Magic Lantern unlocks Canon 5D to shoot 14 bit raw via liveview

[Cliff Totten]

Has anybody been able to shoot a resolution chart with thie new Magic Lantern release?

I'm dying to see what is happening with the resolution this thing produces and how it's scaled for 1080 video. Has any of the Magic Lantern folks discussed what tecnique they are using? (simple line skipping or some other pattern?)

[Ted Ramasola]

did you watch my video I posted?

[Cliff Totten]

Didn't see it earlier, was browsing forum on my phone. Thank you for that post, very interesting!

It's going to be fascinating to see how ML develops this further. I'm particularly interested in how the entire industry reacts to this a year from now.

Thanks!

[Ted Ramasola]

To quote Stu Maschwitz in his article;

IT’S NO LONGER OK FOR CAMERAS NOT TO GIVE US EVERYTHING THEY’VE GOT.

An interesting read.
Prolost - Blog - Space Monkeys, Raw Video, and Giving Us All You'veGot


..

[Chris Barcellos]

To those wondering about work flow, with Ted's help in getting mounted up with the software, and running in on my trusty 5D Mark II, I have been able to shoot in short bursts that I subsequently processed to DNGs using the converter provided by Magic Lantern. From there, I tried proceesing the file through Resolve 9 (came with my Black Magic Cinema Camera), and at least initially I was unable to get a clean process. Essentially, I think Resolve was not reading the pixel aspect ratio properly

However, when I processed throught Cineform's Studio, Premium version, I was able to produce a clean editable Cineform .avi that I believe would be acceptable.

I am just in early minutes of trying this out. It is clear that with my 5D Mark II, that I will still need a faster card. Using my old 133 x Kingston Elite Pro chips that I have used successfully for years to capture footage on the 5D II, I could only get about 4 seconds of footage before Magic Lantern started skipping frames. I definitely will need a faster card to test this further.

Second thing I am unclear about is if we can vary frame rate. It appears that the individual frames are being captured at 29.97 fps. Can anyone confirm that ?

[Ted Ramasola]

Chris,
Use the FPS override to get 23.976. You will know its now at that framerate when you change the hieght or width in ML menu the small note below will indicate, the framerate and data rate needed for the card.

Also, upon import of the DNGs to your NLE or AE, conform your DNG sequence to 23.976

[Robert Sanders]

I'm absolutely floored by some of these test video. Holy moly!

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Ted Ramasola

Chris,
Use the FPS override to get 23.976. You will know its now at that framerate when you change the hieght or width in ML menu the small note below will indicate, the framerate and data rate needed for the card.

Also, upon import of the DNGs to your NLE or AE, conform your DNG sequence to 23.976

Thanks again Ted. That should give me a longer run on that slow card too, I would think.

[Oleg Kalyan]

Could someone shoot a chart, please?

[Ted Ramasola]

Go to my videos at post # 20
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-...ml#post1793351

and post #30
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-...ml#post1795578

near the end.

:)

[Nigel Barker]

Whatever Magic Lantern are doing it is close to magic & totally different to that Emperors New Clothes nonsense of removing the OLPF that was promulgated last year. The resolution & detail with the 'raw' images is vastly better than the compressed H.264 images normally recorded to card or the uncompressed stream via HDMI.

It is categorically not just cropping the sensor although that option is also a feature. Here is a link to a video of some birds shot with a Canon 600mm f/4 IS II lens with a 1.4x TC in 'raw' then the same birds using the 5X crop option (equivalent to a 4000mm lens on a full frame sensor!)

Canon 5D Mark III RAW Test [Magic Lantern ML v2.3.NEXT.2013 - May 14] - Eastern Bluebird on Vimeo

Here is a comparison between C100 & 5D3 'raw' where the footage looks all but identical in terms of resolution. Magic Lantern enables 14-bit RAW CinemaDNG on 5D - Page 23

Aside from the limitations of 40-50 second takes with no audio & 6GB/minute storage requirement there are some really amazing images being delivered. Even if this isn't practical for most people to use it does demonstrate what is possible even with current cameras. If Canon won't produce a full frame 'raw' camera based on the 5D3 then perhaps some enterprising hot rodders can bolt on an SSD interface and a few other goodies to produce a cheap baby Epic?

[Ted Ramasola]

Update on 5d mk2 build using newer build.

Getting better, with raw record now triggered by LV button instead of from menu.

Audio recording with Raw now works in 5d2 with separate wav file. on NLE i noticed 4 frame delay in 30p. (move wav file back 4 frames to sync.)

in 24p there is 2 frame delay for the wav file. ( move it 2 frames to sync)

Its still quirky but getting better. :)

[Ted Ramasola]

For those with a 5DmkII and a VAF filter, I tested that the filter is essential at 1x resolution.

However, its mushed up soft when used at 5X crop mode.

Crop mode is sharp and detailed without the VAF.

Here is a new chart test at 1880 x 1080 & 1920 x 1078 comparing the DNGs with a still CR2 sraw2 frame and also with a chart at h264.

5D MKII + Magic Lantern Raw + VAF Res Chart test - YouTube

And for some updates over at ML site;

Cinema DNG is being worked on or at least to make the DNGs compatible with resolve.

Developers are attempting to do 12bit or 10bit raw thereby having the potential to lower the datarate making it possible to go higher resolution on older cameras.
Also they are looking at possible option to choose, 14bit, 12bit or 10bit.

[Cliff Totten]

The folks over at EOSHD.com have posted some more test results. Look at the resolution that the new Magic Lantern software is getting on the 5D III. (they compare it to the C300 and FS100)

Canon 1D C vs 5D Mark III Raw (and C300 / GH2 resolution comparison) | EOSHD.com

Looks like the news is getting worse for Canon's C100/300/500 product lines. (I'd bet that BlackMagic is not happy about it either)

Wow.....I think this will be the spark that creates a BIG fire across the entire industry. It's time for Canon, Sony and Panny to rethik and possibly re-plan their future product forcasting, marketing and R&D.

Is it possible that the "big 3" will all have $1,000 -$3,000 RAW recording cameras in 2 or 3 years? (as an option along with the usual CODEC stuff)

[Jim Martin]

Cliff-
No, the Cinema EOS line is not in trouble...the 5D is still a DSLR, a still camera that one has to add a fair amount of accessories to make it a functioning video camera that you can shoot with. The C100/300/500 are functioning video cameras that are, for the most part, ready to go. As for the 5D's unlocked chip being better than the C series chip, while it's mega pixel count is bigger, tests and real world usage will determine where it lands.....

Jim Martin
Filmtools.com