Magic Lantern
 

Hey Guys -

How about we chipin and get a 550D to Trammell Hudson - see some Magic Lantern on the 550D would be super cool!

We did something similar on the HV20 forum - all it needs is someone known to be the 'piggyback' holder using ChipIn and we'll have the $800 in no time, buy it off of amazon, and send it to Trammell ^_^

What'cha guys think?

Great idea. I am willing to pay for it if he wants to do it.

Well if more people would be willing to join in so we'd all have to chip in with a small sum, I'd be up for it.

But if we're only two and we have to come up with $400 each, I don't know :P

Well the idea is that many people will chip in small amounts -
Floris - I doubt he can guarantee it, that's why we all take a smaller risk (rather than 1 person taking a big risk)

Go ahead and set up a ChipIn for the 550d Magic Lantern, and me and Alex can be the first two to get this ball rolling :>

I'd be in. I'd like to hear from him about what he thinks the chances are of him being able to do it would be.

Ala, let's not rush into this. I don't even have a 550D yet. :)

I'm all for chipping in and helping the community but are we sure if we raise that money that he will get the camera AND come up with a version for it?

I could be wrong, but doesn't Trammell need to have a firmware update for the T2i from Canon before he can start his work? The T1i just got it's first update and it took nearly a year.

I'm really not sure at all how much work would be involved. There is some belief that the problems porting Magic Lantern to the 7D have been caused by the dual DIGICs; the 550D has only one and might be a straight-forward port.

I'd love to be able to support the 550D with ML since it is the absolute least expensive Super-35 sized camera with a stereo mic jack and 30p/24p modes. The 5D Mark II is an incredible film making tool, but for 1/4 the price the 550D is an incredible deal and I imagine that Canon will sell tons of them to film students and indies. The biggest features of ML are all audio related, so supporting the 500D without an external mic input doesn't make as much sense.

The biggest impediment to even starting on a port is a firmware dump. Allegedly there is one in the wild that might be usable as a starting point, if it is really from the 550D. After the firmware has been acquired, access to a camera for hacking is the next requirement.

what I wouldn't give for...
 

I'd definitely chip in if / when I get one, which is hopefully soon. If anyone wants to sell me a Tokina 11-16, let me know!

An ignorant question for Tramm et al:

the biggest seemingly-fixable setback to ALL these DSLR's, in my opinion (and other people who seem to hate these cameras for this reason) is how difficult it is to get sharp focus while recording. Now, if that magnification button that works so beautifully could be invoked DURING recording, all of these cameras would be instantly kicked up into a new class, and focusing on the run would be a breeze.

Is this something that just might possibly maybe could be invoked via firmware? Or is there a real-world, physical reason why you can't magnify and record at the same time? Tramm, if you could make that happen, I think we would all be happy to buy you not only a camera but as lifetime supply of Brooklyn Lager as well...

The zoom while recording does have issues. First, if you are trying to shoot anything that moves, the zoom is worthless. You'll never follow in that mode. Second, If it's stationary, you really shouldn't need it while recording. Set it once before and you're done. I would prefer to fix the 1080 out the HDMI to use an external monitor and follow focus so you don't touch the camera while recording. The 480 is not bad but obviously 1080 would be that much easier!

well, if you're doing a locked-down, pre-planned shot, it's fine. If you're walking around, hand held, documentary stuff, and you turn from shooting something close to something far away (for example), invoking that magnification for a second, focusing quickly, and and returning to a normal view is easy and invaluable. It works great when I'm not recording, not sure why it would be worthless otherwise. I'm not trying to use it to rack focus, simply to reset my focal length. Though it works great when rack-focusing stationary objects.

Adding monitors and other gear starts to remove what makes a camera like this so great for this shooting scenario- it's simplicity and portability.

I just meant any time I'm shooting, I don't want to bump the camera in the slightest. Even if I handhold, fiddling with anything other than the focus seems to show up in footage. I agree it works just fine if you're not shooting. I use it all the time.

