
The Magic Lantern open-source firmware enhancements for Canon cameras have returned with a new dev team releasing new builds once more.
The Magic Lantern open-source firmware add-on for Canon cameras was always a bit out there for a lot of shooters. Yes, it added a load of new features such as HDR recording when you ran it off the SD/CF card of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and others, but it also potentially voided your warranty if it was used on your camera. Then, around 2020, the old lead dev, a1ex, left the project after years of hard work and everything started to come a bit unglued.
"The documentation was fragmentary," Magic Lantern's new lead dev, names_are_hard, writes. "Nobody understood the build system. A very small number of volunteers kept things alive, but nothing worked well. Nobody had deep knowledge of Magic Lantern code.
"Those that remained had to learn how everything worked, then fix it. Then add support for new cams without breaking the old ones."
Which is where we are now, with names_are_hard announcing a new core coding team and the return of new builds. That means there will be regular releases for all cams; releases will be tested; official releases will be on the main website, never in forum threads; reported bugs will be fixed; and new cams will be supported. What's more, the promise is that over time the range of supported cameras will grow.
The old supported cams continue to work well, with newer models now supported. These include the 200D (Kiss X9, Rebel SL2), 6D2 (6D Mark II), 750D (Rebel T6i, Kiss X8i), and 7D2 (7D Mark II). As the team explains, the new cams at this time have fewer features, but they support two more recent generations of DIGIC processor in the shape of the DIGIC 6 and 7.
"Thus they represent a great deal of work; these were new hardware platforms and old ML code was not designed to support this variation in hardware. Many fundamental changes in how the code supports different generations were made, all while carefully not breaking support for old cams."
The newly supported cameras now boast an intervalometer, custom crop marks, shutter count, 30 min LV powersave disable (which is apparently good for HDMI out webcam mode), and more.
"Now that we have a solid framework to build on, extending these cams with more features will be easier, and extending to DIGIC 8 and above becomes possible."
Reports are that the team is investigating support up to the DIGIC X models, which would mean cracking open the more recent mirrorless cameras as well and making a whole new generation of users decide whether they want to delve into the fun world of hacking their own cameras with all the potential risks and rewards that entails.
More details here.
Tags: Production Cameras Canon Magic Lantern
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