Magic Lantern went silent years ago, but it appears a new group of people has picked up where the original creators left off. You can read their statement below, and you can find Magic Lantern software here.
It’s been a long journey, but official Magic Lantern builds return, for all cameras.
https://www.magiclantern.fm/downloads.html
What does this mean for you?
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.
New cams will be supported. Over time, the range of supported cameras will grow.
Summary:
Around 2020, our old lead dev, a1ex, after years of hard work, left the project. The documentation was fragmentary. 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.
We have an updated website. We have a new repo. We have new supported models. We have a new build system. We have cleaner, faster, smaller code.
Introducing the new Magic Lantern Core Team:
– g3gg0
– kitor
– names_are_hard
– WalterSchulz
I declare myself, names_are_hard, to be the new lead dev. At times, the only dev!
We’re using Git now. We build on modern OSes with modern tooling. We compile clean, no warnings. This was a lot of work, and invisible to users, but very useful for devs. It’s easier than ever to join as a dev.
If you would like to improve ML, or make your cam work – ask us how. We can teach you, and we need devs. The main thing you need is knowledge of C, which is a small language that has good tutorials.
Cam support:
The old supported cams continue to work well. The new cams at this time have fewer features, but they support two more recent generations of 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.
Newly supported cameras:
– 200D (Kiss X9, Rebel SL2)
– 6D2 (6D Mark II)
– 750D (Rebel T6i, Kiss X8i)
– 7D2 (7D Mark II)
(cam specific discussion can happen in these threads)
More detail is given in the separate threads, but generally the new cams have utility features such as:
– intervalometer
– custom crop marks
– shutter count
– 30 min LV powersave disable (good for HDMI out webcam mode)
200D has working raw video, with DPAF, and Dual ISO. The raw video output is a bit quirky, but useful results can be obtained with patience. Masc has added support in mlvapp.
At ISO 100, the 200D has two stops more dynamic range than EOS M. It has more DR than EOS M at every ISO. It has more DR than 5D3 at ISO 100 and 200!
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. Porting working features from 200D to similar cams is quite practical.
Bonus new feature: we now know how to extend maximum recording time for MOV / MP4. This is enabled on 200D. Porting to other cams is not hard (with the exception of Digic 6). Thanks to Space928 for finding a timer constant that allowed defining higher (or lower!) limits.
Features that almost made it:
Trap focus on 7D2. Lots of fiddly GUI stuff made this take too long. When finished, porting to others cam should be easy.
Raw video on 6D2 and 7D2. 200D was easier for technical reasons. 7D2 will likely be difficult. 6D2 is somewhere in the middle. The fundamental problem is a lack of understanding of EDMAC. Improvements here may be slow, but are likely to enable other, new features, perhaps including on older cams.
Credits:
Repo resurrector: names_are_hard
Build system moderniser: names_are_hard
Graphics subsystem groovifier: kitor
Firmware fettler: Indy (arm.indy)
Chief Digic 6 and 7 hacker: names_are_hard
Chief Digic 8 and X hacker: kitor
Chief camera tester: WalterSchulz
Website resurrector: kitor
Backend wranglers: kitor, g3gg0
Social media monster: kitor
Grinchmeister General: WalterSchulz
Special mention early bird devs: Turtius, Coon
CHDK ambassadors: reyalp, srsa
Primary PTP pilot: petabyte
Spiritual maintainers: theBilalFakhouri, Danne
Gone but never forgotten: a1ex
OG: Trammel Hudson
Unsung heroes: the many other people who contributed their time and knowledge towards the goal of this project. If you’d like, comment below and tell people what you did! My apologies for not naming everyone, but it’s a long list 