# Magic Lantern increases Canon EOS 5D Mark III dynamic range



## Guest (Jan 22, 2014)

```
<div name="googleone_share_1" style="position:relative;z-index:5;float: right; /*margin: 70px 0 0 0;*/ top:70px; right:120px; width:0;"><g:plusone size="tall" count="1" href=""></g:plusone></div><div style="float: right; margin:0 0 70px 70px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-url="">Tweet</a></div>
<p>Magic Lantern has long been a fan favourite to “unleash” the features of Canon cameras we wish they had. Lately this has included pushing what we can get out of the sensor.</p>
<p>As reported on Planet 5D:</p>
<p>“Tests have been done by ‘Marsu42’ of CanonRumors, which show numbers of up to 15 stops of DR when using this feature combined with the ‘dual_iso’ module that Magic Lantern already includes in their nightly builds.”</p>
<p>Marsu42 said:</p>
<p>This means that for example on 5d3, iso 800 with ML has more dynamic range than iso 100 with Canon :-> … and at high iso you’re getting 7% more dr which is nothing to sneeze at, esp. since it builds upon Canon‘s advantage vs. Nikon: [email protected] = ~8.3 & [email protected] = ~9.4 ev. According to sensorgen.info the 6d should add another 2/3 stop (once the code is adapted for it) making good ol’ Canon the superior sensor for low light high contrast shooting.</p>
<p>Since this is a new software update I’d recommend you proceed with caution, however, these are exciting results for both stills and video shooters!</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=19124">Our Forums</a> via <a href="http://blog.planet5d.com/2014/01/magic-lantern-increases-canon-eos-5d-mark-iii-sensor-dynamic-range-by-12-stop/">P5D</a></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>
```


----------



## duydaniel (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

I have firmware 1.2.3
is it possible for me to run ML?


----------



## crazyrunner33 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



duydaniel said:


> I have firmware 1.2.3
> is it possible for me to run ML?



It is not possible to run Magic Lantern on 1.2.3, you'll need to roll back.


----------



## Ricku (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

This is only interesting if you shoot at higher ISO settings. :-\


----------



## Rienzphotoz (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Ricku said:


> This is only interesting if you shoot at higher ISO settings. :-\


So start shooting at high ISO and you too can get excited ;D


----------



## Pinchers of Peril (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

This is only interesting if you like high dynamic range


----------



## Jan (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

I wonder if only stupid dickheads are working at Canon, but I guess this is not the case. ;-)
So what might be the disadvantage when using the "high-DR mode"?


----------



## preppyak (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Ricku said:


> This is only interesting if you shoot at higher ISO settings. :-\


It's a big win for video shooters; you now pay even less of a penalty by shooting at high ISO, which means you need to spend less on lighting, etc.

And if the 5DIII can gain 14 stops of DR for stills shooting, well, it's hard to see it as anything other than the best option for full-frame in most circumstances.


----------



## DanielW (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

Congratulations to our famous friend Marsu42!


----------



## hgraf (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

Conspiracy theories abound, but I'm not one normally to believe them.

So with that said: what's the catch? Why doesn't Canon implement this natively in their firmware? There must be some technical reason Canon decided NOT to do this?


----------



## Lichtgestalt (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

is this a multi-exposure (HDR like) hack like we have seen in the past?
two or more frames mixed together?

the article use a lot of buzzwords but... how does it work....


----------



## infared (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

OK...I have a 5DMarkIII running Firmware Version 1.2.1. I have never used Magic Lantern. I did spend about $3400 on my camera body (yes, I was an early adopter, but was able to sell my 5DMarkII for $2000 so I guess it evened out), and I do not want do ruin it as it is an expensive piece of hardware in my life. 
1. Is ML easy to install and use?
2. Can I switch back and forth between ML and My Canon OS?
3. Can anyone direct me to a site where someone has solid experience and simple information (for dummies) on how to set your 5DMarkIII up and use the software to its fullest.
4. Have users destroyed their camera when installing of using this software.

Seems like there are a lot of benefits....but if I do something to the camera and it is not repairable ....I might have to kill myself.


----------



## Ricku (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Pinchers of Peril said:


> This is only interesting if you like high dynamic range


Which all photographers do.

Except those in denial, and those who shoot jpegs and don't like post processing very much. ;D


----------



## Rienzphotoz (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



DanielW said:


> Congratulations to our famous friend Marsu42!


