Happy New Year! Magic Lantern Delivers Second Canon 7D Alpha, More Cameras on the Way
As we approach midnight in most places around the world (with some already celebrating the new year), the hardworking team over at Magic Lantern has delivered more updates to the trusty Canon DSLRs. We now have a second alpha for the Canon 7D — a camera that we previously thought was unhackable — and more updates are on their way with support for the Canon T4i, 6D, and 40D. Check out all of the exciting developments below.
Here’s a bit from Magic Lantern about the release, thanks to planet5D for the tip:
Pretty much everything, except for FPS override, HDR video and a few smaller tricks.
We didn’t try it in the field, but we ran some testing scripts that select random items from the menu. After 8 hours of burn-in test, our 7D is still alive, so it shouldn’t be that bad. Check out the video ;)
If you don’t have a Canon 7D, it’s not the end of the world, as Magic Lantern is also being ported over to other cameras, like the Canon T4i (650D), 6D, and 40D:
- 650D, 6D and 40D will be able to run Magic Lantern :)
- There’s already an alpha port for EOS-M, including touch screen support.
- The oldie, but goldie 5D classic already runs ML quite well - of course, with a limited feature set, for photo users only.
- The 1100D port is almost finished, give it a try in the nightly builds.
- For the veteran cameras – 5D Mark II, 550D, 60D, 600D, 50D and 500D – try the nightly builds to preview the latest feature set and help us polish it for the next stable release – v2.4.
- 5D Mark III users are encouraged to try the third ML alpha, which seems to be quite usable. For the advanced features you will have to wait a bit, but we hope that recent Digic V ports will help us find the missing piece from the puzzle.
It’s pretty remarkable that a small team of people can do as much as they have for the DSLR world. Many of these features would probably have been thought impossible by even Canon themselves, and now we have them working in stable releases for many of their cameras so far. Panasonic has their hack, Canon has their hack, but Sony and Nikon have been somewhat left out so far. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2013 if any of the more advanced cinema cameras get any hacking time — if so there could be some very interesting additions.
Either way, head on over to the Magic Lantern site to read more about the update and download it for the Canon 7D.
Link: Second Alpha for the Canon 7D and More — Magic Lantern
[via planet5D]
Related Posts
- Significant Magic Lantern Update, Version 2.3 for Canon DSLRs, Now Available to Download for Free
- Magic Lantern Alpha for the Canon 5D Mark III is Now Available
- Magic Lantern No Longer a Hack, V2.3 is a Mature Release with More Features Than Any Canon Camera
24 COMMENTS
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vinceGortho on 12.31.12 @ 7:54PM
Im wondering the same thing.
nikon only operates at 24mbs and whoops any canon in terms of resolution.
is it possible to raise the bitrate for better resolution?
Canon dslr seem like a lost cause. -
Ian Nicholson on 01.1.13 @ 6:12AM
The reason Canon cameras get so much ML Love is simply because Canon released an SDK,
When Nikon et al do the same, but the world will be a happier place!
Lobby your camera manufacturer for an SDK.
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That is simply wrong. Canon has a SDK for remote controlling you camera via PC, that might be what you think of. ML runs in parallel to Canons firmware on the camera and uses the same memory – that way variables and props can be overwritten. That also makes it impossible to port ML over to Nikon. You would have to rewrite everything button up.
The reason why ML didn’t choose to work on high end cameras such as the 1DC is simply the fact, that those cameras are very expensive. It would a) require a developer to own one of the models and b) be very risky. Porting ML to a new model isn’t as straightforward as many would expect and always comes with a risk of destroying the camera. Which happened to some extend to a 7D once.
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There is some people working on hacking Nikon firmwares, but there just hasn’t been much progress done yet. More info available here: http://nikonhacker.com/
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Brett on 12.31.12 @ 4:57PM
No joke, this just bricked my 7d. I’m looking for any forum that might explain how to unbrick a 7d and having very little luck. Any one on here that can point me in the right direction? It won’t even power on now.
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Yikes! Keep us posted on your progress and good luck. If I find a place to send you, I’ll certainly let you know.
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Donald F. on 12.31.12 @ 6:41PM
Did you follow the instruction carefully?
Did you charges up your battery first?
Did you format the CF card first?
Was the 7D on firmware 2.0.3?
Did you press any button/turn off the camera during ML firmware updating?-
Brett on 12.31.12 @ 8:18PM
Yeah, I followed the instructions and used a fully charged battery. I might have had firmare 2.0 instead of 2.0.3, which I think messed it up. After about ten minutes of letting it sit and removing and reinserting the battery, I managed to get it reset and it turned on. Let it sit and re inserted the battery again and it seems to be back to normal. If anyone else messes up their camera, this seems to work. I suppose the lesson to learn is make sure you have it at 2.0.3 before you try it. Thanks for the suggestions though Donald.
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zefstyle on 01.5.13 @ 12:34AM
having the right firmware version number is very important. also, important to make your sd card bootable. finally if it hangs up, very important to take out the battery asap to let it reset. all this info is on their wiki
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Nathan on 01.16.13 @ 1:56AM
Hey Brett, you are not alone. I did exactly what I was supposed to do according to ML site. When I presses update firmware my screen got all black! nothing happened…luck me I just removed the battery and started to work again. But that black screen scared the shit out of me!
I guess I am not trying on my 7D no more…to much money to through like that.
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DIYFilmSchool.net on 01.1.13 @ 10:50AM
Bricking my camera is the one reason why I’ve yet to try Magic Lantern. I know it has a lot of indispensable tools, but I’m a little leery to try it. That said, it’s great that 7D owners have more flexibility and functionality now.
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love no film school, but i don’t know why when it comes to camera articles you often write them for an audience of dps rather than just general filmmakers. the occasional extra sentence which provides context and an explanation of what you’re talking about could really make these articles useful.
in this article for example, perhaps a coherent definition of what magic lantern is, and what it does.
thanks
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@gg you could follow the links in the article that trace back to not only the previous articles but also to the Magic Lantern site. All the information is there, many people don’t want a reiteration of information presented in earlier linked articles.
That’s the glory of the web. Links to other info make it easy. ;)
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1 pingbacks
When will Nikon get some ML love? The D600/D800 would be the perfect candidates for the Magic Lantern treatment. What’s stopping them?