Newbie Looking for Camera Suggestion

[pedz]

Hi,

I've been looking at Magic Lantern since 2016 -- perhaps before.  I have the pro Canon cameras which ML doesn't work with.  I'm about to take a 3 week vacation and I'm flush with money so I thought I might buy a camera specifically for ML.  What would you suggest either disregarding price or with the price factored into your decisions?  I'm specifically focused on video for this.

I will have other cameras with me so this will be for pure joy, experimenting, and fun!  It won't be a disaster if it bricks on day 4.

Thank you for your time,
pedz

[dfort]

By all means get a 5D mark III and load the 1.1.3 firmware on it. Then download the crop_rec_4k experimental build. Make sure to use a big, fast and reliable CF card like the SanDisk 256GB Extreme Pro. I'd also suggest getting a big fast SD card too so you can simultaneously record H.264 proxy video on the SD card while recording raw video to the CF card.

[pedz]

Thank you.  I see them used on ebay for $700 or so.  Any reason not to pick one up used?  i.e. did they have minor revisions or something like that?

[PaulHarwood856]

Hello pedz,

    Please be careful when purchasing memory cards from Ebay. There are a lot of fake memory cards being sold.

   I've purchased memory cards from Lens Authority. Here is a 128 GB Sandisk Extreme Pro CF card used on their site:
https://www.lensauthority.com/products/sandisk-128gb-extreme-pro-udma-7-compactflash-card

    You can also try looking for used memory cards on BH Photo or Adorama or Amazon. Be careful with Amazon because there a fakes sold. Usually you can tell which seller is legit or not.

    Sandisk Extreme Pro SD Cards are great for Magic Lantern. Should be fast enough for proxy recording.

   Any other questions please let me know.

- Paul

[D_Odell]

Thank you.  I see them used on ebay for $700 or so.  Any reason not to pick one up used?  i.e. did they have minor revisions or something like that?

No not really, just check hos many exposures the the sensor/shutter made. I only by User from here on, to expensive new.. Regarding memory cards I would never buy used. Warranty is to important!

[dfort]

I see them used on ebay for $700 or so.

The bidding starts at around $500 but by the time the bidding closes expect it to go for something over $1,000. Still a good price if you can find one in good shape with a low shutter count.

[nikki]

By all means get a 5D mark III and load the 1.1.3 firmware on it. Then download the crop_rec_4k experimental build. Make sure to use a big, fast and reliable CF card like the SanDisk 256GB Extreme Pro. I'd also suggest getting a big fast SD card too so you can simultaneously record H.264 proxy video on the SD card while recording raw video to the CF card.

is this also working with the 1.2.3. Firmware ?

[pedz]

I bought a 5D Mk III.  Shutter count is 28K which Google suggested wasn't terribly high.

It has firmware 1.2.1 on it.  I found 1.3.5 on the Canon web site.  So far, I can't find version 1.1.3 (yet).  The pel.hu site does not respond.  I'm still looking... part of the quest :-) but if someone wants to help me out, I'd appreciate it.

Please forgive the ultra naive question but does Canon get upset if folks have a repository of old firmware?  If not, I'd be happy to host it on one of my sites.

Thank you...

[pedz]

I went to Internet Archive: Wayback Machine and typed in the old path of http://pel.hu/down/eos5d3-v113-win.zip ... It was my first time there so it took a while to figure out the UI but eventually something downloaded with these checksums:

63492 335 ./update-procedure-pdf/5d3-firmwareupdate-jp.pdf
58462 339 ./update-procedure-pdf/5d3-firmwareupdate-fr.pdf
4839 353 ./update-procedure-pdf/5d3-firmwareupdate-sp.pdf
58464 336 ./update-procedure-pdf/5d3-firmwareupdate-en.pdf
20502 428 ./update-procedure-pdf/5d3-firmwareupdate-zh.pdf
29393 17363 ./5D300113.FIR


(I'm on a Mac and Safari exploded the zip file for me.)  Can anyone validate the checksums for me?

Update: I found a message on dpreview where the guy mentioned the md5 of the zip file.  I tweaked Safari, downloaded the zip file again, it has the same md5 value:

MD5 (eos5d3-v113-win.zip) = c6a0b9d3b194500d2964fc34291d6d7d

Also, if you are curious:

MD5 (5D300113.FIR) = ae70eab0cbe17ebeda65fd02e03dc2c5

[dfort]

I also keep an archive of Canon firmware updaters on my Bitbucket downloads page. Mostly for people wanting to try out my firmware updates so they can go back and forth between the latest and the one(s) supported by ML.

Good idea checking the MD5. My 5D300113.FIR is also ae70eab0cbe17ebeda65fd02e03dc2c5 so it should be good. (It better be, that's loaded on my camera.)

[DeafEyeJedi]

Can’t stress this enough on how important it is to pick up a 5D3 while supplies last... used or not.