+1


----------



## Don Haines (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Rienzphotoz said:


> DanielW said:
> 
> 
> > Congratulations to our famous friend Marsu42!
> ...


+2


----------



## crazyrunner33 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



infared said:


> OK...I have a 5DMarkIII running Firmware Version 1.2.1. I have never used Magic Lantern. I did spend about $3400 on my camera body (yes, I was an early adopter, but was able to sell my 5DMarkII for $2000 so I guess it evened out), and I do not want do ruin it as it is an expensive piece of hardware in my life.
> 1. Is ML easy to install and use?
> 2. Can I switch back and forth between ML and My Canon OS?
> 3. Can anyone direct me to a site where someone has solid experience and simple information (for dummies) on how to set your 5DMarkIII up and use the software to its fullest.
> ...



1) It is not difficult to install Magic Lantern if you can follow the instructions. A simple Google search will show you a lot of tutorials, or you can go to EOSHD.com and buy the 5D Mark III ML RAW guide which will show you how to install and use ML. ML is easy to use, it's simple, but there are a lot of features that give you plenty of room to play around or use as tools.

2) The Canon OS is always running, but you can have a clean boot without ML by holding "SET" while starting the camera. 

3) EOSHD.com if you want to pay for it or search, there are a lot of tutorials out there.

4) I have not heard of anyone destroying or bricking their camera as a result of ML, but you can search on Google to see for yourself. It is possible to have issues with some of the builds, but nothing that will break the camera. I use the nightly builds and I always test a build for 2-3 days before taking it out on a paid shoot. I only had one instance where ML wouldn't boot and the camera hung up, but it was related to the memory card. I put a different card in and had to rely on H.264 for the day.


----------



## Don Haines (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Ricku said:


> This is only interesting if you shoot at higher ISO settings. :-\





Pinchers of Peril said:


> This is only interesting if you like high dynamic range



Personally, I hate it when the specs of a camera are improved. I think we should go back to 320x200 resolution in 256 colours..... <SARCASM>

(and yes, I do realize that the two quotes were also sarcasm)


----------



## gbchriste (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



infared said:


> OK...I have a 5DMarkIII running Firmware Version 1.2.1. I have never used Magic Lantern. I did spend about $3400 on my camera body (yes, I was an early adopter, but was able to sell my 5DMarkII for $2000 so I guess it evened out), and I do not want do ruin it as it is an expensive piece of hardware in my life.
> 1. Is ML easy to install and use?
> 2. Can I switch back and forth between ML and My Canon OS?
> 3. Can anyone direct me to a site where someone has solid experience and simple information (for dummies) on how to set your 5DMarkIII up and use the software to its fullest.
> ...



Here's a quote directly from the ML web site:

*Is it safe?*

No. Magic Lantern was created by reverse engineering an undocumented system that controls hardware. Therefore, we can't be certain that it's 100% safe.

Magic Lantern does not replace Canon code (which is stored in ROM), but it does change the settings (which are saved to a non-volatile memory). If Magic Lantern would set incorrect values for certain settings, this may cause the camera not to boot (even without ML). 


I'm sure there are a lot of people that successfully use ML and find the benefits worth whatever risks there may be. Personally, I would never load what amounts to 3rd party hack on to a $3000+ device, no matter how well regarded.


----------



## cayenne (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



infared said:


> OK...I have a 5DMarkIII running Firmware Version 1.2.1. I have never used Magic Lantern. I did spend about $3400 on my camera body (yes, I was an early adopter, but was able to sell my 5DMarkII for $2000 so I guess it evened out), and I do not want do ruin it as it is an expensive piece of hardware in my life.
> 1. Is ML easy to install and use?
> 2. Can I switch back and forth between ML and My Canon OS?
> 3. Can anyone direct me to a site where someone has solid experience and simple information (for dummies) on how to set your 5DMarkIII up and use the software to its fullest.
> ...



Be cautioned if you have a 5D3.

ML is still very alpha for the Canon 5D3.

1. If you install Magic Lantern on your 5D3, you will set a firmware bootflag on the camera, that is NOT removable. At this time, it is a permanent change to your camera
2. It seems associated with this flag, that the boot times and wake up times can be significantly increased on your camera, I'm hearing up to like 2-3 seconds I believe. This is a deal breaker for some folks. This does NOT seem to be something that you can reverse.

