Magic Lantern firmware....

[swiftparkour94]

Ok, so it's only available for Canon DSLR's so if you're only a Nikon, Sony, etc. user it's probably a discussion that won't pertain to you.

Anyways, for those that have it installed on their camera, what are your guy's favorite ML tools and what do you use them for most of the time?

For me, I always go straight to the WB settings and adjust the Kelvin accordingly wherever I'm at, then (I always forget the name of these tools so I'll just describe them) I make sure I have the tool with the colored dots that shows you what's in focus exactly and the one with the small zoomed box to ensure an accurate focus. This is essential when I shoot macro with the combination of my Vfinder and is the perfect set up! I love the ISO settings and audio level meters as well, great for filming! Their HDR bracketing is my other favorite, man I love that tool!

 

[ceejtank]

What is this tool you speak of? Link?

 

[MLeeK]

I won't install it on my cameras.
You might find a few, but I don't know off hand of anyone here using it.

 

[swiftparkour94]

What is this tool you speak of? Link?

Just Google it and click the wikia link, should be the first one. I'm on mobile and it's hard putting up links with a slow Internet connection

 

[swiftparkour94]

I won't install it on my cameras.
You might find a few, but I don't know off hand of anyone here using it.

Oh ok. May I ask why you don't?

 

[Bynx]

I won't install it on my cameras.
You might find a few, but I don't know off hand of anyone here using it.

Oh ok. May I ask why you don't?

Good question since its only a small file that gets saved to the SD card. It doesnt affect the firmware of the camera at all. But the benefits it gives the camera are extremely useful.

 

[swiftparkour94]

Good question since its only a small file that gets saved to the SD card. It doesnt affect the firmware of the camera at all. But the benefits it gives the camera are extremely useful.

Yup, I love it

 

[rokvi]

I won't install it on my cameras.
You might find a few, but I don't know off hand of anyone here using it.

Oh ok. May I ask why you don't?

Good question since its only a small file that gets saved to the SD card. It doesnt affect the firmware of the camera at all. But the benefits it gives the camera are extremely useful.

I had it and was ready to install, however the rather large warnings put me off.

 

[zombiemann]

The large warning are a technicality. So if someone does something stupid they can't blame Magic Lantern. Kind of like the warnings about drowning on 5 gallon buckets. It is a fool proof instal and easily reversible.

I have it on my T2i/550d. The feature I use most is a combination of blinky overlays for Live View (it shows what parts are under/overexposed) and the expanded HDR features. By default my camera can take 3 shot brackets, with ML I can shoot 9, or even set it to autodetect and the camera will take as many shots as it thinks it needs based on the in camera meter. The only drawback to auto detect is it tends to take LARGE numbers of frames. I think the most I've counted was 22. Obviously if you are shooting RAW that can chew up a memory card pretty quick lol. It can also write scripts to help in the processing of the HDRs but I haven't gotten around to messing with it, so I don't know how that particular feature works.... Weather permitting ask me Monday

I played around with the intervalometer over this last weekend. Unfortunately I wasn't able to use the images for what I had intended, but that was my fault not the camera or firmware. I was trying to use it to take back to back (1s delay) 30second exposures to stack together for star trails but clouds decided to roll in when I wasn't paying attention so I was left with a memory card full of cloud pics instead of stars. The functionality seemed spot on with the camera though.

Another nice feature is audio triggered shutter. At first it sounds silly and pointless, but if I forget to grab my remote all I have to do is set everything up and then I can trigger my shutter by snapping my fingers next to the camera.

All in all it is an extremely handy tool. I honestly can't see myself ever removing it.

 

[prodigy2k7]

I was reading about that. I was considering using it. No idea much about it yet.

 

[swiftparkour94]

I had it and was ready to install, however the rather large warnings put me off.

It's the same thing as a disinfectant bottle saying "Kills 99.9% of germs". They can't be exactly 100% sure that it will work flawlessly. Thousands of users have downloaded and installed stable versions. They only put up ones that have been brave enough to be tested by volunteers countless times until released as "stable". In it's history of existence (I think 2008) no one has ever experienced a bricked camera issue. Very rarely are there glitches which can simply be solved by removing the batter, shutting off the camera, or switching modes then back to the one you were on. I did over 3 months of research, countless YouTube videos, forums, blogs, comment threads. It's safe for me to say that it works perfectly and is an genius invention. I'll never give it up, it's on all my high speed cards

 

[swiftparkour94]

It's the same thing as a disinfectant bottle saying "Kills 99.9% of germs". They can't be exactly 100% sure that it will work flawlessly. Thousands of users have downloaded and installed stable versions. They only put up ones that have been brave enough to be tested by volunteers countless times until released as "stable". In it's history of existence (I think 2008) no one has ever experienced a bricked camera issue. Very rarely are there glitches which can simply be solved by removing the batter, shutting off the camera, or switching modes then back to the one you were on. I did over 3 months of research, countless YouTube videos, forums, blogs, comment threads. It's safe for me to say that it works perfectly and is an genius invention. I'll never give it up, it's on all my high speed cards

Apparently the year 2 0 0 8 turns into a smiley LOL

 

[swiftparkour94]

I was reading about that. I was considering using it. No idea much about it yet.

I'm very OCD, I didn't research it for months to end up not getting it. It is AMAZING, best tool ever. Nikon users rage over it not being available on their cameras, I've read forums it's a blood bath. I say you should get it just to try it. If you don't like it then just format your card and it's off oh! A cool feature they have is to where you can check mark a box within your camera to keep ML and only delete picture or video files when formatting the card. Un-check it to take it off. If you need help installing it, we can Skype if you'd like. I've walked my friend through the installation process. It's super easy but it's good to be walked through it if you don't know what your doing or just simply want to feel reassured

 

[Bynx]

I have something similar that is an app for my Asus Pad. It controls focus, liveview, does focus stacking and up to 15 shots HDR. The only problem is with the free version is the files are jpeg and are saved to the pad instead of to the SD card, therefore its slow and not good if there is a lot of movement in the scene.

 

[ceejtank]

Drat. not for my camera ;(