Messages

if you have crop_rec module for 60D, use it.
try usual 24 or 30fps 1080p in canon menu, you don't need to change it.
then press zoom x5 and check if you have good resolution in crop mode, you should be able to record more than full-hd resolution (around 2,5k) and it will be cropped from the center of the frame, 1:1 pixels.

so obviously such high resolution is a lot of mb/s, go to FPS override, and lower the fps (select lo-light setting there). somewhere around 3-4 fps you will be able to record continuous with 21mb/s.
then go to expo tab, select "exposure override" and now you can use very long exposures, up to the frame rate (1/3 second or what you selected).

then you will end up with MLV files on SD card, use MLV App to develop them or to export them as dng files to use in another program.

p.s. when using fps override at slow settings the UI will become also very slow, so it is easier to set other parameters (as well as focusing) before enabling it. And when you go to low fps - picture becomes brigther because now you use long exposures, so you can probably drop the ISO to 100, so less noise.

you can also make a dark frame with MLV App and apply it there.

@ilia3101 Thanks, unfortunately I can't test it because builds after 1.12 (32-bit) don't work on my PC... it's from 2007. I can ask for cr2 if you want to check it out yourself and compare to Adobe or other software..

Major improvement to saturated colour handling coming in next release

(You can all thank @troy_s on twitter for the idea, so simpe yet effective!)

wow, this looks great! I wonder how it will behave on skintones with saturated color lighting, because this problem exist even with standard cr2 files opened in photoshop sometimes..

By the way, what HDMI transmitter are you using? And do you get 1080i output from your cameras with it, or it is only 480? (you can check it with force vga option)

There shouldn't be any problem, I used 550D with pro audio equipment many times. Surprisingly, it can handle line levels, at least consumer -10dBu standard level. Sound engineer will probably give you a stereo cable from -10dBu output of a mixer, you can record stereo and not just r+l.

Make sure you *disabled* mic power and selected "external stereo" on the audio page. Set analog gain to 0db, turn off any digital gain or AGC. And before recording, check these settings again because sometimes they can reset on 550D, I don't know why.

Stay away from clipping obviously, even from yellow indicators on your camera. yellow means there is too little headroom if something goes even slightly louder.
And if the level will be too high for some reason - ask for the headphone output where the volume could be set lower..

But in order to clip 550D connected to -10dBu output the mixer should run at yellow zone (close to zero or +3 +6) on it's meters, which probably won't happen. In real life I usually see sound guys use levels way low than too high.


p.s. 10k is relatively low impedance, it is somewhat standart impedance for modern consumer line-level audio inputs.. it's absolutely ok. lower than 10k could be a problem sometimes with old equipment, old consumer stuff was designed for even ~50k or so.
and 550D's pres... they may be not that great, but when you set analog gain to zero it is not that important. Because even cheap op-amps at unity gain usually perform relatively well for typical audio needs..


By the way, I think Canon engineers actually designed the audio curcuit around -10dBu standart but never gave us a way to disable stuff like additional gain and AGC.
I can check actual levels (with sine wave and multimeter) 550D and 5D2 can handle, and whether it is close to the standard or not. It feels like that, although I never checked.

wow, 5,5k... is it 24 fps or less?

and what do you think about 35mm f2.0 IS? do you like it?

I tried the trick of putting the dummy battery to charge for a while (connected to the big external battery). This indeed makes the camera work and reports that the battery is not empty.

maybe this sequence can be recreated at start..

if you put a capacitor (like 1000 uf or more) inside the battery, instead of original li-ion cells... and then apply 8.2v to the battery, like it is charging. The battery should "think" that it's charged. Wait a second and then apply + 8.2v to the camera to start the camera and communicate with "freshly charged" battery..

and as soon as you do that, the circuitry in the battery refuses to deliver energy until you put it to charge

The battery should have a switch (a mosfet probably, on "-" side) that cuts power so the camera doesn't start... And if you short it (a wire from "-" input to "-" output on pcb), it won't be something bad, you just loose the protection. At least in theory. But maybe the camera could start then, and can communicate with the battery.. Do this carefully, and if possible use some over-current protection like a fuse at least..

And this issue with reporting wrong charge level - probably because you have real canon battery.. some cheap noname batteries could behave differently, if you can find one.

If you won't find a solution, you can probably use small PCB from Canon battery that you disassembled, just wire 7.4v to the contacts where original batteries were connected and see if it will work. I recently made a dummy adapter like that, and it works... But it doesn't output the voltage (some protection from over-discharged battery?) unless I connect it to a charger for a second, then it works ok.
And if your voltage is always there, it should work like that forever.

There is also third contact to the middle of cells, I don't know if it will work without it or not, and maybe you can trick it with 2 resistors to + and -. Or by connecting to the 3.7-4.2v if you have this voltage somewhere.

