Contents 1 What is it? 2 Is it only for video? 3 Where do I get it? 4 Will it break my camera? 5 What can I do to help? 6 Where do I report bugs? 7 Can I donate / pay for it? 8 Why not just buy a video camera? 9 Will it work on a 7D? 10 Will it work on a 50D? 11 Will it work on a 1100D/T3 ? 12 Will it work on a 40D, 1000D, GH1, D7000, etc?

What is it? Edit

Magic Lantern is an enhancement atop of Canon's firmware that frees your Canon DSLR, allowing you to use many useful features. Initially developed for filmmakers, it now has functionality for both photo and video enthusiasts, including manual audio, zebras, focus assist tools, bracketing, motion detection and much more. It is an open (GPL) framework for developing extensions to the official software. It does not replace the existing firmware, but instead runs along side of it. There is no need to "uninstall" it -- simply format your card to reboot to the stock Canon firmware.

Is it only for video? Edit

Initially, Magic Lantern was developed by independent filmmakers and tailored for video production on 5D Mark II. Things changed when Magic Lantern was ported to smaller (APS-C) cameras, like 550D, 60D, 600D and 500D, which attracted developers interested in both still photography and DSLR video.

In short:

• Unified Magic Lantern (currently running on 500D, 550D, 600D, 50D and 60D) has dedicated photo functionality like extended bracketing, trap focus, motion detection or very long exposures; also, most video exposure and focus tools work for photos too. Coming soon on 5D mark II.
• Classic ML for 5D Mark II has extended bracketing and focus stacking functions.
• AJ 5.x versions of Magic Lantern only provide video functionality [1].

Check the Magic Lantern group on Flickr for more info!

Where do I get it? Edit

See the Download page.

Will it break my camera? Edit

As of September 2009 the software has been downloaded over two thousand times and there have been no reports of damage to the cameras. While this is no guarantee of absolute safety, the stable releases have been tested by beta testers. Most of the risk is to the developers' cameras while testing new features and probing new portions of Canon's firmware. By the time the software moves from development to beta testing it has been installed hundreds or thousands of times.

What can I do to help? Edit

If you're a programmer skilled in ARM assembly, embedded systems, GUI programming and don't mind risking your expensive camera, join the Magic Lantern devel mailing list, edit the wiki and make improvements.

Where do I report bugs? Edit

For general tech-support, join Magic Lantern User Group on Vimeo. For bugs and enhancement requests, use the issue tracker.

Can I donate / pay for it? Edit

You can donate via PayPal. I'm also looking for a steadicam and interesting lenses, so if you have any older ones that are no longer being used please let me know. Or you can make a donation to the EFF for me.

For the 550D and 600D versions of Magic Lantern, you can donate to Alex.

Why not just buy a video camera? Edit

If you can find a video camera that a) shoots HD, b) has a 50 mbps data rate, c) has interchangable lenses, d) has a 35 mm or larger sensor and e) costs less than $25k (without lenses, like the RED One), then buy that one instead. There are limitations to shooting movies on a 5D Mark II, notably the limited 12 minute recording time and lack of balanced audio inputs, but a ArriCam Lite only records 5 minutes of Super 35 and a high quality preamp like the juicedLink CX231 provides balanced inputs. The lack of auto-focus in movie mode isn't a problem either -- movies are focused manually with a follow-focus like the Cinevate Durus.

Will it work on a 7D? Edit

Short answer: Not yet. work was being done on producing a Magic Lantern image for the 7D. Currently we can generate signed firmware images and have dumped the 7D's ROM for analysis, but we do not know how to hijack task execution on the Master/Slave (2 headed) DryOS instances. Details here: 7D support

Will it work on a 50D? Edit

Yes!

Will it work on a 1100D/T3 ? Edit

Yes!

Will it work on a 40D, 1000D, GH1, D7000, etc? Edit

Short answer: Maybe. Longer answer: The CHDK project successfully supports many different cameras running different operating systems, but finding the necessary kernel entry points is a very time consuming process. Since Magic Lantern is publicly available, someone with the time, the hardware and the inclination to port it to other cameras can do so.

For 400D, use 400plus.

The 40D, 450D, 1000D and 5Dmk1 are similar in hardware, but they run vxWorks and would be lots of effort to support. It will be much easier to port 400plus instead. See also Other_dslr.

For Panasonic GH1 and GH2, please check http://www.gh1-hack.info/. This is a completely different bit of hardware and would require an entire from-scratch reverse engineering effort in order to port Magic Lantern.

For Nikon cameras see this thread on personal-view.com and http://nikonhacker.com/.

There is also an effort in reverse engineering the Pentax K10/GX10 and K20/GX20 cameras. As of August 2009 they have been able to decrypt the firmware update and are making progress in understanding how the camera works.