The problems I mentioned above, will remain on your 5D Mark III even if you remove the Magic Lantern software. So, please be advised.

That being said, I've been following ML forums and all things about them and I'm HUGELY impressed. I really, really hope they can overcome these 2x issues with the 5D3 so I can feel comfortable with using ML on my camera. I'm anxious to start shooting RAW video with my 5D3...and to explore all these other cool options with stills photography.

But at this time, since I have only one 5D3, I am holding off putting ML on my camera.

Caveat Emptor as they say.

HTH,

cayenne


----------



## Midphase (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



infared said:


> 1. Is ML easy to install and use?
> 2. Can I switch back and forth between ML and My Canon OS?
> 3. Can anyone direct me to a site where someone has solid experience and simple information (for dummies) on how to set your 5DMarkIII up and use the software to its fullest.
> 4. Have users destroyed their camera when installing of using this software.



1. Yes
2. Yes
3. http://www.magiclantern.fm
4. No


----------



## RGomezPhotos (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

So cool. Less and less reason to go with Medium Format. Canon's next couple of flagships have to be better than this dual-iso trick...


----------



## CarlTN (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Rienzphotoz said:


> Ricku said:
> 
> 
> > This is only interesting if you shoot at higher ISO settings. :-\
> ...



Haha, good advice!

I don't really understand what all the fuss is about. It's just a 5D3, after all...!


----------



## LetTheRightLensIn (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

Doesn't this still cut resolution by half in shadows and highlights and create other artifacts though?

Although I guess it might still be well worth it at times so long as the artifact stuff has been solved since I last looked in.


----------



## LetTheRightLensIn (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

OK, having read the article linked to now it seems like this is a new thing. It's not that dramatic but certainly nice and it sounds like they found a way to unlock a true extra 1/2 stop of DR for the 5D3, not bad at high ISO since that might bring it half way to the 1DX/D4/6D at high iso (and maybe boost the 6D a little past all of them for high iso DR?). That is pretty cool. It's weird Canon would have left an easy, true, universal 1/2 stop out there, but then again they sure left a ridiculous amount of 5D3 video capability locked up (although that could be more easily explained by marketing, this not so much).

So it looks like maybe you suddenly get 1/2 stop more DR at all ISO. Nice. Still a far cry from Exmor and such but hey a free 1/2 stop is cool.

The whole 15stop thing though does have some compromises though and that's kind of a different thing, if you are willing to live with 1/2 the detail in dark and bright parts and potential artifact issues it gets you to exmor certainy, but in a bit of a hacked, not quite really sorta way I think.


----------



## ksagomonyants (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



hgraf said:


> Conspiracy theories abound, but I'm not one normally to believe them.
> 
> So with that said: what's the catch? Why doesn't Canon implement this natively in their firmware? There must be some technical reason Canon decided NOT to do this?



I think it's just a marketing decision. Canon gives its customers better features in new products but gradually. Why would it give us better DR in 5diii if it could do that in 5div? Same thing I believe happened with the AF system in 5dii, when it was deliberately made imperfect to increase sales of 5diii once it's released.


----------



## Etienne (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



cayenne said:


> infared said:
> 
> 
> > OK...I have a 5DMarkIII running Firmware Version 1.2.1. I have never used Magic Lantern. I did spend about $3400 on my camera body (yes, I was an early adopter, but was able to sell my 5DMarkII for $2000 so I guess it evened out), and I do not want do ruin it as it is an expensive piece of hardware in my life.
> ...



These are good points.

I've been waiting for a beta version, and the ability to reset the boot flag. It's a long wait, and I'm hoping these guys get there while the 5DIII is still a hot camera


----------



## hiZis (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

Does anyone have some comparison shots with and without this magical dynamic range boost?  Heard of it long time ago, but never seen.


----------



## jrista (Jan 22, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Don Haines said:


> Rienzphotoz said:
> 
> 
> > DanielW said:
> ...


+3


----------



## LetTheRightLensIn (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



ksagomonyants said:


> hgraf said:
> 
> 
> > Conspiracy theories abound, but I'm not one normally to believe them.
> ...