Maybe adding a diode (si or schottky?) from the battery to the output will help to start it without a charger, I don't know, I should probably google this and original battery PCB schematic.

@SebastianC thank you

I used to run 550D at 60 degrees or even more for hours.. for timelapses in video mode with slow fps. Red thermometer sign was there, but camera didn't turn off. Although it should at some point of overheat. I still use this camera sometimes without any problems, didn't even noticed any increased sensor noise (it was noisy before, it is noisy now, lol)

I made *a few* shots here, other than that it is Rezeda's work

but I can share technical details:

• Regular 3x3 raw 1880x784 in 12 bits on 5D2
• Lens - Industar 50-2 (50mm f/3.5)
• Color grade - 100% MLV App
• Cut in Premiere with some warp stabilizer
• Shot handheld using neck strap

I like how poplar fluff slowly flies in the air

Thanks to all guys on the ML project

@theBilalFakhouri sure, done: https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=26521.msg239289#msg239289

5D2 results are the same as @2blackbar's, screens:

jpg:



raw:




And it seems like I saw 4x38 and 259mb with jpeg selected, but I don't know how it happened. I triple-checked it and I was in live view, so it was strange.. and I couldn't reproduce it again.


550D jpg:



raw:

@theBilalFakhouri congrats! very nice results! almost two minutes is impressive for 2560x1440 resolution.

[News News]

@theBilalFakhouri thanks!

News News: I got back to home, made some tries on 100D with 4.3K 1x3 preset with real-time preview and it appears to work after some tweaking

already?? wow. you really work fast... what's the write speed?

For footage shot hand-held with some shake it probably won't be a pleasant change... but I think for filming from the car window it can provide better results.

Congtats on 100D! that was quick! by the way it shows that there is a lot of people interested in ML progress.

About 5d2 and other stuff... I would gladly donate if I was not completely broke now, I have no job. That's why I'm using a PC from 2007.. But I hope things will change.. I really like all ML related stuff and even thought about donation for your 100D. well, I will donate in the future, obviously.

reddeercity said (somewhere in this thread https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=19336.0) he almost enabled lossless compression on D4, and like it's definitely possible, he got 50D because it was easier to do it there or something like that. but after some computer problems (he lost his files) seems like he abandoned the project or maybe just paused it for indefinite amount of time.

@cannibalferox you can try "pre-heating" your camera, let it run for a few minutes with high iso recording video.. then record mlv for dark frames. maybe it will be close enough..

You can get 2x anamorphic adapter, rotate it 90 degrees and shoot in 1,125:1 aspect ratio or something close to it.. which is easy with ML. And you will get 9:16 aspect ratio, vertical.

So the dark frame was recorded in different conditions, after some time? Sensor temperature can make a lot of difference in the noise and patterns.. dark frame should be shot as close as possible to the original conditions. And not only things like themperature, but even battery charge will probably affect some noise patterns. But I don't believe the aperture will make any difference...

I think it will be more helpful if you share just 1 frame of the original MLV file, in mlv format (raw). you can exprot just one frame with MLV App. Because it is hard to say anything with already processed footage, especially uploaded to youtube...

M50 is very popular camera now, it is a good choice

(I'm also biased) so I'll say something full-frame because full frame camera with raw recording is awesome.

I know many people have dreamed about ML on 5D4 for years.
while 5D3 is very developed with latest achievements..
5D2 lack many features possible now for other cameras (doesn't have 1x3 modes working, no lossless compression, no 16x9 mode for 48 fps.. correct realtime preview, CF overclock.. all these things are possible but not implemented yet. for example there is an instruction how to activate 1x3 and it works, but it takes 20mins to do so with registers manipulation)
6D probably can also benefit from some further development
6D2 - people ask all the time.

In general, older cameras are very attractive to many people because of their low price. And stable and good builds for them can stimulate second-hand market which in turns leads to more users with fresh cameras and potentially new developers who can work on new and more expensive cameras also.
Strong support for legacy cameras means loyal community and more sales for new cameras, this is how it works. I think Canon should publish all source code for their products older than 10 years or so, it will bring them new loyal customers for sure. Over the time, of course. But big companies don't think like that obviously..

I suggest someone to record few MLV clips in different resolutions/modes and upload them somewhere.

And if we want to use one MLV file as "standard" for testing, it means it will be downloaded many times. And especially by the people who are new to ML, they just want to see how it looks, how it can be color graded and so on. So it's important to use something that will show ML RAW from the best side.. I think it should be:

1. Something really beautiful and not just test clips with some random stuff
2. It should look nice with default MLV App settings
3. Probably shot with 5D3 because it is the best ML raw camera for now
4. Shot using steadycam or tripod, no shaky footage obviously
5. 1920x1080 resolution because most people want at least true 1920 and at the same time file size won't be too big.
6. Filesize? ~2gb or more?

Just my thoughts.