Canon 5D Mark II / 5D2

[Walter Schulz]

Man, what a mess! :-/
Go to Help tab and show version and build data
.

[ZEEK]

Zeek doesn't compile his own builds, does he? Link, please!

Nope. I just share the settings from the 5D2 build I'm using so users can have the same settings that I'm using with my 5D2 if they choose.

[2blackbar]

This camera is now around 300$ used or about 200 euro, its amazing how price dropped in last few years , probably cause flood of mirrorless fullframe, im considering getting another one for 200.Too bad theres no lossles raw on it which could help getting higher resolutions in crop.
Shutter longevity is impressive on this camera

[SKecorius]

Dear all,

Did anyone have success using 5D mark ii as webcam? I have found an example on:

However, I was not able to run 5DmII neither with Beta (0.9.0) nor version 1.1 webcam utility.
When I try to run camera as webcam, the mirror is continuously flapping between live view on and off..

If anybody could replicate this - it means I am doing something wrong. Otherwise - fake video?

Best.

[Walter Schulz]

Outdated, not very precise and false information in this clip:
- Covering beta which is outdated. Newer version solved compatibility problem with EOS Utility.
- Canon indeed offers different links for supported cams but they are linked to the very same file. Same procedure for Beta and Final.
- Not all video conference software will just do with Webcam Utility alone. You still need tools like OBS to make EOS Webcam Utility work with MS Teams, for example.

Don't own a 5D2 so you have to do some testing on your own.
Have you tried to play around with Liveview modes in Canon menu? 5D2 has a very odd way of handling liveview/movie mode selection.

Are you able to use liveview in EOS Utility (the one without "Web")?

[SKecorius]

Hi Walter,

I am aware that the video might be outdated, however, I was still hoping that IF someone was able to use web utility in the past, the feature will not be disabled in the newer versions..

I have installed EOS Utility (the newest version), however, when I turn on camera, it automatically switches to version 2 (instead of version 3). I guess this what 5DmII needs to operate. It opens the live view mode and I can see video on computer screen. It seems I cannot record video in this mode (like in 5DsR case: https://vn.canon/en/support/8202595300).

As you mentioned, I do probably need OBS as the EOS web utility alone does not seem to work with 5DmII.

Thanks!

[Walter Schulz]

Sorry, misunderstanding: 5D2 should work with EOS Webcam Utility alone.
Camera <-> EOS Webcam Utility <-> Video conference software or recording software. OBS is required if software doesn't work with EOS Webcam Utility. One of those programs is MS Teams.

As workaround (as long as you have troubles with EOS Webcam Utility) you can use OBS to grab liveview screen from EOS Utility.

[2blackbar]

it worka for me with beta 0.9, but i prwfere to  use usb hdmi grabber , hdmi feed is shown on monitor and you can use it as webcam, cheapest one works fine alsofor monitoring with kaptop and phone but it eats up phone battery

[abcoon]

Hey guys, new to the board and just got a 5D Mark II and loaded ML onto my CF Card and installed it.  When I click on the LIVE PREVIEW I can see ML on the screen.  When I push the trash can and go into the settings and click back into LIVE PREVIEW the screen goes black and I can't get back the LIVE PREVIEW unless I uninstall ML.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Walter Schulz]

Sorry, unclear description.
Trashcan button is the way to enter ML menu. It should not be possible for ML menu to popup without that interaction.
If your camera behaves differently: Make a short video showing us what you mean.

And you should always be able to clear every lockup by opening battery card door. Wait for a short time and remove battery.
After closing compartment doors your camera should act like before lockup.

[MessItUp]

I have been shooting the old sony a-55 with a 17mbps bitrate and bad glass. Looking for a upgrade and considering the 5d2 with magic lantern. I dont mind tinkering with it and putting some effort in to get something nice out of it.

A big advantage would allready be that the still quality should be amazing.

