The Magewell USB HDMI capture dongle is how I get pristine screen captures of camera menus: the camera’s HDMI output goes straight into the computer as a video source, no photographing screens. Setup and practical notes below.
I often include a lot of screen captures of camera menus in my how-to guides and reviews. It took me a little while to figure out exactly how to do it — I wanted the kind of pristine screen captures that you find in official camera guide books, not some washed-out, glare-filled photo of the back screen.
Sure, you could simply set up a second camera on a tripod behind your main camera and take photos of the LCD menus, but that’s quite a bit of setup to get good-looking captures. It means heavily controlling your lighting, aggressively managing screen reflections, and adding several more steps of post-processing to crop and color-correct the shots.
I knew there had to be a better way to capture it. Connecting a standard USB cable directly to the computer doesn’t work — cameras don’t usually output any actual live image data that way. But the HDMI port does.
Rather than output the HDMI from the camera directly to a TV or display monitor, I wanted something that could seamlessly intercept that signal and send it to a computer. Thankfully, there are dedicated devices that do just that: they capture the HDMI output of a camera or laptop and instantly turn it into a USB signal that a computer can work with. They’re incredibly popular for livestreaming games or using a high-end camera as a webcam, but they also happen to be the absolute perfect tool for capturing menu system screenshots.
The hardware solution: Magewell USB capture HDMI
The solution I’m very happy with is using a Magewell USB Capture HDMI. It’s a remarkably small box. On one end, you connect it via a USB cable directly to your computer. On the other end, you use an HDMI cable that goes into your camera’s HDMI port.
Functionally, it’s been a perfect, plug-and-play solution for what I want to do. But there is one aspect where the Magewell is less than ideal: the price. With an MSRP of around $299, it really only makes financial sense if you’re using it a lot for professional work. There are definitely cheaper alternatives flooding the market now, but customer ratings on the bargain-bin brands suggest they give highly mixed, unreliable results.
The Magewell has worked without a hitch for me and, by all accounts, for many others.
Compatibility & setup
The crucial hardware requirement: An actual HDMI port
Before you buy one of these capture cards, you need to check the side doors of your camera. Because these dongles intercept an HDMI signal, your camera must have a physical HDMI output port (whether it’s a micro-HDMI, mini-HDMI, or full-size HDMI port).
Having a standard USB-C port is not the same thing. While some modern cameras can do basic, compressed webcam streaming via USB-C, getting a clean, uncompressed video feed — or capturing the actual on-screen camera menus — strictly requires HDMI.
Don’t assume your camera has one! Many lower-end compact point-and-shoots leave HDMI ports out entirely to save space and manufacturing costs. Furthermore, newer action cameras like the GoPro HERO10, HERO11, and HERO12 do not have native HDMI ports built into the body — you’re forced to buy the separate GoPro Media Mod accessory just to get an HDMI output.
Mac and Windows: It works natively with both Macs and PCs.
Cables: You’ll need an HDMI cable with the correct-sized plug for your specific camera (usually a micro-HDMI or mini-HDMI). It comes with a dedicated USB cable, and Magewell highly recommends that you use only their included cable with the device to ensure maximum data bandwidth.
Software: It doesn’t require downloading any special drivers or clunky dedicated software. All you need is an app that can display a live video feed. I use QuickTime on my Mac (File > New Movie Recording > change source), but there are a large number of apps that can do it. Basically, any app that can display a webcam feed or video input can do it, including VLC, Skype, OBS Studio, and Windows’ built-in camera app. You can then either manually screen capture those windows or use a feature built into some of those apps to instantly capture a JPG frame. If you want to turn your menu walkthrough into a video screencast, apps like ScreenFlow work brilliantly.
Cameras: Not every camera actually has an HDMI output port, and not every camera that does have the port outputs the same kind of video stream. For example, the older GoPro HERO5 has a dedicated HDMI display mode that strips away the menu settings, whereas the HERO4 models leave them visible. For this trick to work, you want a camera that leaves the menu overlays active on the HDMI output (often called a “dirty” HDMI output).
What About Capturing Gaming Consoles?
If you’re looking to capture gameplay from a PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch, neither the Magewell nor the Cam Link 4K are your best options out of the box. While they will technically accept the video signal from a console just fine, they both lack an “HDMI pass-through” port.
That means you’d be forced to play your game by looking at the capture software preview window on your computer monitor — which introduces a noticeable input lag that ruins fast-paced gaming. To stream or record a console properly without latency, you either need to buy a separate HDMI splitter, or step up to a dedicated gaming capture card (like an Elgato HD60 X) that has an HDMI-out port built right in to pass the signal cleanly to your TV.
Examples screenshots with the Magewell USB capture HDMI
Here are a few quick examples of menu screen captures I’ve taken using this exact HDMI capture method from a few different cameras.
Other uses
Capturing the camera menus is, of course, only one of the possible uses for this device. On cameras that support it, it can also be used for high-end livestreaming, Zoom calls, and a wide range of other related tasks — basically anything that needs to capture the live HDMI output from the camera and funnel it to your desktop.
Where to buy
I originally bought my Magewell unit at Amazon. You can also easily find them in stock at B&H Photo.
If you’re after a highly reliable but lower-priced alternative, I’ve since picked up an Elgato Cam Link 4K. It functions in the exact same way to grab camera menus via HDMI, it’s signficantly less expensive, and I can highly recommend those, too.
