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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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Ernest Worthing said:
The audio in camera thing doesnt seem to be so beneficial but the focus assist would be a nice addition.

So it's only out for the t2i right now then?
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From their Vimeo site:

Magic Lantern is an open platform for developing enhancements to the amazing Canon 5D Mark II and 550D/T2i digital SLRs. These cameras are "game changing" for independent film makers.

They have started on the 60D too.

http://vimeo.com/groups/magiclantern
 
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Ernest Worthing said:
You would think they would have one for the 7D as well... wonder y not.

Thanks for the info, Cam.
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Well, rumor has it the 7D was harder to hack which caused stability problems. Same rumor mill says the new T3i will be harder to hack because Canon doesn't really appreciate these features being given out for free without the opportunity to upsell consumers.

Take that with a grain of salt seeing it is unsubstantiated internet rumor. But it makes sense from a product security point of view. I wouldn't be surprised to see the T2i/550D not being stocked as inventory runs out and a new 5D in the near future with the same outcome. We'll see.
 
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CamVader said:
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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Is this still the case? I'm still going through the instruction manual for the T2i itself, but have watched some of the tutorials for Magic Lantern.

Best I can tell, by watching vids, removing the battery will reset the camera to factory software.

Just wanna make sure nothing has happened in the meantime.
 
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Zensteve said:
Is this still the case? I'm still going through the instruction manual for the T2i itself, but have watched some of the tutorials for Magic Lantern.

Best I can tell, by watching vids, removing the battery will reset the camera to factory software.

Just wanna make sure nothing has happened in the meantime.
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It's still the case. Just for an FYI - I've never had any problems to date with Magic Lantern. If you're ever interested, I can give you a list of what's truly usable and useful for video and what to shut off to save battery power.
 
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man ML is the bees knees.

Things I find invaluable:

Focus assist WHILE recording,
false color exposure aids
custom crop marks
exposure IRE meter on screen
Zebras
30 min record (or 4gb) record time

A T2i, with a zacuato or Letus Hawk LCD View finder plus ML is a great looking and working rig.



ZENSTEVE,
the firmware is on the card. reformat or put in a new card and ML is gone.
For example, I was having "issues" with an ML build in the field, so I just formatted the card in camera, and I was back to factory normal in less than a minute.
 
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I'm with camvader and wheatgrinder, ML is the shit! You guys mentioned some great things about ML but you left out some awesome features like the intervelometer and Exposure bracketing for HDR.
 
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Is magic lantern set to expire?

I'm beginning to think that magic lantern is set to expire. It's seems like every few months ML starts bugging out and acting funny. I have extensive knowledge about computers and software and iv never seen behavior like this. I think they make it like this so you have to update. Anyone else experiencing problems like this?
 
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Currently I'm relyin on my iPhone for Internet access so I haven't been able to keep up with the ML group. But literally my versions of ML works perfectly for about 2 months then in one day it starts acting funny.
 
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gooberman said:
Currently I'm relyin on my iPhone for Internet access so I haven't been able to keep up with the ML group. But literally my versions of ML works perfectly for about 2 months then in one day it starts acting funny.
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You're right, that's odd. Your making me think the sdhc card is flaky. Same result with different cards?
 
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