But video?
I would like to shoot high quality 1080p, preferably 1440p and maybe 4k. However I do read a lot about crops and I am a bit worried now if the 5d2 feels like a good option because I would like to take advantage out of the fullframe sensor. So what crops are we talking about with these resolutions? And how do you still get some nice wide shots? What kind of vitage glass would you need to tackle this?

[Walter Schulz]

Crop calculator:
http://rbrune.github.io/mlraw/

Latest custom builds for 5D2:
https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=19336.0

Read and if there are open questions ...

[Skinny]

So what crops are we talking about with these resolutions?

For now, you have two options that works reasonably well with 5D2.. I can describe it in a few words.

First option - to record using full sensor, so you will get the full-frame look. The resolution in this mode is 1880 in width, so it is slightly less than 1920, but it is not a problem at all, and most older cameras don't shoot really in 1920 natively, sometimes they do much larger upscale, you won't even notice this small 40px upscale.
You can shoot up to 30/31 fps with this mode, and there is another preset for slo-mo, where you can shoot using 48 fps, but the resolution will be limited in height, 1880x744. which is still cool and cinematic. And it is RAW, so it upscales really good.

This mode is called 3x3 and although it uses the full-frame, it has some drawbacks. To read the full sensor area, it uses pixel binning and line skipping, and it produces aliasing. Sometimes it is very noticeble, sometimes not. This is the reason why many people prefer vintage lens and shoot wide open, it helps a lot with aliasing. Native h.264 (.mov files) from camera uses this mode also.


And there is another option - shoot 1:1 in a crop mode. It doesn't skip any pixels, so there is no aliasing, but the camera is too slow to record the whole 5.6k sensor at 24 fps, so there is a preset 2784x1160 24fps, and you can upcsale it to 4k or downscale to 1080p, and it will look great.

BUT. It will use only center of the sensor, so you will get a crop. And it is about 2x crop. The sensor is 5,6k and you recording only 2,7k. So you will probably need some wide-angle lens because of that 2x crop. And this mode is only 24fps, and you also need a very fast CF card for this, the file sizes are bigger, and you need faster PC to process them. And this mode is less stable, you can get crashes sometimes.


There are some other modes but they are even less stable. And there is also 5632x3124 @ 3.8fps which uses almost the whole sensor, and it looks absolutely fantastic, but it eats cardspace like crazy


What can I say about the quality... I had sony a-37, and the difference is night and day. RAW video is fantastic, it can look like a photo. But you'll have to learn how to use it properly, and it takes A LOT MORE TIME to shoot and process raw clips. I warned you!


5D2 also doesn't have any image stabilization! It could be difficult to shoot handheld after Sony.

And if you have money for 5D3, definitely go for 5D3.

Personally I mostly use 3x3 mode, it's just more convenient and simple to use, and my CF card is not that big and fast... And to fight aliasing I use vintage lenses wide open. And they vignettes a lot, have distorted edges... So it is very vintage look, but you can color-grade it very deeply, push the shadows a lot, and so on. Sometimes there is still too much aliasing, so I discard some footage sometimes..
I think you just have to embrace it as it is, no 4k but who needs that 4k anyway? It's RAW and it's awesome. I really enjoy this whole process of filming with raw, although processing it and stabilizing everything in post takes ages on my old laptop. But it's so cool anyway, I'm just really happy with it

[vga256]

Hi everyone. First, thanks to everyone for their contributions in this thread - it's been great spending the afternoon catching up on 5D2 ML development. Also glad to see a few familiar names, like Walter. I've got some more reading to do, like following up on @reddeercity's incredible work thread on the 3K/UHD.

So - I've been a 70D ML user for the past two years, and was extremely happy to get my first full frame DSLR (5D2) yesterday.

