There have been some rather exciting updates regarding the Magic Lantern firmware hack recently. The first big announcement was that the third party firmware was now working on the Canon 5D Mark III, and then we got the fantastic news that it's also being ported to the Canon 7D. There have been new developments with the 7D, and we are edging even closer to a final release. Click through for a video showing off the newest firmware working on the camera.
Here is a description of the status, from g3gg0:
This video shows the next important step in supporting Canon EOS 7D. For the first alpha releases we want to load Magic Lantern from a firmware update file (*.fir) only. This means, no data in flash must be changed, which will ensure that users dont risk to brick their cameras. As soon Magic Lantern for 7D gets out of alpha stage and safe for daily use, we will release a .fir that permanently enables loading Magic Lanterns autoexec.bin. In this video you see that loading Magic Lantern via .fir is working.
Here is the original video if you missed it:
The key to making this firmware useful is being able to have it load automatically when the camera starts up with the appropriate firmware, and that seems like it isn't too far away. Even with all of the new cameras being released from Canon, firmware like Magic Lantern aims to breathe new life and new features into an aging body. I've been told by many people that they're holding on to their cameras because they do the job for now, and the market is changing so fast that they'd rather wait for it to settle.
If you happen to be a Mark III owner, you can already download and play with the alpha for that camera, but you will have to give a donation for the privilege if you've never donated before.
Does firmware like Magic Lantern make you rethink a new camera purchase if you already own a Canon 7D or similar?