I don't think that makes sense in this case though. (as far as the video crippling, absolutely that was marketing, but I just don't see what even marketing could see to gain from holding back 1/2 stop DR, that would still leave plenty of room to pop out a 5D4 with exmor like DR at low ISO and they were not afraid to pop a 6D out there just a little while after the 5D3 that had more than 1/2 stop DR than the 5D3 at high at least)


----------



## jrista (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



LetTheRightLensIn said:


> OK, having read the article linked to now it seems like this is a new thing. It's not that dramatic but certainly nice and it sounds like they found a way to unlock a true extra 1/2 stop of DR for the 5D3, not bad at high ISO since that might bring it half way to the 1DX/D4/6D at high iso (and maybe boost the 6D a little past all of them for high iso DR?). That is pretty cool. It's weird Canon would have left an easy, true, universal 1/2 stop out there, but then again they sure left a ridiculous amount of 5D3 video capability locked up (although that could be more easily explained by marketing, this not so much).
> 
> So it looks like maybe you suddenly get 1/2 stop more DR at all ISO. Nice. Still a far cry from Exmor and such but hey a free 1/2 stop is cool.
> 
> The whole 15stop thing though does have some compromises though and that's kind of a different thing, if you are willing to live with 1/2 the detail in dark and bright parts and potential artifact issues it gets you to exmor certainy, but in a bit of a hacked, not quite really sorta way I think.



I would actually call a consistent 1/2 stop at high ISO to be very relevant. The differences between brands at high ISO is usually a small fraction of a stop...gaining a HALF a stop at high ISO is absolutely relevant, and very amazing! That unquestionably puts the 5D III in the same high ISO league as the 1D X, D4, D3s, etc. all of which have 9.4-9.5 stops of DR at ISO 6400. If this is brought to the 6D, it would become the supreme being at high ISO, with over 10 stops of DR at ISO 6400!! That is nothing short of phenomenal.

Don't downplay this so much. You should really give credit where credit is due.

The only thing I think needs to be addressed is the 15 stops bit. Because of the 14-bit ADC, it would be limited to 14 stops...however since low ISO has a flattened shoulder, technically speaking this still doesn't help Canon break the 12 stop barrier anyway. I wonder if ML will figure out how to mitigate downstream secondary amplifier and ADC read noise at some point in the future. If they can recover 2 stops of DR at ISO 100 on the 5D III...wow, they own me forever.   ;D


----------



## infared (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

Thanks all for your responses to my inquiry!!!


----------



## nsurg (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

I've been poking around on the magic lantern website over the past month, but can't seem to find the answers to some very basic questions:
1) When using this in the intended fashion, do I still get to see the regular canon menu options (i.e. the focus modes, etc)
2) Does installation of this reset my canon settings to stock (custom button reassignments and such)?
3) Does pretty much everybody have the slower boot described in earlier posts here?
4) Do we know for a fact that canon refuses to honor warranty after installation of this?
Thanks for help, mostly I'm curious about question 1 and 2!


----------



## Steven_urwin (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



nsurg said:


> I've been poking around on the magic lantern website over the past month, but can't seem to find the answers to some very basic questions:
> 1) When using this in the intended fashion, do I still get to see the regular canon menu options (i.e. the focus modes, etc)
> 2) Does installation of this reset my canon settings to stock (custom button reassignments and such)?
> 3) Does pretty much everybody have the slower boot described in earlier posts here?
> ...



Replying to number 4, I read an article on this recently (found here:http://petapixel.com/2013/05/27/will-custom-firmware-void-my-warranty-canon-nikon-and-panasonic-respond/)

Basically from my understanding, Canon will honour the warranty, unless the point of failure is the new OS itself.

"So damage caused by Magic Lantern wouldn’t be covered, but any covered damage, whether or not you’ve ever installed ML before, will still be taken care of pro bono during the warranty period. Nikon and Panasonic owners, however, aren’t as lucky."

As for the other points, I haven't installed ML on my 5D3, but when I installed it on my 7D I didn't notice it change any of my custom settings back to stock.

Hope this helps


----------



## crazyrunner33 (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



nsurg said:


> I've been poking around on the magic lantern website over the past month, but can't seem to find the answers to some very basic questions:
> 1) When using this in the intended fashion, do I still get to see the regular canon menu options (i.e. the focus modes, etc)
> 2) Does installation of this reset my canon settings to stock (custom button reassignments and such)?
> 3) Does pretty much everybody have the slower boot described in earlier posts here?
> ...



1) The Canon menus and functions still work and are visibile.

2) This does not reset the camera settings.

3) I use ML on three cameras, the boot might be a second or two slower. I'm guessing because I don't notice the delay. 