I've been spoiled with lossless compression on my 70D raw footage for the past two years, and I've been able to shoot with two 128GB SD cards which has given me coverage for an entire day. Can I ask if there have been any developments in a lossless compression ML module for the 5D2? It would sure be easier on the wallet, as 1066X+ CF cards aren't cheap these days

Anyway, just wanted to say that I'll be installing ML as soon as I can get a fast CF card, and experimenting with some of the builds. I'm all ears if someone has a specific build recommendation to install. My goal is: RAW video @ 16:9, 12-bit - which seems to be my sweet spot for balancing size vs. gradability.

[Walter Schulz]

You can check Reddeercity's last online appearance in his profile. No one else worked on this build.

[2blackbar]

lossless wasnt cracked on 5d2 , he tried .
It would enable recording at higher crop resolutions but development on 5d2 stopped few months ago.

[vga256]

lossless wasnt cracked on 5d2 , he tried .
It would enable recording at higher crop resolutions but development on 5d2 stopped few months ago.

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully he resurfaces soon. Would be happy to help out with 5D2 development - I'm a coder, without much ASM experience, but am willing to learn.

[reddeercity]

Hopefully he resurfaces soon. Would be happy to help out with 5D2 development

I never left  , had some personal thinks to take care of , that was more important then magic lantern .

Lossless is still wip (work in progress) it about 75% done . I just need to sit down for about a week
and finish it . But it will be a few more months before I'm back working full time on magic lantern .
Have a look here for some of my pass work on lossless that continue
https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=18443.msg198487#msg198487

[vga256]

I never left  , had some personal thinks to take care of , that was more important then magic lantern .

Lossless is still wip (work in progress) it about 75% done . I just need to sit down for about a week
and finish it . But it will be a few more months before I'm back working full time on magic lantern .
Have a look here for some of my pass work on lossless that continue
https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=18443.msg198487#msg198487

Wow, thanks for the update! Hope things smooth out on your end. I just had a glance at the thread, and the code is surprisingly readable. I'm happy to test any lossless (or otherwise) builds when things get to that stage. Also happy to help out coding - I'm a C++/C# coder, so it'll just take me some time to catch up on the ML data structures and layout. If you've got a suggestion on where to start reading, I'm all ears!

[reddeercity]

happy to help out coding - I'm a C++/C# coder, so it'll just take me some time to catch up on the ML data structures and layout. If you've got a suggestion on where to start reading, I'm all ears!

Good to here , ml need's more people that can code and understand ml code structure .
Start here https://foss.heptapod.net/magic-lantern/magic-lantern/  , This is the unified branch so no special modules like "crop_rec"
but it should give you a idea how the code structure is . There also other branches there you can look over like "lossless compression" etc. ...
the branches are not up to date yet , so bear that in mind .

[vga256]

Good to here , ml need's more people that can code and understand ml code structure .
Start here https://foss.heptapod.net/magic-lantern/magic-lantern/  , This is the unified branch so no special modules like "crop_rec"
but it should give you a idea how the code structure is . There also other branches there you can look over like "lossless compression" etc. ...
the branches are not up to date yet , so bear that in mind .

Great! Will start reading and hopefully can make a contribution.

[meanwhile]

I've tried to google the answer to this, but I get too many contradictions: what's the situation for using an external monitor on the 5Dii now? This guy claims that ML a field monitor can show full HD -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwbHC0d7Wgw

But when other people try, it doesn't work and he doesn't answer questions...

Is it still limited to 480i while recording? Or has that gone now? Is there anything I need to watch for when buying a monitor? (I'd prefer a 5" and I mostly care about racking focus.)

[Walter Schulz]

You just need a fitting HDMI cable and a monitor/TV set with HDMI input to answer most of your questions.

[meanwhile]

Walter -

Yes: if I had the hardware I would know how well it worked. Wait - you're saying that ANY monitor with HDMI will show me? As in a computer monitor? That's terrific: thanks!

(At first I really didn't understand what you were saying...)

[meanwhile]

You just need a fitting HDMI cable and a monitor/TV set with HDMI input to answer most of your questions.

Ok - I've found a TV set with HDMI. Thanks for bearing with my idiocy!