[IMPOSSIBLE] Canon 1100d 1080p

[RevinFilms]

It is possible to record 1080p video from Canon 1100d?

[nanomad]

Maybe, but researching it properly requires a big amount of time and a deeper understanding on how the sensor readout works.
It's on my to do list but also on hold at least until I'm done with the 650D

[RevinFilms]

Ok. But when a stable version for 1100D will come out? Im so curious about all those cool features. Keep the good work. Thanks.

[nanomad]

the port is already pretty much stable. Download a nightly build and give it a try

[d0g]

5 years later ... is 1080 possible on an 1100D? (T3)

[Levas]

Nope.
It has not enough megapixels for 1080.

For video canon uses pixelbinning en line skipping. Horizontally it combines every 3 pixels from the same color and vertically it reads a line, skips 2 lines again and again.
Some explanation with pictures:
http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=16516.0

For this method it needs 3 times the amount of pixels for a certain video resolution.
Full HD is 1920 pixels wide, 1920 x 3 is 5760 pixels, so for full HD you want a sensor that is 5760 pixels wide. Canon uses sensors in 3:2 aspect ratio.
So this sensor needs a vertical resolution of 5760 / 3 x 2 = 3840 pixels.
So for perfect (Canon DSLR type) Full HD you want a 5760 x 3840 = 22.1 Megapixel sensor.
And it is not a coincidence that the Canon 5dIII has exactly that resolution 

The 1100D has a horizontal resolution of 4272 pixels. 4272 / 3 = 1424 pixels for video resolution.
Aspect ratio of video is 16:9 so the 1100D should be capable of recording 1424 x 801 pixel resolution. Which is downscaled by Canon to the more common video resolution  1280 x 720.

There are a lot of 18 megapixel Canon camera's that shoot full HD, but it actually is upscaled a little, they shoot about 1728 x 972 resolution video, which is upscaled in camera to 1920 x 1080.

For more info on which cam can do what:
http://builds.magiclantern.fm/features.html

[d0g]

Nope.
It has not enough megapixels for 1080...

I see, thank you for that excellent explanation. Bummer!