Magic Lantern: HDR video on 50D

[Sean Setters]

I must admit, I'm quite behind the times when it comes to Magic Lantern. I installed it on my XTi years ago to enable a few enhancement (like multiple focus groups). However, there's been a ton of work done on the software. I recently started looking into it again, and I've loaded it on my 50D, and now I have things like:

-1080p video (albeit, no sound)
-Extended range Kelvin white balance
-Extended shot bracketing (up to 9 shots)
-An in-camera intervalometer
-Stack focusing

And, as of today's release, HDR video. The camera records two streams of video (one over exposed, one under exposed) and it's up to the user to combine them in post (but tutorials are on the way, I think). The HDR sample video they did looked quite good.



It's certainly worth looking into if you have one of the supported camera models. You can read more about Magic Lantern here.

[DavidEccleston]

Wow, they've certainly upped support since I first heard about Magic Latern here, like a year ago. Back then it was 5D, something else, and they were considering T1i... now I see my T1i has got a version, as do most of Canon's lineup.

I really can't afford to lose my camera... but I'd like the features Canon forgot to include (and/or remembered to remove), like manual movie controls, focus assists, histograms, etc. On a scale of 1 to 10, how safe is ML? They disclaim any liability, but so does almost everything on the planet. Are there any real risks?

[Rocco]

Huh. Never heard of it. I wish they had a version for the 7d so I can try it. Nine bracketed shots and a built-in intervalometer? Yes please.

[Sean Setters]

I believe it's pretty safe. I was playing around with it all night on my 50D. Then again, I've never loaded Magic Lantern onto my main body. Read the installation & removal instructions thoroughly; use at your own risk.

[andnowimbroke]

They bricked the 7d, but that was forever ago. I wouldn't be afraid to use it on the camera it was meant for.

[Sean Setters]

They bricked the 7d, but that was forever ago. I wouldn't be afraid to use it on the camera it was meant for.

That was when they were testing development on 7D; therefore, they never released a version for it. They finally decided that the duel-Digic processors of the 7D were too difficult to code for. Therefore, they nixed the project. That does put development for all future cameras in jeopardy, though. As they put it...

Support for the Canon EOS 7D is almost frozen, having a running version of Magic Lantern might never happen.

Thanks to an anonymous donor we have a test 7D body and can produce a firmware dump from it.
The problem is handling the 2 instances of DryOS, one for each Digic. Currently we can generate signed firmware images and we have dumped the 7D's ROM for analysis, but we do not know how to hijack task execution on the Master/Slave (2 headed) DryOS instances. We are only able to produce a dumper and some debug functions.

[Sean Setters]

Ok. I've uploaded a very short video shot with a 50D loaded with Magic Lantern. The video quality looks to be on par with the 7D. Of course, there's no sound recorded in camera, but I never rely on the in-camera audio recording anyway. This video has not been edited in any way. In hindsight, I should have cooled down my white-balance just a bit in camera; however, I did want to preserve the warmth of the incandescent bulb in the lamp.

[Busted Knuckles]

WOW, the video is very impressive. As most have figured out, I have a T3i which has several interesting video functions. I just downloaded this and installed. Works so far just as documented. It does so much I haven't been able to test many of the functions, but it appears safe for the T3i. Could have used this last night at Disney to do the HDR video.

[Sheiky]

Ok. I've uploaded a very short video shot with a 50D loaded with Magic Lantern.

Awesome Sean! That looks pretty cool. I wish they had that earlier
I personally would not be afraid to install it on my main camera. My understanding is that it's just a program being loaded from your memory card. Once you reset or remove your battery, it should get back to the original software right? By the way...is there any chance this works on the 40d?