dfort's experiments for 7D Mark I

[IDA_ML]

Amazing plan, Dfort, hopefully you will be able to realize it!  You can hardly imagine the excitement with which 7D owners follow your work.  I few days ago, I talked to a friend of mine who is event and nature videographer.  He said that his decision to keep his 7D or move to another camera depends entirely on whether or not you will be able to implement crop_rec_4k or at least fix the 10/12-bit recording feature in this camera.  If you succeed, he said, he will not only keep his 7D for several more years to come but he will also buy a second one for backup.

So, Happy New Year and keep up your excellent work!  On my part, I also promise to test every new expreimental build that you release and provide detailed feedback on the video features as soon as possible.  Hopefully, other knowledgeable and skilled people like A1ex, Nikfreak, Danne, Reddeercity and others will be able to help completing this important development too.

[12georgiadis]

We had exactly the same talk with friends here in Belgium ! A lot of them have 7DmkI with PL mount+vaf filter. With crop_rec_4K (and also 10/12 bits), these cameras can have a second life for fiction projects ! And my friends don't want to move for another new canon other than 7DmkI that they really love.

[jkanter3]

I apologize in advance if this should be obvious but I swear I've been searching all night. I'm trying to install ML on a 7D with 2.0.6 firmware. I see the nightly build but when I extract it, it has no .FIR file. I've downgraded back to firmware 2.0.3 and the compatible ML, which works great. Am I supposed to use the same .FIR file from the 2.0.3 version of ML? Do I grab a .FIR file somewhere else other than the 2.0.6 zip file? Thanks for any help.

[Walter Schulz]

ML for 7D.206 is *not* a nightly build but built by user dfort for people wanting to play. FIR is not included yet and FIR for 2.0.3 is not compatible.

Use a second card to store Canon firmware files. Outdated slow one with low capacity will do fine. Format card in cardreader, format card in cam and copy extracted Canon FIR files to card.

Now take your card with ML installed. Rename ML directory to ML.203, Autoexec.bin to Autoexec.bin.203 and ML-SETUP.FIR to ML-SETUP.FIR.203.
Copy extracted ML files for 2.0.6 to card.

Update Canon firmware to 2.0.6. After installation you insert ML card and everything is fine.
As long as you do not format that ML card ...

[jkanter3]

Thanks for the quick help. I will try all of that. And I understood that 2.0.6 was not a nightly build. My typing error. When I had firmware 2.0.6 installed, and extracted ML 2.0.6 to the card, nothing happened. That's why I guess I assumed it needed a FIR file. But with firmware 2.0.6 installed, and ML 2.0.6 on the card, what makes ML run? Does keeping the old ML 2.0.3 files there do something? That I hadn't done. Anyway, I'll try those steps as you've outlined. Thank you.

[Walter Schulz]

There are 3 things necessary to make ML run:
- Cam with "boot flag" set. For 7D changing boot flag requires 2.0.3. Bootflag will not be affected by firmware up-/downgrades. One time procedure.
- A bootable card. Done by installing ML 2.0.3 in cam or using utilities like MacBoot, EOScard or shell scripts with a cardreader. Format card inserted into cardreader -> card non-bootable.
- ML files on card. That is: autoexec.bin and ML directory. They must match Canon firmware version!

A cam with bootflag set will look for a bootable card (thus causing some delay at startup and wakeup from sleep. Doesn't matter if card is bootable or not!)
If a bootable card is found cam will try to locate and load autoexec.bin. If found (and versions are matching) ML is loaded into memory.

Clear now?

[dfort]

Good news for 2.0.6 -- I've got a working ML-SETUP.FIR Been testing it out and it is working fine.

So now you don't need to downgrade to 2.0.3 in order to set the camera bootflag.

As usual, my test builds are posted on my Bitbucket downloads page.

[jkanter3]

Thank you both. I think I understand and will work on it. Much appreciated.

[Sapporo]

Good news for 2.0.6 -- I've got a working ML-SETUP.FIR Been testing it out and it is working fine.

So now you don't need to downgrade to 2.0.3 in order to set the camera bootflag.

As usual, my test builds are posted on my Bitbucket downloads page.

Does IO crypt also work with the new ML?

[dfort]

Does IO crypt also work with the new ML?

I have never used that module but if I got the addresses right it should work.

https://bitbucket.org/hudson/magic-lantern/pull-requests/878/update-to-7d206/diff#chg-modules/io_crypt/io_crypt.c

[EDIT] The example shows the addresses for 2.0.3 so I updated the example. The values used in the module didn't change with the firmware update.

[DeafEyeJedi]

I can also confirm that updating to 2.0.6 on the 7D also works with ML from @dfort's download page. Nice work!

However, I decided to run the self test module (15 minute session) and it ended up getting stuck with the 'Busy' single on LCD viewfinder as well as tried turning it off while it continues to say 'Busy' on the LCD.

Kind of was expecting this anyway. Everything else seems to work like normal though I would prefer to go back to 2.0.3 just to have the 10/12-bit options and whatnot for the time being. 

[dfort]

Yeah, 2.0.6 is a rather low priority work in progress. If anyone wants to test or correct my mistakes please to do so!

[domo94]

Good to see 2.0.6 on 7d working. Latest and greatest news.

But what's the difference? Does 2.0.6 7d work a little smoother or more efficiently than 2.0.3? What are the benefits?

