One of the drawbacks of using the HDMI output on an HD-SLR camera like the Canon 5D Mark  II is that hooking it up to a monitor blanks out your LCD screen.  This can be troubling if you want both the camera operator and your client to view the image.

Tony Reale of Creative Edge Productions shows us a quick tip on using the USB output to a laptop as your spare monitor.  Utilizing the Canon EOS Utility software loaded on your on Mac or PC will not only give you a secondary display, it also gives you complete control over the camera including focus, iris and shutter.  This is a great tip from Tony and an underutilized feature of Canon’s HD-SLR products.

Tony even shows you how to install the utility software on a netbook for ultimate portability and affordability.

Demonstration here.