It’s common to want to use a DSLR with an HDMI capture card for high-quality live streams or video calls.
But to make this effective you need the ability to have clean HDMI output on your camera.
Summary:
Unfortunately, the Canon EOS 80D does not have a proper clean HDMI output.
In my opinion the best alternative to the Canon EOS 80D that does have clean HDMI is the Canon EOS 90D.
There’s 2 workarounds that get close to the same effect, but they’re not as effective as having a proper clean HDMI output. (I’ll go through both in this post)
Best Alternative To Canon 80D
The best alternative to the Canon EOS 80D that DOES have clean HDMI is the Canon EOS 90D. ✅
Table of Contents
1. Almost Getting Clean HDMI Output On The Canon EOS 80D
To get 90% of the way there to clean HDMI output, here’s what you have to do on the Canon 80D:
- Make sure you have a live-view turned on, so you can see footage on the LCD screen or external monitor that you have connected via HDMI.
- You should see quite a lot of icons and information on your screen.
- Press the ‘INFO’ button on the camera a few times (normally twice) until all you see is a white square (this is the autofocus indicator).
- Now put your camera into manual focus mode by flipping the switch on the lens from AF to MF.
- Now the white square should also be gone and you should have a clean HDMI feed, with the drawback that you cannot use autofocus.
As you can see, you can kind of get a clean HDMI feed with this method.
But it’s not ideal because you’re unable to use autofocus capabilities (unless you want the white square showing up constantly).
This means you will have to set your focus at the start of your session and make sure that the subject does not move out of the focal plane.
Otherwise, you will have to continuously adjust your focus manually.
2. Using The Canon EOS Webcam Utility
Another way of getting a clean feed is to use the Canon EOS Webcam utility. However, this feed is lower quality than HD on the free version of it. To get HD quality you’ll have to pay for the newer subscription version.
By using the Canon EOS Webcam Utility you will still be able to use autofocus capabilities, but the maximum resolution is about 1024×576 on the free version.
To see how to use the Canon EOS Webcam Utility for the Canon EOS 80D, check out our post on using the Canon EOS 80D as a webcam.
Best Alternative to Canon EOS 80D That Does have Clean HDMI
If you don’t want to mess about with the webcam utility or try to get clean HDMI without autofocus, then it’s best to just get a different camera.
In our testing, the best alternative to the Canon EOS 80D that has clean HDMI is the Canon EOS 90D.
The Canon EOS 90D is the newer version of the Canon EOS 80D and it comes with a number of improvements (including a clean HDMI output).
Here are some of the key improvements on the Canon 90D over the Canon 80D.
- A faster processor (Digic 8 on the 90D vs Digic 6 on 80D)
- A better sensor (more 32.5megapixels vs the 80D’s 24.2megapixels)
- Can shoot at 4k resolution up to 30fps (the Canon 80D cannot shoot at 4k at all)
- Can shoot at 1080p at 120fps (the 80d could only do 1080p up to 60fps)
- Better low light capabilities (higher ISO limits)
- Better battery life (1300 shots vs 960 shots on the 80D)
You can check the price and availability of the Canon EOS 90D on Amazon at the link below.
Conclusion
You should now know that the Canon EOS 80D does not have a proper clean HDMI output, and the best alternative to the 80D that does have a clean HDMI output is the Canon EOS 90D.
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