Hi! I see there is much hustle around AXIOM camera development and there are few updates in ML changelog. It looks like ML will not have support and dynamics as before, which makes me fill sad (there is a slow down already). I understand that development of a new camera can turn into profit in the future, but there is wonderful ML community here don't leave it alone!
Read this: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=11787.msg129796#msg129796 (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=11787.msg129796#msg129796)
Quote from a1ex: "And no, this doesn't mean we'll leave the Canon world. On the contrary - we'll get the chance to play with a documented camera that doesn't require reverse engineering, and learn a lot of stuff that we are currently guessing!"
And it's not about profit (for the ml guys), it's about open source.
The small amount of updates in the changelog and slow down in development have nothing to do with Apertus, they have everything to do with this:
http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=13335.0
http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=11879.0
There may be no intention to abandon Canon support and development, but any way you look at it it's a division of resource. There currently aren't enough developers and testers to get a new stable release out and there are several abandoned (or at least stalled) models already...
Just being realistic, I know the devs would love to be able to do everything...
Simple example: you know I'm currently researching cleaner ISOs for all Canon cameras (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=10111). I have no experience with sensors, other than what we've guessed from reverse engineering.
Having a fully documented camera that I can understand how it works, at sensor level, would help me a lot understanding how the Canon sensor works and what I can do to optimize it.
Regarding division of resource: I hope to be able to work with Apertus and no longer rely on a daily job to pay the bills (of course, only if they are successful). This should result in more time that I could dedicate to ML, not less. Also, the testers are you, users, not us.
Not to mention developments that can be reused in both projects (hint: both of them are GPL).
Aside from all the good points made above, there's another potentially huge benefit to a project like AXIOM being successful. AXIOM won't have software features deliberately curtailed purely due to marketing reasons. That means relatively straightforward to implement but traditionally high end features will be available at a very competitive price point with AXIOM compared to the commercial manufacturers' own high-end offerings. If AXIOM starts eating in to their market share as a result, commercial manufacturers will have little choice but to improve their low- and mid-range offerings in response. They may even be forced to open up some of their APIs to allow 3rd party plugins or apps to be installed. That would be a pretty big win for us consumers whether you're an AXIOM customer or not.
Only Canon is abandoning the DSLR, no?
A1ex, that would be very cool if you can swing it. Best of luck.