[Walter Schulz]

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/product-advisories/detail/Firmware%20Notice%20EOS%207D%20Firmware%20Version%202.0.6

Firmware Notice: EOS 7D: Firmware Version 2.0.6

Thank you for using Canon products.

We would like to offer our sincere apologies to customers who have been inconvenienced by the phenomenon described below.
Phenomenon

When using the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM and EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM with certain cameras, lens aberration correction does not work.

If lens correction data is registered to the camera, "Correction data available" will appear on the camera's setting screen, but even if "Enable" is selected for lens aberration correction, lens correction will not be applied.

However, please note that Digital Photo Professional can be used to apply correction to RAW images.

http://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/45748/~/firmware-notice%3A-eos-7d%3A-firmware-update-version-2.0.5

Thank you for using Canon products.

Canon has released a firmware update for the EOS 7D digital SLR camera.

Product
EOS 7D Digital SLR

Firmware
Firmware Version 2.0.5 incorporates the following fix:

    Fixes a phenomenon in which the image files cannot be transferred using the FTP protocol via USB cable after the Canon EOS 7D camera has established a wireless connection to the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E5A.

[banertop]

Hi guys,

Thinking about buying 7d for ml raw...

So, where are we in this moment?

1.Still, no 4k crop mode for 7d?
2.10 bit, 12 bit is possible, right?
3.What are the max resolutions in crop mode? Is 2.88k possible for 10 or 20 sec, or 2.5k is the max?

And, maybe, most important question......Would you go for 5d2 instead of 7d, and why, or why not?

Have some experience with 5d3 and ml raw,shoot in 4k crop mode for last 6 months, but zero experience with 7d and 5d2, so that is why i am asking....

Any suggestions could help

Thanks for your time>))

[IDA_ML]

For current status of the 7D, please read here:

https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5601.msg195624#msg195624

and here:

https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5601.msg195585#msg195585

You can find additional information on the last few pages of that same thread.

For me, the 7D is second best for serious RAW video work with Magic Lantern after the 5DMkIII.  This is because of the fast CF-card writing speed.  I hope that the developers will continue their work in porting 4K_crop to this camera and if they succeed, this will be a real break through keeping in mind the serious interest in it among the 7D shooters.

[banertop]

IDA_ML, Thank you,

that is what i thought about 7d, so i am closer to buying 7d in general.....aliasing is an issue for 5d2 as well, so better write speed sounds like a better option.

But, i did not find answers for my questions on the links you send.

What i understood is, that if i use 7d, for higher resolutions, i have to use 10/12-bit RAW video build, instead of 3k corp mode, witch i used while i was shooting with 5d3.
But it is very confusing reading the treat.....one post is about one camera, next about the other camera.....i lose my self>))

So, if you are a 7d user, please tell me the higher continuous and higher non continuous resolutions with 7d in regular mode, in crop mode, and with fps override 50fps or 60fps

For example, I liked very much to shoot 2.88k with 5d3, so I was hoping to get at least 10 or 20 usable seconds in that resolution with 7d....is it possible?

Thanks a lot

[IDA_ML]

Banertop,

There is no 4k_crop_recording on the 7D yet.  You can record only in 10, 12 and 14-bits uncompressed RAW video.  In the uncropped mode you can record continuously at 24 fps with sound, at all three bit rates and the resolution is 1728x972.  There is aliasing in this mode, so you may need a VAF filter to suppress it.

The maximum resolution in the 5x-magnification mode is 2496x1198 and you can record at 24 fps with sound at 10 bits quite long (I believe, more than a minute). Here video quality is fantastic and you don't need a VAF filter for this mode. 

You can record at 50/60 fps with the 7D and the horizontal resolution is 1728p while the vertical one was something like 670 or so but you need vertical stretching in post.  I tried that a long time ago but as far as I remember, there was aliasing in that mode too, so I was not very satisfied with the results.

I personally use the normal uncropped and the 5x-magnification modes with the 7D and am very satisfied with the results.

[banertop]

Thank you very much....very informative....you save me a lot of time>))

If i am not boring, I have just two more questions,

1.what are "all three bitrates" (no such a thing in the builds that I shoot with)?
2. Witch cards do you  recommend, since 7d is an old camera....is it work with newer cf cards, or with some specific card? I ask, because, in some treat guy said that he ended up frying couple of cf cards with 7d, and stop using 7d for raw....

Thanks again

[IDA_ML]

1) 10, 12 and 14 bits

2) Any CF-card with at least 100MB/s write speed.  Transcend, Sandisk, Lexar x1066 work fine.

[banertop]

Thanks>))

[domo94]

I haven't tried it yet. 10/12 bit needs some more work first. The plan (my plan) is to also add lossless compression and the crop_rec module and all the other goodies from the crop_rec_4k branch but it is going to take a lot of work to get there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How can a non-coder like me help

[domo94]

In a few months when I've earned some good profits from crypto trading, can I donate some bitcoin to the development team for the 7d?
We need raw video on the 7d to be incredible. Working better than 5dmk3

[dfort]

Well you could see if this is still valid: https://www.magiclantern.fm/donate.html

However, if you read the signature of g3gg0, one of the main developers, you'll see this:

ONLY donate for things we have done, not for things you expect!

[domo94]

Shit, I just want to donate is my point.

You guys have done enough, but I'm broke in terms of donation money.

Soon, though. soon.