I've been using Magic Lantern for three years and on 3 different cameras. It has been very stable and I could never imagine using a Canon camera without it. The day I can no longer use Magic Lantern will be the day I switch to Blackmagic.


----------



## K-amps (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*

Will the 5D3 nightly build work with firmwares newer than 113?


----------



## Marsu42 (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Guest said:


> “Tests have been done by ‘Marsu42’ of CanonRumors, which show numbers of up to 15 stops of DR when using this feature combined with the ‘dual_iso’ module that Magic Lantern already includes in their nightly builds.”



Oh my, this certainly made a larger splash than expected, my intention just to report ongoing development  and generate more interest in the ml project. Fyi: P5D has got it wrong, I've not "done" these tests but am just crossposting them from the ML forum. The latest figures are: 


```
5D3	Canon	ML
100	10.98	11.36
200	10.90	11.32
400	10.79	11.23
800	10.59	11.01
1600	10.16	10.59
3200	9.53	10.015
6400	8.60	9.16
12800	7.82	8.40
```

This will most likely work on many more cameras, currently it's 5d3/6d/60d, more are added. The gain on 5d3 & 6d is about the same, ~0.4stops, so the 6d keeps its default dr advantage over 5d3 of ~2/3 stops ... see original thread here: http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=19124.msg357916#msg357916

Most important, here's the relevant ML thread: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=10111.0


----------



## Lichtgestalt (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



jrista said:


> The only thing I think needs to be addressed is the 15 stops bit. Because of the 14-bit ADC, it would be limited to 14 stops



for a single exposure.

it´s still not clear to me how it´s done. thanks for posting the link to the ML forum, marsu42. will have a look.

but when they use a multiexposure approach it can be more than the 14 bit... right?


----------



## Marsu42 (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Lichtgestalt said:


> but when they use a multiexposure approach it can be more than the 14 bit... right?



The dual_iso dngs are 16bit raw, and alex even added floating point dng - unfortunately this atm only seems to be supported in the Adobe DNG Toolkit and not in Lightroom  or the ML devs have some dng headers wrong, it's wip.


----------



## tron (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



K-amps said:


> Will the 5D3 nightly build work with firmwares newer than 113?


No, the mentioned firmware in the drop down list in the nightly builds is the only one supported.


----------



## cayenne (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Etienne said:


> cayenne said:
> 
> 
> > infared said:
> ...



I feel the same way, I"m dying to try out ML, but at this point, since I only have one 5D3, I'm not willing to risk permanent, *irreversible *changes to my camera.


----------



## tron (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



cayenne said:


> Etienne said:
> 
> 
> > cayenne said:
> ...


Same here. It seems that they do anything- which is admirable of course - but two basic things:

1. Clear the boot flag.
2. Support the new firmware. 

So no matter what anything else they do ML at 5D3 is not an option for me.


----------



## Marsu42 (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



tron said:


> So no matter what anything else they do ML at 5D3 is not an option for me.



That's quite ok, the ML project is a bit on the experimental side and not a free delivery service, but driven by what the devs want/need for themselves - and I quite like it that way, it either makes people help and contribute or they'll just stay clear.

The reason for the lacking support for newer fw versions is that all Canon fw function addresses change, and it needs quite a lot of time to track down the new ones since of course Canon releases no SDK - and I'm also ok with that, at least with minor fw versions there's usually too little improvement to justify the time spent on this vs. real ML feature improvements.


----------



## tron (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Marsu42 said:


> tron said:
> 
> 
> > So no matter what anything else they do ML at 5D3 is not an option for me.
> ...


I like ML. In fact I use it on my 5D2. But from this point to using it on my one and only 5D3 there is a huge difference. ML developers would get much more contribution if they could remove the boot flag. For example by using ML on my 5D2 I have made some contributions myself (mostly regarding DUAL_ISO).

P.S You may like it that way but your FF camera is a 6D not a 5D3  (and I guess you can uninstall it if necessary!)


----------



## Marsu42 (Jan 23, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



tron said:


> I like ML. In fact I use it on my 5D2. But from this point to using it on my one and only 5D3 there is a huge difference. ML developers would get much more contribution if they could remove the boot flag. For example by using ML on my 5D2 I have made some contributions myself (mostly regarding DUAL_ISO).



