Magic Lantern

[cherryvalleyman]

What exactly is Magic Lantern and what are the benefits if any to using it?

[ggt]

I thought it was an opera or ballet?

no wait, that is the Magic Flute --never mind.

[Carl in Louisiana]

This site should answer your questions along with the cautions and benefits. I have it on my camera and it looks like they have it for Nikon cameras also.

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

[Manfred M]

It is a firmware hack for certain Canon DSLRs and has added some features that Canon has not got in their firmware.

There are a few features that video shooter would want on their gear, such as variable shutter speed and zebra stripes (used for judging areas that contain blown highlights).

Unless you are a super-techie who is willing to risk doing serious damage to your camera (don't expect your local Canon repair shop to show you any sympathy), I would suggest you stay away from it. If you are technically inclined and have an old Canon body around you want to play with and don't care if it ends up being a door stop, go right ahead.

[Andrew76]

I will only speak as a 'middle-man', as I personally don't use Magic Lantern, but a very good friend of mine has downloaded it for his 60D, and loves it - in fact, he doesn't stop talking about it. Although my friend does not use his camera for video at all, he finds it very useful for multi-shot exposures like HDR's and countless, countless other features - to the point where I've almost stop listening to him when he talks about it.

[cherryvalleyman]

Thanks! I have a T2I and I'm curious about time lapse photography. I read that magic lantern has a feature that will allow your camera to take time lapse photos. I'm still pretty new to photography and would consider a better way to take time lapse photos. I can normally figure out any kind of software/electronics, but the idea of my camera becoming a door stop scares the hell out of me. So I'm going to mind the warnings from here and their website and stay away from it!

[ktuli]

Thanks! I have a T2I and I'm curious about time lapse photography. I read that magic lantern has a feature that will allow your camera to take time lapse photos. I'm still pretty new to photography and would consider a better way to take time lapse photos. I can normally figure out any kind of software/electronics, but the idea of my camera becoming a door stop scares the hell out of me. So I'm going to mind the warnings from here and their website and stay away from it!

You don't need a new firmware to do timelapse... you just need an intervalometer. You could buy Canon's or save a few bucks and buy one from Saitechi for a fraction of the cost.

[russellsnr]

Hi, A little misleading as you do not replace or touch the firmware in the camera, ML is copied to an SD card and is run from that not the camera firmware, if you replace the SD card that you have not put ML onto then ML will not work until you put the other card back in. I have used ML on a 600D for about a year without any problems, the new update even allows the taking of as many captures as it feels necessary for a lighting situation for HDR you don't have to do anything but put it on a tripod and push the shutter.
As stated above there site gives information as needed and there is also a forum.
It is free so give it a go if you don't like it just format the card in your computer to get rid of it.

[Manfred M]

A quote from the Magic Lantern website:

"Is it safe?
No. Magic Lantern was created by reverse engineering an undocumented system that controls hardware. Therefore, we can't be certain that it's 100% safe.

Magic Lantern does not replace Canon code (which is stored in ROM), but it does change the settings (which are saved to a non-volatile memory). If Magic Lantern would set incorrect values for certain settings, this may cause the camera not to boot (even without ML). ".

From what I can tell from the installation instructions, they are fiddling with the bootloader.

http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/faq

[Carl in Louisiana]

This is interesting to say the least. The firmware update for the Canon 60D is out/or has been out due to some glitch the 60D is no putting the right serial # in the photo info. Before you can download the update you have to agree to this;

5. DISCLAIMER:

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU (AND NOT CANON, CANON'S SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES, THEIR DISTRIBUTORS AND DEALERS) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN SUCH STATES WHICH DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES.

Canon, Canon's subsidiaries and affiliates, their distributors and dealers do not warrant that the functions contained in the Software will meet your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or error free.

[eikerir]

i've been using Magic Lantern on my T3i for over 11 months in proffesional video productions with no problems. Installing it (or removing it) it's pretty easy and the latest version it's very stable.

Here's a video we did recently over viewing some of the most useful features for video use on the latest version released last month. It's in Spanish but English subtitles are available (click CC), hope it helps.

[Carl in Louisiana]

i've been using Magic Lantern on my T3i for over 11 months in proffesional video productions with no problems. Installing it (or removing it) it's pretty easy and the latest version it's very stable.

Here's a video we did recently over viewing some of the most useful features for video use on the latest version released last month. It's in Spanish but English subtitles are available (click CC), hope it helps.

Welcome to CnC! Looks like you have learned real well how to use Magic Lantern and your camera. Thank you for the video!

[eikerir]

Welcome to CnC! Looks like you have learned real well how to use Magic Lantern and your camera. Thank you for the video!

thanks , glad you liked it

[Manfred M]

i've been using Magic Lantern on my T3i for over 11 months in proffesional video productions with no problems. Installing it (or removing it) it's pretty easy and the latest version it's very stable.

Here's a video we did recently over viewing some of the most useful features for video use on the latest version released last month. It's in Spanish but English subtitles are available (click CC), hope it helps.

A nicely done video. It adds some nice professional camera features to the DSLR, like the focus peaking, variable shutter speed and zebra stripes. It looks like some of the other functionality are things no serious shooter would do in-camera, but would do in post; kind of the same arguments that we see in the RAW versus jpg. I wonder if Canon is not building these functions into their firmware to protect their higher-end prosumer market dedicated video cameras.