in other words - use Auto-Focus while filming movies. It seems to work with its own EOS Utility BUT there's a problem using it with the Magewell in Screenflow. The white box that follows your face around as you're moving?... can be turned off in EOS Utility so filming goes ahead whilst Auto-focus is operating. BUT Screenflow, for some reason, keeps filming that moving white box. Utterly unusable! You can ONLY get rid of the box by physically moving the Auto-Focus button on the Canon to Manual Focus. (Which of course defeats the ability to track your subject and keep the face in focus.) So then - Screenflow records through the Magewell okay... EXCEPT that it now records a small red dot in the upper right corner - to let you know you're recording!! Huh? So your finished recorded product in Screenflow is still not what you may want. (You can crop it out of course - as an extra editing move later - but that's still far from perfect). So I have to record simultaneously into EOS Utility as well as Screenflow - in order to be filming my desktop - then substitute the EOS movie for the Screenflow movie of my Canon's footage. Very disappointing. Maybe other HDMI>USB devices work... I haven't researched beyond the Magewell.
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Alan Green said:
BUT Screenflow, for some reason, keeps filming that moving white box. Utterly unusable!That would not be an issue with ScreenFlow. It's the output of your Canon 7D. Many Canon cameras do not have a clean legal video output. Some may have a menu control but others need to be firmware hacked (Magic Lantern and voids warranty).
This has nothing to do with Magewell which simply sees whats handed to it.
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Unfortunately, ScreenFlow 8 still does not support the use of HDMI to Thunderbolt as a camera source like other programs. It would be nice if Telestream would provide support to feed in professional cameras rather than depend on the unflattering FaceTime cams. I use Ecamm Live to do live streaming, and it fully supports HDMI to Thunderbolt ... which seems to be the industry standard for video capture nowadays. Maybe it will eventually get into a future ScreenFlow update ... much more important than animated gifs and pngs. Video is king, not queen.
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Frank Stonehouse make the feature request but, although not officially supported, HDMI to USB3 devices do work. I'm not sure I'd call HDMI to Thunderbolt "industry standard" as there's often proprietary drivers involved whereas the USB3 devices are driverless (no third party driver needed).
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Frank , yep, I just bought ScreenFlow to work with my GH4 and mini recorder. I will be asking for a refund. I spent ~10 hours trying to get it to work with various workarounds and nothing.
Obnoxious that they had it working with ScreenFlow 4 and then lost that capability. Just absurd. -
Eric Lanigan It should work with HDMI to USB3 devices as I stated above (although not officially supported).
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CraigS , unfortunately, on HDMI to USB3 adapters I've been seeing reviews that the audio gets compressed strangely over them (going into a Mac).
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Eric Lanigan I've heard good things about Magewell devices. Epiphan as well. You can always buy, test, return from a reputable supplier. I'd avoid the off brand equivalents.
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Thanks CraigS . Unfortunately I don't have the money to spend on that at this time and so I'm going to request a refund of ScreenFlow (I bought it based on my understanding that it would let me capture DSLR). How would I go about doing that?
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Eric Lanigan said:
I bought it based on my understanding that it would let me capture DSLRIt can as I described but not with Thunderbolt. We don't promise external input compatibility for various reasons though.
Heres the Refund form. -
CraigS Thanks!
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Eric Lanigan You're welcome of course.
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Appox a year or more now and still no official support of common capture devices on the market. I put in my official feature request. None of us really know how many requests have been turned in for this particular feature but evidently not enough. It seems a little mind-boggling to me that this isn't a more urgent issue for the developers. A screen capture solution that does not allow you to use anything but WebCams seems fairly amateurish. It's unfortunate too, I like the software overall. I wonder, does anyone know if Camtasia supports capture devices? I will purchase one of the suggested unsupported Capture devices and get ago, but I still officially say this is not a good business practice
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Damian Vines You can use your case number to follow up and ask for a status update. In the meantime, many people are using HDMI to USB3 devices unofficially Magewell and Epiphan seems to be the best in that class..