True in your case, and I had ack'ed you as a very active and observant photog anyway. I should havbe made it more clear I wasn't referring to you in person, but personally that I suspect that a good part of the "5d3 bootflag" crowd is the same as in "we won't use it anyway because we've heard it is a hack". I try to promote ML because it's a terrific achievement, but if people want Canon stock fw stability with 1dx features at Rebel price, ML cannot deliver.



tron said:


> P.S You may like it that way but your FF camera is a 6D not a 5D3  (and I guess you can uninstall it if necessary!)



Certainly not though I do like the reduced weight - but I'd only uninstall ML at gunpoint :->


----------



## funkboy (Jan 24, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Don Haines said:


> Personally, I hate it when the specs of a camera are improved. I think we should go back to 320x200 resolution in 256 colours...



Personally, I felt that the real breakthrough was when we got 15 bit color (usually in 640x480 but video cards of the day could also do 800x600, as could my craptastic slamsung 14" CRT; in fact it could do 1024x768 but only at 60hz interlaced and the video card was only 8 bit at that rez so there wasn't really much point; it was painfully crappy to look at). That was the first time an image on a computer monitor looked "real" (although I must say that for images that could have their own private 8-bit palette map they looked mighty fine for the day). A cheap-ass 15-bit RAMDAC and a WHOLE MEGABYTE of video RAM was your ticket to "true color".

Amazing that I still remember this crap. Dear God M$ still has a KB on this. Now get off my lawn <grin>.


----------



## funkboy (Jan 24, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



hgraf said:


> Why doesn't Canon implement this natively in their firmware? There must be some technical reason Canon decided NOT to do this?



I would go with a few different reasons:


The same reason that the vast majority of x86 CPUs (and modern tubocharged automobiles  can be overclocked at least a little bit (& some like crazy): The factory firmware engineers have to be 100% certain that the firmware works 100% of the time with 100% of the sensors & circuit boards that come off the production line, so they have to be conservative & not tweak every last little bit of performance out of the system.
I would hazard a guess that collectively, the ML team has spent far more time working on 5DII firmware than Canon has, & they've spent a lot of that time trying to add absolutely as many features & tweak as much performance as they can out of it, whereas the factory firmware engineers have other priorities such as stability, cross-platform compatibility, etc. It's similar to the difference between a nice production sports car and a track car.
I'm not so sure that Canon's firmware engineers are videographers using their firmware to shoot movies as part of their living, but the ML folks clearly live & breathe this stuff...


----------



## NaturaLight (Jan 26, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



infared said:


> Be cautioned if you have a 5D3.
> 
> ML is still very alpha for the Canon 5D3.
> 
> ...



Also, ML doesn't run on the latest canon firmware version on the 5d3.


----------



## cayenne (Jan 27, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



NaturaLight said:


> infared said:
> 
> 
> > Be cautioned if you have a 5D3.
> ...



True, but as I understand it, even if you've moved to the latest Canon firmware, you can pretty readily "downgrade" to the version of the firmware that ML wants to use.

I am really ROOTING for the Magic Lantern team, I think they're doing an amazing job, and hope they keep making progress.

It is just that since the software is still in a pretty alpha stage for the 5D3 model, and it has problems that I'd mentioned with making permanent, irreversible changes on the 5D3, with the boot flag being set, and with the increased boot and wake times that seem to be associated with that boot flag.

As soon as these issues are addressed (or I hit the lottery and can afford a 2nd 5D3), I will wait till it is more to at least the beta stage before I try out Magic Lantern on my camera.


----------



## Marsu42 (Jan 27, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



cayenne said:


> I will wait till it is more to at least the beta stage before I try out Magic Lantern on my camera.



Definitely a sound decision when in doubt, only problem is that the ml devs have no schedule at all for a beta or even release stage - all this would mean additional testing and documentary burden, and the resources are allocated to developing new features.

This is certainly fine by me as I'm experienced with ml and can code modules and patches myself, I just want to prevent disappointment if a "stable" ml with the newer features might take quite a while to arrive.


----------



## tron (Mar 17, 2014)

*Re: Magic Lantern increases Canon 5D III dynamic range*



Marsu42 said:


> cayenne said:
> 
> 
> > I will wait till it is more to at least the beta stage before I try out Magic Lantern on my camera.
> ...


Greetings Marsu. ML is now available for 5DMkIII with firmware 1.2.3. Bootflag removal is now possible (finally).

Now, that's quite an accomplishment. For starters I used to find the shutter count of my new 5D3 

EDIT: Just saw your thread....


----------