This is just a new way of working that those of us with years and years of experience on video cameras have to get used to. That's why we're trying to turn them into video cameras with all the attachments! :)

Thank you for chiming in Tramm! Where can we contribute towards a T2i/550D for you? I'm ready to purchase an audio solution for mine, either a JuicedLink or a BeachTek DXA-SLR, strictly because they defeat the agc. But I've got two other XLR adapters already that I could use if ML can work on the T2i.

sorry- HDSLR newb here, but if this ML firware is possible for the 550D, is it possible to:

use the AV out for headphones
see a UV meter or level indicator
disable the AGC

that would be....so....very.....cool

ML for the 5D Mark II was designed primarily to provide a way to disable AGC. In process Tramm Hudson added some nifty things and he is developing others. The current ML 1.6 for the 5D has audio level meters, manual gain control adjustments, zebras, a form of automated rack focusing. Some of the new stuff is less than perfect, and considered in development, but they may be portable to the T2i, if someone makes the attempt.

zebra stripes...

I watched the firmware movie from the ML wiki, amazing. I will donate to a chipin if it is setup.

Willing to donate!

The 550d is the greatest lowbudget cam of this moment and a serious filmtool when ML will be able to run on the 550d!

As someone mentioned earlier -

The moment a firmware for the 550d is available (and work on porting Magic Lantern can start) - We'll set up a ChipIn and get things going

subscribing
 

This is my biggest need right now. I shot on the T2i yesterday and the images are incredible. Audio a mess. I recorded to a Zoom H4n and even had problems syncing in post. I shot 24p on camera.

I hear ya Paul, it makes the audio input completely useless... I also shot while recording on the H4 the other day, and indeed the audio is out, but this supposed 99.9% fix seemed to be more like 99.9346 for me, and even that wasn't bang on...

I would gladly chip in $100 if I could record from the zoom straight to the H4!

i'll chip.

Hey Jef...just to make sure...you meant "from the zoom straight to the T2i" right?

I'd like to pitch in, though I can't do a lot. This is actually my FIRST DSLR so I am buying everything from scratch. But I could pitch in $20. I'd donate my camera for a little bit, but I leave the country soon and need to learn how to use it!

Hi Paul, YUP! "Zoom to the H4"... doesn't make much sense does it!

Yeah, if we could take the output of the zoom straight to the T2i with no AGC that would be amazing, but being a mic input on the T2i, I'm guessing the line signal from the H4 might be too loud anyhow.

I'm actually a sound guy pretending to be a video guy, so syncing up in my DAW is no problem, but I can imagine it being tough for non-audio folks.

Try PluralEyes, no sync problems at all (only works in Vegas Pro and FCP)

is the reason that canon seems so hesitant to add firware features like AGC kill, zebra stripes, audio levels, etc is because they fear that a HDSLR full featured will take sales away from thier pro level video products? Like the H1 series?

Perhaps. Of course, this camera already offers an amazing value. To be frank, I've always thought zebra stripes were over-rated (of course, most of what I shoot is at night) - if you need 'em that bad, get a light meter.

MUCH more anoying is how the camera white balances - a dedicated button would make a lot more sense - even just for stills - then about any other upgrade.

Second would be manual audio control, although for cameras this size I'm not sure how good the sound can possibly be (no xlrs). Remember that every pro film set uses a secondary sound recording source - and even then, as much as 80% of the dialouge will be looped anyway.

For news gathering, I'd agree, but I think this cam is ill suited for that purpose.

In the end, I don't think Canon would be too worried about their video camera sales - mainly because so few people will actually end up making features with the T2 (or even the Mark II).

jdv

Having been a t2i owner for a week, here's my magic lantern wish list. I have no idea if these are possible via firmware hacking or not, but-

1) enabling that "focus assist / magnification" button so that it works during video recording- wow, what a focusing lifesaver! would totally revolutionize the camera!

