Hey everyone!
I was wondering if there is a definite verdict on hot shoe communication? Is the hot shoe from the EOS M series different from the DSLR models so that it can be used with the EVF-DC viewfinders or is it just the communication protocol that is different? If so, is there a theoretical possibility to send the Live View image to the hot shoe and a EVF or is that definitely not possible? Just asking out of curiosity because I couldn't seem to find a discussion on this particular topic with the search function. I'm guessing its not possible or else ML wizards would have jumped on it already ;).
I played with a Manual Lens and focus peaking today and every time I do I notice that the eye pressed against the viewfinder as point of contact as well as shooting with the camera away from the body really bums me out. Which is why I looked at EVF style solutions for DSLRs, but they are all super bulky and not the "real deal" somehow.
Regards,
Davd
This topic was not explored by any of us, to my knowledge. I believe the hot shoe is controlled by the MPU (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=17596.0) (secondary processor), as the flash appears to be triggered from there (https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=18123), i.e. we don't have any direct control over it (don't even know how to trigger it manually). The communication link between the two processors (MPU - main CPU) is very slow.
On "PowerShot" models (EOS M3 and newer, not yet sure about M50), it may be a different story, but again, unexplored territory from my side.
On the hardware side, I'd expect a dedicated high-speed link for transferring the LiveView image, but I have not seen the pinout. The "classic" E-TTL protocol (http://staff.www.ltu.se/~joborg/ettl/) doesn't look suitable for that, but I'm just speculating.
For DSLRs, there is something called "Magic Shoe (https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1389826)" that can retrieve some debug info, but I have no idea how it works. Likely easy to reverse engineer.
Edit: this must be the pinout (https://kenrockwell.com/canon/eos-m/evf-dc2/810_0652-bottom.jpg), so the answer is "no".
Edit: I should have googled before answering (https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54342992).
Right. Thanks for clarifying, at least now when somebody uses the search bar in the future they'll find a definite answer ;)