More backstory: before the modern generation of digital cameras - Magic Lantern was one of the early ways to "juice" more power out of early generations of Canon cameras, including RAW video recording.

Today, cameras like Blackmagic and editing platforms like DaVinci handle RAW seamlessly, but it wasn't like this even a few years ago.

Funny, when i saw it uses a .fm TLD i thought it's some online radio.

I wish there are similar projects for other camera brands like Fujifilm. With abilities of ML on old Canon cameras we know there is a lot of potential in those old machines across other brands. It is also "eco" friendly approach that should be supported.

it also has a scripting system and is damn fun to mess with.

What's the situation re: running on actual hardware these days? I was experimenting around with my 4000D but when it came to trying to actually run my code on the camera rather than the emulator, a1ex told me I needed some sort of key or similar. He told me he'd sign it for me or something but he got busy and I never heard back.

Is this situation still the same? (Apologies for the hazy details -- this was 5 years ago!)

Wow, newly supported models is super exciting to see! I have a 5d mk iii which I got specifically to play around with ML. I haven't done much videography in my life, but do plan to get some b-roll at the very least with my mk iii or maybe record some friends live events sometime.

> I'm the current lead dev, so please ask questions.

Well, you asked for it!

One question I've always wondered about the project is: what is the difference between a model that you can support, and a model you currently can't? Is there a hard line where ML future compatibility becomes a brick wall? Are there models where something about the hardware / firmware makes you go 'ooh, that's a good candidate! I bet we can get that one working next'?

Also, as someone from the outside looking in who would be down to spend $100 to see if this something I can do or am interested in, which (cheap) model would be the easiest to grab and load up as dev environment (or in a configuration that mimics what someone might do to work on a feature), and where can I find documentation on how to do that? Is there a compendium of knowledge about how these cameras work from a reverse-engineering angle, or does everyone cut their teeth on forum posts and official canon technical docs?

edit: Found the RE guide on the website, gonna take a look at this later tonight

Just wanted to say thanks for keeping this alive! I used magic lantern in 2014 to unlock 4K video recording on my Canon. It was how students back then could start recording professional video without super expensive gear

I still shoot a 5Dmkii solely due to the ML firmware. It's primarily a timelapse camera at this point. The ETTR functionality is one of my absolute favorites. The biggest drawback I have is trying to shoot with an interval less than 5 seconds. The ML software gets confused and shoots irregular interval shots. Anything over 5 seconds, and it's great. No external timers necessary for the majority of my shooting. I do still have an external for when <5s intervals are necessary. I'm just waiting for the shutter to die, but I'm confident I'll just have it replaced and continue using the body+ML rather than buy yet another body.

Thanks for your work keeping it going, and for those that have worked on it before.

I just want to say "thank you." I run Magic Lantern on my Canon 5D Mark III (5d3) and it is such awesome software.

I am a hobbyist nature photographer and it helped me capture some incredible moments. Though I have a Canon R7, the Canon 5d3 is my favorite camera because I prefer the feel of DSLR optical viewfinders when viewing wildlife subjects, and I prefer certain Canon EF lenses.

More here:

https://amontalenti.com/photos

When I hang out with programmer friends and demo Magic Lantern to them, they are always blown away.

Hey just want to say a massive thank you for everything you've done with this project. I've shot so much (short films, music videos, even a TV pilot!) on my pair of 600Ds and ML has given these cams such an extended life.

It’s been a huge blessing!

I recently obtained an astro converted 6D. Have played around with CHDK a long time ago as a teenager but never magic lantern.

I am a compiler dev with decent low level skills, anything in particular I should look at that would be good for the project as well as my ‘new’ 6D? (No experience with video unfortunately)

I have a newer R62 as well, but would rather not try anything with it yet.

I would love to add it to my 1Ds3. I recall reading that once upon a time Canon wrote ML devs a strongly worded letter telling them not to touch a 1D, but a camera that old is long obsolete.

(I literally only want a raw histogram)

(I also have a 1Dx2 but that's probably a harder port)

I use magic lantern on my canon 650D to get a clean feed for my blackmagic ATEM. The installation was easy and everything works well.

Thank you and the magic lantern team!

I stand by my statement! Compare the length of the C standard to JS / ECMAScript, or C++! :)

Maaaaybe I'm hiding a tradeoff around complexity vs built-in features, but volunteers can work that out themselves later on.

You honestly don't need much knowledge of C to get started in some areas. The ML GUI is easy to modify if you stay within the lines. Other areas, e.g., porting a complex feature to a new camera, are much harder. But that's the life of a reverse engineer.

It’s not too difficult, if you do it from the start, and by habit.

I have an xcconfig file[0], that I add to all my projects, that turns on treat warnings as errors, and enables all warnings. In C, I used to compile -wall.

I also use SwiftLint[1].

