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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.
What it can do for me?
Are you serious about dSLR filmmaking?
Watch a few short films made with Magic Lantern!
Do you care about proper exposure?
RGB zebras, waveform, spotmeter, false colors are just a few tools.
Are you a musician or audiophile?
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?
So are we! You will find plenty of focus assist tools (peaking, zoom box, trap focus...)
Do you like long exposures and astrophotography?
You will appreciate exposures longer than 30 seconds and shake-free shutter release modes.
Are you a macro photographer?
Do you want a long depth of field with everything in focus? Try Stack Focus.
Are you a HDR enthusiast?
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?
Check out the built-in intervalometer and bulb ramping!
Are you a wildlife shooter?
Motion detection, trap focus and audio trigger might be just for you.
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?
Check out Bit rate control and automatic movie restart.
Do you need custom grids or cropmarks?
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 Comparison
Stable ports
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 ports
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 ports
These ports are incomplete and only available as source code, for developers.
- 1100D/T3/Kiss X50: port in progress, many features are already working.
| Unlocked features (which are present in other cameras with standard firmware) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Shutter Count | Yes | |||||
| Kelvin White Balance | Yes, 1500-15000 | |||||
| Intermediate ISO | Yes | |||||
| Exposure simulation | Yes | |||||
| Others | 1/25s ... 1/8000 shutter speed in movie mode | Movie recording | Manual exposure controls in movie mode | |||
| Audio | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Audio meters | Yes | Only when recording | Yes | N/A | Yes | |
| Disable AGC | Yes | N/A (Canon firmware has it) | Yes (Canon firmware also has it) | N/A | Yes | |
| Manual audio gain | Yes | No1 | Yes | N/A | Yes | |
| Audio monitoring | Yes | No | Yes (same cable as 550D) | N/A | Yes | |
| Live View | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Histogram, Waveform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Half-working | Yes |
| Zebra | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Half-working | Yes |
| False color | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Half-working | Yes |
| Cropmarks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Ghost Image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Live Defish | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Spotmeter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Half-working | Yes |
| Focus Peak | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Magic Zoom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Clear Screen / clean HDMI out | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Movie | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Bit rate control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Movie logging | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Movie Restart | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not tested | Yes | |
| Movie mode remap | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes! | Yes | |
| Movie REC key (HalfShutter / Set) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Lock Shutter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not sure, some users reported it working | ||
| WB workaround | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| DigitalZoom shortcut: 1x, 3x | No | Yes | No | No | No | |
| Force LiveView with manual lenses | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not tested | Yes | |
| Force HDMI-VGA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not tested | ||
| Shooting | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| HDR Bracketing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Intervalometer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bulb Ramping | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| LCD remote shot | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Audio remote shot | Yes | No4 | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Motion detect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Silent Pictures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Slit-Scan Pictures | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Bulb Timer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Mirror Lockup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Exposure controls | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| ISO | Yes | Yes | Yes3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shutter | Yes | Yes | Yes3 | Yes | Yes | |
| Aperture | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Light Adjust | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not tested | Yes | |
| Picture Style control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| REC PicStyle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Seems to work, more testing needed | Yes | Yes |
| Flash EV compensation | -5...+3 EV | -5...+3 EV | -3...+3 EV | Yes, limits not known | -5...+3 EV | |
| Focus | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Focus patterns | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trap Focus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, only outside LiveView | Yes | Yes |
| Follow Focus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rack Focus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Stack Focus | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tweaks | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Exposure simulation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| LCD sensor shortcuts | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| AF frame show/hide | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Auto Burst Pic Quality | Yes | No | Not needed | Not needed | Yes | |
| Quick zoom in Play mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Show cropmarks in movie mode only, or in all modes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| ISO selection (limit to 100x and 160x) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Mirrored Display | No | Yes | Yes | No | ||
| Crop Factor Display | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LiveView Zoom | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Debug | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Draw Palette 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Display Reverse / Mirror | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Screenshot | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Debug logging 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Prop/event/mem spy 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Font too small | Yes |
| Don't click me :) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Turn off display when idle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Dim display when idle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Turn off GlobalDraw when idle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Config | ||||||
| 550D | 600D | 60D | 50D | 1100D | 500D | |
| Config AutoSave | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Save config now | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Delete config file | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Disp profiles | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
1 Preamps can't be disabled, so it's noisier than other cameras.
2 Not always enabled in the release versions.
3 Some unusual values (like ISO 105) may not be available.
4 It works only before recording a video (disabled).
Hardware Compatibility
| 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... | ||||||
| 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 Community
- 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 say
Twitter feed
Blogs
- Lightning photography with Magic Lantern by Martin Ocando
- usinglight
- ALTfoto (in Spanish)
- Guia Magic Lantern by Johnny Ionix (in Spanish)
Source code
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
If Magic Lantern has been valuable for you, please consider throwing something into my tip jar.
Thank you!
P.S. Thanks to Dave Dugdale for the tip jar photo!