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I was reviewing the list of Magic Lantern features which cannot be implemented on EOS 70D due to firmware limitations.  Okay, I don't know a thing about the CPU on this device or what language its firmware was written in, but I would imagine that somebody had to run a decompiler on the firmware at some point, while verifying what limitations it presents when porting Magic Lantern to run on it.  Furthermore, I would imagine, that if it could be demonstrated that the source code of decompiled firmware was sound enough to be compiled and link-edited to create machine code identical -- or at least functionally identical -- to the original firmware from which that source code was decompiled -- well, then I'd imagine the source code could then be tweaked so that the desired missing features of Magic Lantern would then run on EOS 70D.

Now, I know that's a lot of ifs -- and testing tweaked firmware would not only void warranty but could damage the camera.  But I imagine it could be done -- unless there is an actual hardware limitation on this camera beyond what the firmware will allow.  It might be foolish to try this ... but I cannot help wondering if somebody has?  Anybody in this forum perhaps?

As a software developer myself with pretty broad experience, I know the challenges and dangers inherent in a project like this.  It's certainly not something I would undertake alone.  I've worked with some very impressive decompilers, but have never seen one generate perfect source code which can be flawlessly compiled.  Perhaps if one wants higher-fidelity video, it might just be easier to go buy one of the increasingly-affordable 4K-capable cameras out there?  But I'd still like to pull more out of my 70D.

I'd be interested in comments on this. Hope I am not going wildly off the range of topics which this forum hosts?

Please note that it is not my intention to disparage Magic Lantern as implemented on 70D.  I truly appreciate the work involved in creating and maintaining this build!

Per recommendations last week, I deleted the "ML" directory on my SD card then copied it back from the newest release.  This seems to have corrected the issue I was encountering with crashes within "Memory.c" generating "Err 70".  And, yes, before I performed the above actions, I compared file counts in the "ML" directory on my SD card to those in the latest release directory.  They did in fact differ.

So did I misread earlier documentation which instructed us to simply copy a new ML release on top of the last one?  I don't believe I would have done so on my own.  Then again I suppose I could have imagined it.

Anyhow, I certainly have encountered analogous situations in software development.  In one job I was the engineer with the "exciting" responsibility of building and maintaining product installers, wherein one was always doing battle to try to stay in sync with changes from Microsoft, Apple, Sun Microsystems and -- of course -- the users.

Thanks for the recommendation.  I suppose the obsolete ".mo" must have been the culprit as suggested.

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I was going to attach a concatenated versions of the "crash##.log" and "log##.log" files from tonight's testing (because it is a LOT of files!) , but I do not see a button by which to upload attachments.  Can anybody clue me in?  I can also just copy/past the contents of these files into this forum, but that might be a bit much for people to have to page through.  Have I missed the procedure for submitting these logs to developers?  An email address or send in a private message to a given user?

MEANWHILE, the crash logs are all very similar, and involve a memory management issue.  Here is a sample error message:

    at ./Memory/Memory.c:188, task ShootPreDevelop

The line number within "Memory.c" is usually, but not always 188, and the "task" involved also varies.  There might have been a couple other modules involved in addition to "Memory.c".  I guess I can grep a list of unique errors if that would be helpful?

Just let me know where to send these logs and I will be glad to do so.  Thanks.

Additional testing shows that my 70D freezes, while shooting still, with "Err 70", only when I have the camera set to capture raw images.  When I just sent the camera to capture jpegs (of any size), it seems NEVER to freeze up while shooting stills.  As before, I am just doing testing prior to taking a bunch of headshots and am just using the Canon menus at this point since this is nothing very sophisticated.

Meanwhile, I found connecting by USB again became an issue.  Pops up with "Err 70" and requires reboot.   It appears to be related to the presence of raw image files.  I don't really get it because a file is just a file (unless the camera-side and/or PC-side drivers think otherwise I guess.  No problem, for now, using SD card reader on my laptop when needed.

I'll use my other SD card later today and see what happens.

BTW, it seems these two cards are actually Sandisk "Ultra" capable of 80mb/second.  Sandisk has so many variations on "ultra" / "extreme" / "pro", it boggles them mind.  I could probably find an SD card with a faster data transfer rate but 80mb/s seems perfectly adequate and I don't thinkk that is what is at issue.

Will report more after using alternate SD card.  Also please see folloing message regarding the crash and boot logs:

As an update on prior posts, it is curious that, once I had moved the bulk of the photos I had taken off my 70D's SD card, I no longer had any further issues with connecting via USB.  No idea why this should matter, since:
1) the image files took up only a fraction of the SD card's 32gb capacity;
2) the SD card is a Sandisk Extreme with rather high data transfer rates; and
3) I had used SDCardFormatter to format the SD Card per instructions for instlaling Magic Lantern.

