HDMI out on ML EOS M and other suggestions

[gabriielangel]

Hello, May the coming year be full of joy for everyone!

Suggestion 1:
I tried the HDMI module Bilal doctored and it works VERY well.
It even works with HDMI phone dongles which didn't work before (In my case, Hagibis UHC06).
Yes, the resolution is low, but It is very helpful when shooting low angles, as the eos-m doesn't have a flip screen.

A Suggestion: When using the 3k 1:1 mode, the realtime preview is cropped (Which is expected).
Without a monitor attached, pressing half-shutter (Or left arrow when the cam is set up that way) shows an accurate non-realtime framing preview of what is recorded.
When a monitor is connected, this function is disabled (nothing happens with half-shutter press), so you record things you don't see on screen.

At some point when Danne was crafting the square preset on his version, there was a "Squeezed" preview, which could be de-squeezed to a certain extent by enabling the Anamorphic desqueeze at the closest ratio (ML Menu>Display>Anamorphic). He since made it to behave like the current 3k preset (Cropped preview).

It could be a good idea to allow the 3k preset to be squeezed into the available realtime preview window, and add an option in the anamorphic desqueeze menu with the appropriate ratio.
This would hopefully allow us to see what we are recording. Would it affect auto-focus? (Or would the resolution end up being too low to focus accurately) I don't know!

Suggestion 2
I did some tests (Which I can post if anyone is interested), and it appears that the point where the cam's cropped resolution is right above the optical limits of most lenses is around 2.7k. At 2.5k, the image is always a little soft, and the upper limit where most details are resolved is around 3.3k.

Therefore, 2 things could be done to maximize the cam's potential.
a) A 2.7k+ preset (We currently have 2.9k, 2880x1206), which would allow us to record long takes at 14bits (Or 13 if it gets added). The fastest cards would allow it.

b) A 3.2k/20 fps preset, which would give enough resolution for Landscape and architectural details. I did tests in a previous post, and 20 fps is totally usable, even with moderate movement.

I won't elaborate more to keep this post short, but have a look at this image. There are plenty of textures to have a good idea.



Now, are those cams still relevant 13 years later? Have a look at this picture where the eosm image is next to a native 4k camera.



When you take the portability and lens mounting options into account, I think it can still be very useful...