But these days, I almost never trigger any warnings, because I’ve developed the habit of good coding.

Since Magic Lantern is firmware, I’m surprised that this was not already the case. Firmware needs to be as close to perfect as possible (I used to write firmware. It’s one of the reasons I’m so anal about Quality).

[0] https://github.com/RiftValleySoftware/RVS_Checkbox/blob/main... (I need to switch the header to MIT license, to match the rest of the project. It’s been a long time, since I used GPL, but I’ve been using this file, forever).

[1] https://littlegreenviper.com/swiftlint/

Agreed

cries in .x3f & Sigma Photo Pro

Why would it fail if the code is available?

No time like the present :)

It is actually easier to get started now, as I spent several months updating the dev infrastructure so it all works on modern platforms with modern tooling.

Plus Ghidra exists now, which was a massive help for us.

We didn't really go on hiatus - the prior lead dev left the project, and the target hardware changed significantly. So everything slowed down. Now we are back to a more normal speed. Of course, we still need more devs; currently we have 3.

> Can't understand why manufacturers make this hard as it sells hardware.

Because a lot of features that cost a lot of money are only software limitations. With many of the cheaper cameras the max shutter speed and video capabilities are limited by software to make the distinction with the more expensive cameras bigger. So they do sell hardware - but opening up the software will make their higher-end offerings less compelling.

Magic Lantern is fantastic software that makes EOS cameras even better, but I understand why manufacturers make it hard:

Camera manufacturers live and die on their reputation for making tools that deliver for the professional users of those tools. On a modern camera, the firmware and software needs to 100% Just Work and completely get out of the photographer's way, and a photographer needs to be able to grab a (camera) body out of the locker and know exactly what it's going to do for given settings.

The more cameras out there running customized firmware, the more likely someone misses a shot because "shutter priority is different on this specific 5d4" or similar.

I'm sure Canon is quietly pleased that Magic Lantern has kept up the resale value of their older bodies. I'm happy that Magic Lantern exists-- I no longer need an external intervalometer! It does make sense, though, that camera manufacturers don't deliberately ship cameras as openly-programmable computational photography tools.

The 80D has Magic Lantern code available. We haven't released a build to the public as it has such minimal features available there's no real point yet. But if you were thinking of doing dev work for it, it's in a good place to start: ML GUI works, debug logging works.

I used to do it as well with a cheap second-hand IXUS 230 HS. It could run (at least) 48 h off a 7.2 Ah 12 V AGM battery, snapping a photo every 3 s (I used a fake-battery power adapter and a small DC-DC converter.)

The list is so long. My favorite is the internal intervalometer + ETTR. Canon has always been laughed at for not having an internal intervalometer, and ML proves how lame it is to not have one. ETTR (Expose To The Right) is an auto metering mode that allows the camera to keep the histogram pushed as far to the right (better exposure) automagically by increasing shutter time and/or increasing ISO. This is essential for doing holy grail timelapse of sunset/sunrise where the exposure is constantly changing. This feature alone is worth it's weight in gold.

However, a lot of the features exposed are more video oriented. The Canon bodies were primarily photo cameras that could shoot video in a cumbersome way. ML brings features a video shooter would need without diving into the menus like audio metering. The older bodies also have hardware limitations on write speed, so people use the HDMI out to external recorders to record a larger framesize/bitrate/codec than natively possible. Also, that feed normally has the camera UI overlay which prevents clean recordings. ML allows turning that off.

There are just too many features that ML unlocks. You'd really just need to find the camera body you are interested in using on their site, and see what it does for that body. Different bodies have different features. So some effort is required on your part to know exactly what it can do for you.

I don't know if modern cameras are better for this, but a big one historically was getting a clean, realtime HDMI output so that high quality cameras can be used with a capture card for broadcast purposes as a replacement for a webcam. Manufacturers understand that that's a "pro" level need/feature and have intentionally segmented the market so that lower-tier devices can't do it even though the hardware is obviously all present.

- Lua script support. It is not complete (in ML hardly anything is) but allows to access a lot of ML and Canon functions. Years ago someone made a script for automating solar eclipse shooting catching all critical phases while chilling and enjoying the view. - Introduced full electronic shutter (Silent Pic) for Digic 4 and 5. - Focus stacking for macro and - via Lua script - for landscape. - Exposure simulation switch for "cheaper" cams - Trap focus - Dual-ISO. Some HDR mode but without ghosting by manipulating sensor lines to record at different ISOs - Ghost image overlay - Customizable cropmark overlays (grids and others) - Fps finetuning. Several folks used it to record vintage monitors with very, very strange timings and without rolling bars.30.01 fps? No problem! - Zebras and focus peaking, vectorscope, wavelength monitoring, false colour support - RAW histogram - Bracketing with up to 11 frames (But why? ;-> ) - Intervalometer and bracketing (a bit more configurable than Canon has now) - Trigger by LCD's IR sensor (if any) or Audio (clap your hand) or motion detect - Rack focus - Display mirroring and upside/down options - Configurable presets (up to 15) - 30 minutes override for RAW recording, USB and HDMI streaming. Oh, and we have a new option to record native H.264/MOV for more than 29:59. Prototype but working. -Better AF micoradjustment for the cams having that option by Canon. - ,,,

Frankly: I once tried to maintain a help file and browsed through a lot of lesser known features. Took me days and I didn't even test RAW/MLV recording.