2) if there was some way to create an HD movie crop mode... that movie crop mode is awesome and brilliant- there's no reason why you couldn't do the same thing but with an HD frame size- obviously it's not going to magnify as much, but who cares- having a built-in telefoto like that is great. Shooting HD all the time, the SD movie crop is kinda limited, so why not tweak it a little?

3) all the usual obvious suspects- manual audio, etc.

thanks! let me know when i can chip in...

I would definitely be in for this. The features of ML look amazing.

One question though (speaking from complete ignorance on the subject), what is the big deal with syncing from something like H4N in post? Aren't the waveforms similar enough to line up the H4N/etc audio with whatever is recorded by the camera itself?

Is it terribly noticeable if the audio is a few pixels of alignment off?

There is nothing wrong with lining it up yourself. I do it that way all the time. You just have to make sure your NLE lets you move the audio in sub-frame increments. PP works fine.

Sure you can do it manually, but PluralEyes makes it so easy. Last night I shot an event and had my Z7U as the master shot (about 1.5 hours) and shot various cutaways with my T2i. I've got about 100 clips with the T2i. It would take hours to sync all those clips up, PluralEyes will do it in minutes.

In the past I'd just let my second camera run the full time so would only have to sync once, but with the 12 minute limit that can't be done.

This was exactly what I needed to hear to give PluralEyes a try. I wasn't sure if it could accomplish something like this, but now that I know it can, I'm going to save a lot of time in post from now on.

You get a 30 day trial with full features to try it out. I've got 10 days left on mine, then I'll be buying.

I am in too for a ML audio firmware.

I would definitely donate to the cause of getting Magic Lantern firmware working for T2i.

Hey Guys,

I know ML is more of an audio upgrade but was wondering if this could be possible...

1. KELVIN temperature... Haha I maybe asking too much for this but I come from still photography background and I think to be able to set your white balance on the fly is crucial! Just a wish, though lol

2. CUSTOM BUTTON CONFIG. like the 7D where you can customize each button to do something other than what they are configured to. Just like someone said, a dedicated button for white balance would be awesome

Hahaha these are a major wish lists... ;). I'd still love to donate no matter what happens.

PS. Is there a way to help out, also with the ML project, like as a developer? I'd love to give anyone a hand

Thanks!

Daniel: Not sure if you have been to the Wiki page yet, but check out the multitude of information there:

Magic Lantern Firmware Wiki

You can contact Tramm Hudson directly through PM from this site if you are interested in helping develop the software. Go to post 8 in this thread, click on his name to send him an email offering to help.

Tramm has been busy with the 5D's latest firmware, and getting a new version of Magic Lantern ready for it. Hopefully, this might provide developments that can "easily" be ported over for something for the T2i.

another item for the 550D ML wishlist: 160 ISO settings
 

I've heard the 7D records with much less noise at multiples of 160 ISO. So 160 ISO is better than 100, 640 cleaner than 400, etc. It'd be nice to have these intermediate ISO settings enabled on the T2i/550D.

reference for the noise levels at different ISO settings:
Canon 7D ISO versus noise test images Marvelsfilm’s Blog

I'm in for a donation.
But it sounds like the camera is only one limitation.
Can the right kind of programmer be hired to collaborate on the magiclantern project (with a focus on the t2i)?

what if we set up a fund. used it to purchase the camera and hire a programmer.

We could all contribute $20, and then those who could afford to could invest an additional (greater) amount.

Once the software was completed, we could request a $20 donation from future users. That money would reimburse those who invested beyond the standard $20.

After that, donations from new users would go toward support and improvements.
Also, it might be appropriate to contribute financially toward the work that people are already or have done to make this project possible in the first place.

Go down and read the comments at Marvels film blog above. turns out the 7D really has only 100-200-400-800 etc but is under or overexposing the the higher or lower ASA values to create the fractional settings. Corresponding to this there is a loss or gain in highlight range. Thus is 500 is overexposed 400 and 640 is underexposed 800 - at least that's how I read it.