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Magic Lantern Is Outstanding!

CamVader

CamVader

If any of you current Canon DSLR owners were thinking about taking the plunge and potentially destroying your camera by installing Magic Lantern...go for it. It works well.

You get:

An on screen, real time histogram
Focus assist
False color
Audio control (including being able to turn AGC off)
Audio meters

Word of warning, though. The install and updates are not exactly straight forward and require a bit of figuring out for some folks...okay, me. :lol:

In any case, my T2i/550D is now one hot smokin' mama of on screen information. Did I tell you this is freeware? Well, it's make a donation if pleased - and I will be.
 
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Zensteve said:
What does the "focus assist" do?
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Wise ass response: it assists in focusing. :lol:

Seriously (and please forgive me), the focus assist amplifies and animates the focal peaking so it's really easy to see. If you were trying to focus on something distant in a shot moving toward you, you can ride the focus as a wave of animation trying to keep up with the moving subject. Yellow is the current color, so anything with a yellow shadow is in focus.

This should help with the concept, but is beta-beta: http://www.vimeo.com/18782586
 
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cmnervegna said:
Is there a simple step by step to tell me how to do this? And can it mess up the camera in general? And also, if you dont like it, can you reverse it?
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They have disclaimers all over the place for potential camera damage, but I looked long and hard for negative experiences on the net and couldn't find any. Don't take my word for it though, you should research the topic and decide if it is something you are willing to risk. I haven't had any problems so far.

You can reverse the program by reformatting the SD card(s) and removing the battery. I did this to make sure it's reversable and it was.

Here are the pages I used and be careful and go slow: http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/550d_install

And the latest update: Feb 7 - http://www.sawomedia.de/magiclantern/

You have you make every SD card you use bootable. They tell you how.
 
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I might give this a try just fot the focus assist and the AGC. Although the second problem could be pretty much solved with the tone generator, adding a simple switch would be more confortable!
 
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Alcove Audio said:
That's very nice, but it still doesn't solve the physical reality that the of audio components don't even measure up to cell phone quality, and that there is no way to monitor the audio.
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I record from a dr-100, so the cleaner sound with th AGC turned off is for sync only - using the line out and an attenuated cable to the camera mic in.

I've seen demos of people using rode videomics with decent results for the web, though.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
That's great; but this is ol' Uncle Bob warning those who don't use a second system for audio that it's not going to significantly improve the quality of the audio.
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This is true. At best, it would have consumer camcorder/consumer external mic sound even with the improvements. There is headphone monitoring via the A/V jack.

Which brings up a good point and may force the issue to some extent. These cameras take beautiful pictures, but to get quality sound you need quality sound people with the right equipment for any serious project. Honestly, if you are operating camera you have enough to worry about requiring 100% of your concentration.
 
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I'm with Alcove and CamVader. I don't want or need audio on my camera (at least, not with it's physical limitations).

In addition to the very good points Alcove and CamVader mentioned, it's also true that you'll need an XLR adapter. Those are a couple hundred bucks, minimum. So, why not use that money to purchase an inexpensive external recorder, one which will do a far superior job than the camera?

And as an added benefit, your camera isn't tied down by pesky cables anymore. Recording audio externally is liberating.
 
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