The big one for me was always focus peaking when using vintage lenses or doing IR photography. The extended White Balance settings were nice to have for IR, as well.

I don't think forcing a company to open source their IP is a good move, but perhaps there might be some encouragement implemented for opening up their bootloader so the device is more hackable.

But forcing is never a right thing.

6D2 is a nice cam, and one I happen to own. This cam is under active development. Locally I have ~FHD raw video working.

Same boat. I have a 6D Mark II since 7 years ago now, and I misguidedly was counting on ML to be released within 3 years of my purchase. But luckily, it's still a fantastic camera.

Nothing published. But just few hours ago I was asked to test its raw video capture mode ...

I thought it was Magic Leap, the AR scam company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Leap

> As of December 2024, the Magic Leap One is no longer supported or working, becoming end of life and abruptly losing functionality when cloud access was ended. This happened whilst encouraging users to buy a newer model.

Ah, that’s about how I thought that would end up.

Hi - I'm the current lead dev.

It's not firmware, which is a nice bonus, no risk of a bad rom flash damaging your camera (only our software!).

We load as normal software from the SD card. The cam is running a variant of uITRON: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITRON_project

Yes its truly noteworthy project. They exploited Canon cameras by first managing to blink red charging LED. Then they used the LED blinks to transmit the firmware out. Then they built custom firmware which boots right from SD (thus no posibility to break the camera). The Magic Lantern firmware for example allows many basic cameras to do RAW 4K video recording (with unlimited length) - feature which is not even in the high-end models. But it has much more features to tinker with.

There is, but it's more limited: https://www.dslrbodies.com/cameras/general-nikon-camera-info...

Support for anamorphic lense ML has for ages: 5:4 (1.25); 4:3 (1.33); 7:5 (1.4); 3:2 (1.5); 5:3 (1.66); 9:5 (1.8); 2:1 (2)

Canon's legal team have never said anything about Magic Lantern in any context that I'm aware of.

The high end cams need ML less, they have more features stock, plus devs need access to the cam to make a good port. So higher end cams tend to be less attractive to developers.

Sony has https://github.com/ma1co/OpenMemories-Tweak The developer disappeared but it still works I think.

I wouldn't recommend the 600D if you want to do video. For stills it's perfectly acceptable. Auto-focus will feel slow compared to a modern cam. If you're going for an old / budget cam, try and reach to the 650D or 700D, those are a newer generation of hardware.

200D is much newer, but less well supported by ML. I own this cam and am actively working on improving it. 200D has DPAF, which means considerably improved auto-focus, especially for video. Also it can run Doom.

Are there any ML features in particular you're interested in?

The linked page explains:

    Magic Lantern is a free software add-on that runs from the SD/CF card and adds a host of new features to Canon EOS cameras that weren't included from the factory by Canon.

https://github.com/reticulatedpines/magiclantern_simplified/...

    Magic Lantern
    =============

    Magic Lantern (ML) is a software enhancement that offers increased
    functionality to the excellent Canon DSLR cameras.
      
    It's an open framework, licensed under GPL, for developing extensions to the
    official firmware.

    Magic Lantern is not a *hack*, or a modified firmware, **it is an
    independent program that runs alongside Canon's own software**. 
    Each time you start your camera, Magic Lantern is loaded from your memory
    card. Our only modification was to enable the ability to run software
    from the memory card.

    ML is being developed by photo and video enthusiasts, adding
    functionality such as: HDR images and video, timelapse, motion
    detection, focus assist tools, manual audio controls much more.

    For more details on Magic Lantern please see [http://www.magiclantern.fm/](http://www.magiclantern.fm/)

    There is a sibling repo for our patched version of Qemu that adds support
    for emulating camera ROMs. This allows testing without access to a physical
    camera, and automating tests across a suite of cameras.  
    https://github.com/reticulatedpines/qemu-eos  
    https://github.com/reticulatedpines/qemu-eos/tree/qemu-eos-v4.2.1 (current ML team supported branch)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Lantern_(firmware)

Uh, sure, maybe in a professional setting where you’re getting paid. But this was unpaid volunteer work. If, as a community, we start enforcing professional grade standards on people who are just contributing their free time to give us neat toys and tools, I kinda worry it makes the whole thing the whole thing less fun or sustainable. And if that happens, we probably stop getting these free toys altogether.