Using macbook air as external monitor

brendanxx

Senior Member
I have a D7500 and want to film myself. To do this I need an external monitor. I have the macbook air 2020. Snapbridge just doesn't work (no movie option ever appears and it takes AGES to connect). It should be easy but it isn't - I have a HDMI cable but the macbook never seems to recognise it. Any advice most appreciated!
 

brendanxx

Senior Member
Alas! Just looked it up! VERY expensive. All I want is to see what the camera sees when I'm sitting in front of it. Snapbridge is utterly useless - surely there's SOMETHING out there that I can use????
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I have a D7500 and want to film myself. To do this I need an external monitor. I have the macbook air 2020. Snapbridge just doesn't work (no movie option ever appears and it takes AGES to connect). It should be easy but it isn't - I have a HDMI cable but the macbook never seems to recognise it. Any advice most appreciated!

You cannot use a Macbook as an HDMI input... IOW you can't directly use the Macbook as an HDMI viewer...

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...ocphy=9012430&hvtargid=pla-297381685376&psc=1

You need one of these to plug into the Thunderbolt display port and then plug the camera's HDMI cable into this...
 

brendanxx

Senior Member
My macbook air 2020 just has USB c ports, so this would be no good. I have an adapter so I can attach an HDMI cable from DSLR to the laptop, but where do I go from there?
Also I have an IPAD Air and android phone wand any of these as a monitor would be fine. I can use wifi and bluetooth to connect.
But I need software to show what my camera is seeing when making a movie.
So, still in the dark!
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
If that doesn't work, the only thing I know that allows you use the MB Air as any kind of monitor and control is camRanger... That's a wifi router that connects to your camera. Then an app on the MB Air can then remotely control the camera from the MB Air...

There are external monitors that are designed for what you want that use a usb and/or HDMI connection between the small monitor and the camera... Google "External DSLR monitors for VLogging"... <-- that gets you a visual, then you'll need a method of controlling the camera... Most just mount the camera on a tripod with the small monitor pointing forward, so sitting in front of the camera, they can see themselves in the small monitor... Most don't use a remote control to turn the camera On/Off... they just start the camera recording and walk in front...then clean/trim the video clips in post production... <-- these is probably the least expensive solution...

Nikon killed a straight USB connection to a computer several years ago...
 
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