However, do not despair, as I continue to encounter the same "Err 70" elseshere -- specifically it has happened while shooting still images saved as raw under one or more settings on the "mode" dial.  Since I do have two identical 32gb SD cards with the latest Magic Lantern for 70D version on them, perhaps if I switch them out I can isolate further what looks here like some kind of data throughput write error.

Again, this occurred just using the basic Canon menus for the most part right now.  Not sure but it may have been under SCN" mode.

(I really AM interested in the additional functionality offered by Magic Lantern and actually DO find the Magic Lantern menus a good bit more intuitive than Canon's, but somebody found out I was setting up lights to shoot myself  a new headshot for IMDB, and all the sudden it seems I'm having to shoot headshots for everybody and their dog.)

Not to digress (too much) but in fact I had bought this camera primarily for its excellent video capabilities, for which one pretty much only wants the thing set to "manual" ("M") mode.  Now I am shooting test stills in several modes and find the Canon menus and even more so the "Quick Control" screen stifflingly awkward.  Perhaps because they are designed for a wide variety of technical and photographic expertise levels -- and I especially hate all the clutter with novice-level features which are great for somebody shooting the family vacation or Junior's first birthday but serve no purpose for anybody who knows how to edit photos and video on a PC or Mac  On the other hand, Magic Lantern's menus presume technical competence, don't dumb down for the casual user, and give me a lot more features to grow into.  (Only wish the Magic Lantern menus did not periodically flicker in and our of live view but I did read the disclaimer about what does not currently and may never work due to 70D's firmware.)  So thanks to the developers for this!

Anyhow, when I can isolate specific situations where I get "Err 70" while shooting stills, I will post again.

Thanks all for the helpful replies.  It is interesting that I just managed to successfully connect via USB and access files on my 70D.  However, just before that I got a crash.  Not sure what sequence I did which made it work, will have to experiment and get back.  I will also upload crash log here.

I think I understand what was shared about holding "Setup" with fingernail versus thumb -- sounds kind of like how one sometimes needs a ball point pen to correctly hold the reset button on a router or a Roku.  Anyhow, I will give that a try.

In answer to what the crash "looks like", it is ERR 70 (which seems pretty generic).  The crash happens while Magic Lantern is loading modules.  Did not see exactly which module it crashes on but perhaps the log will show that.  I will try disabling the specific LUA module mentioned and see if that makes a difference.  Anyhow, when it crashes, the little portion of the screen with the command-line display of modules loading turns into a corrupted image and freezes.  I guess I can take a photo of that next time with my cell phone and upload.

BTW, these were just JPG and MOV files, nothing fancy, and in fact I am a little embarrassed to say that, when I shot those, I was just using the basic Canon menus and only accessed the Magic Lantern menus to turn off all of its features.  I was just visiting friends over Halloween and photographing their Boston terriers and an old run-down cemetery in Dallas.  (Wish I had been shooting raw images and had brought my Zoom 4N for the latter, because I inadvertently got some really creepy audio which I honestly cannot explain while shooting video at one particular grave.)


Anyhow, thanks again to for the very useful information.  I was only expressing trepidation as regards "yelling" because I had seem some of that in other parts of the Magic Lantern forum -- and in fact, when people don't do their homework, perhaps some gentle "yelling" is appropriate.  In terms of homework, I honestly need to reread the available docs on what Magic Lantern features are and are not available for EOS 70D and also this entire forum thread.  That seems to be the entirety of the available documentation, right?  (At some point later on, I'll probably be interested in reviewing how Magic Lantern interfaces with the EOS firmware -- the C/C++ code and LUA modules.  LUA is one scripting language I have not worked with but it does look like fun.  Would be nice to add a module for Twittering Donald Trump at 3am?)

I'll be back with crash log(s), photo of crash screen and more narrative.

Please feel free to yell at me. I'm extremely technical in terms of computer hardware & software development but have not had my 70D awfully long (early 2016), and it will take me a while to read what appears to be 109 pages of prior posts from EOS 70D Magic Lantern users.  I  have installed EOS 1.1.2 firmware update, then Magic Lantern (October 2016 download), which is functioning well on camera.  Perhaps somebody can just share whether what follows is unique to me:

Sure, a few occasional crashes when using camera in the field but no big deal to reboot as needed.  However, I'm finding it problematic now to connect to PC via USB cable and download image/video files -- causes Magic Lantern to crash, no idea why.  This is the case, whether cable is connected prior to power-on or after.

So I figured I'd do a temporary boot without Magic Lantern and see if I could then make the USB/PC connection.  However, holding down "Set" while powering up camera does NOT seem to stop Magic Lantern from loading per the instructions for doing so.  (And, yes, I hold "Set" down before power on and then while watching Magic Lantern load anyhow.)

Looks like, for now anyhow, I will have to either pop my EOS 70D's SD card directly into my laptop to get access to photos/videos.  Or else via my Android device, either using USB OTG connection or DSLR Controller/Gallery apps.

Nevertheless, it will eventually be necessary to connect to laptop via USB.

Thanks, and again, please feel free to yell at me.