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Downloads
Complete packages: For 550D/60D/600D/50D/500D 11.12.22 11.12.12 11.11.11 Install Guide and User Guide For 5D Mark II Beta testing in progress. Early version available to donors. Experimental updates (Twitter feed): Working on 550D, 60D, 600D, 50D, 500D and, for testers and supporters, on 5D Mark II. Loading RSS data...

Magic Lantern Community
Mailing List Loading RSS data... ML Vimeo Group ML Flickr Group Loading RSS data... Issue tracker for reporting bugs (read this first!)

Firmware addon for Canon EOS power users

Magic Lantern is a custom firmware add-on for Canon dSLR cameras. It is not a hack, or a modified firmware, but it runs alongside Canon's own firmware, booting from the card every time you turn the camera on. The only modification to the original firmware is the ability to boot software from the card.

Magic Lantern is being developed by both photo and video enthusiasts; its features include manual audio, zebras, focus assist tools, bracketing, motion detection and much more.

Contents 1 What it can do for me? 1.1 Are you serious about dSLR filmmaking? 1.2 Do you care about proper exposure? 1.3 Are you a musician or audiophile? 1.4 Are you a manual lens shooter? 1.5 Do you like long exposures and astrophotography? 1.6 Are you a macro photographer? 1.7 Are you a HDR enthusiast? 1.8 Do you want to shoot timelapse? 1.9 Are you a wildlife shooter? 1.10 Do you like to tinker with hidden settings? 1.11 Do you want to record more than 12 minutes? 1.12 Do you need custom grids or cropmarks? 2 Feature Comparison 2.1 Stable ports 2.2 Unstable ports 2.3 Unusable ports 3 Hardware Compatibility 4 Magic Lantern Community 5 What others say 5.1 Twitter feed 5.2 Blogs 6 Source code 7 Donations

What it can do for me?Edit

Are you serious about dSLR filmmaking?Edit

Watch a few short films made with Magic Lantern!

Do you care about proper exposure?Edit

RGB zebras, waveform, spotmeter, false colors are just a few tools.

Are you a musician or audiophile?Edit

Magic Lantern will help you get the best audio quality in the camera, as well as monitoring and VU-meters.

Are you a manual lens shooter?Edit

So are we! You will find plenty of focus assist tools (peaking, zoom box, trap focus...)

Do you like long exposures and astrophotography?Edit

You will appreciate exposures longer than 30 seconds and shake-free shutter release modes.

Are you a macro photographer?Edit

Do you want a long depth of field with everything in focus? Try Stack Focus.

Are you a HDR enthusiast?Edit

Bracketing up to 9 frames with spacing from 0.5 to 5 EV should handle even the most difficult contre-jours.

Do you want to shoot timelapse?Edit

Check out the built-in intervalometer and bulb ramping!

Are you a wildlife shooter?Edit

Motion detection, trap focus and audio trigger might be just for you.

Do you like to tinker with hidden settings?Edit

Check shutter counter, movie recording with 50D, ISO 25600, flash exposure compensation from -5EV, Kelvin white balance on all cameras...

Do you want to record more than 12 minutes?Edit

Check out Bit rate control and automatic movie restart.

Do you need custom grids or cropmarks?Edit

Simply draw them in your favorite image editing program and save them as bitmaps! Or use one of the included ones.

Check the user guide for a complete list of features

Feature ComparisonEdit

Stable portsEdit

Magic Lantern runs well on these cameras and is suitable for daily use.

• 550D/T2i/Kiss X4: almost everything working
• 60D: almost everything working
• 600D/T3i/Kiss X5: almost everything working, except for audio controls

Unstable portsEdit

Magic Lantern runs on these cameras, but is less usable or has problems that limit it to advanced users.

• 5D Mark II: most functions working; beta testing in progress. Early version available to donors.
• 50D: most functions working; it has a few stability problems; movie recording works!.
• 500D/T1i: most functions working; port is very recent and therefore not well tested.

Unusable portsEdit

These ports are incomplete and only available as source code, for developers.

• 1100D/T3/Kiss X50: port in progress, many features are already working.

Hardware CompatibilityEdit

Compatible accessories
	5D Mark II	550D	600D	60D	500D	50D	1100D
External Microphones	Yes	Yes	Limited controls	Yes	DIY	No	No
Headphones	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Will be	No	No
External monitors	HDMI (fully usable)				Not supported
HDMI recorders	Yes (clean HDMI out, without focus box, but with black bars)						Not tested
Eye-Fi cards	Not tested	Geo works, Pro doesn't	EyeFi Pro X2 works!	Not tested
Memory cards (SD/CF)	No known issues (for cards supporting high bitrates, see Bit_rate#Cards )
Batteries (original or third party)	No known issues
Battery grips	No known issues
External flashes	No known issues (tip: trigger them with built-in flash by setting Flash EV to -10)
Lenses which report focus distance	Canon 18-55, 18-200, 28-135, 70-200, 70-300, 85/1.8, 100/2.8, 200/2.8... http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Focus_distance
Lenses which do not report focus distance	Canon 50/1.8, 50/1.4, 35/2, 15/2.8, 28-70/2.8L...

Magic Lantern CommunityEdit

• Magic Lantern User Group on Vimeo
• Magic Lantern group on Flickr for photo users
• Issue tracker for reporting bugs
• Development Mailing List

Forums:

• Magic Lantern sticky topic on dvxuser.com
• Magic Lantern discussion on Cinema5D
• Magic Lantern para 550d on canonistas.com (in Spanish)
• 500D Discussion on CDHK`s forum.
• Magic Lantern discussion on Donanım Haber Forum (in Turkish)

What others sayEdit

Twitter feedEdit

BlogsEdit

• Lightning photography with Magic Lantern by Martin Ocando
• usinglight
• ALTfoto (in Spanish)
• Guia Magic Lantern by Johnny Ionix (in Spanish)

Source codeEdit

hg clone -r unified https://bitbucket.org/hudson/magic-lantern
make
make 550D
make 60D
make 600D
cd platform/550D.109
make
make docs
make zip

Compiling instructions: Build_instructions/550D

Donations Edit

If Magic Lantern has been valuable for you, please consider throwing something into my tip jar.

Thank you!

Alex

P.S. Thanks to Dave Dugdale for the tip jar photo!