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Thread: What does magic lantern do?

  1. #1
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    Default What does magic lantern do?

    So what does the magic lantern really do to the video quality of your camera? I have a 600d t3i. Does it give you better video quality? Does it come close to the 5d mark II quality?

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    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    It doesn't give you better quality. But it has lots of feature to help you shoot better video such as focus peaking, non-stop recording after the 12 minutes break, more ISO selection, easy adjusting color temperature and ISO. There're a lot more than that. Just the focus peaking feature help me get accurate manual focus.

    T3i video quality is similar to 5D and 7D. There're so visible difference.

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    I want to get the same video quality as this but when I shoot with my t3i I can't have this film/commerical look on the person. How can I get this look. Can I get this from using magic lantern? Does it help witht eh commercial/film look?

    http://vimeo.com/28605916 or this http://vimeo.com/groups/magiclantern/videos/21189578

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    You just have to play with different Picture Style or do color leveling. Nothing in Magic Lantern has that. It's also the lens, lighting, frame rate, shutter, aperture ... all these to put together to make good film. Give you a 5D with a slow lens, shaky hands, poor framing, you won't get any magic out of it.

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    What kind of picture style do you use to get the commerical/film look? Can you help me. I know it depends on the time but what is your camera settings. Is it okay you can it to me and help a kid out. Thanks

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    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    There're lots of picture style people posted out there for different looks. A lot of people go with the flat and super flat look so that it can be color corrected later in post. FOr those, you will need to use the EOS utility comes with the camera. I am the lazy type so I just modify the Neutral style to tone down saturation and sharpness. You can just go to Menu and modify settings from there.

    There're more than just the picture style (color) determined the look. There's also the kind of lens you use, frame rate, aperture/shutter settings, framing/composition, camera movement, angle,... and more. I would suggest you stop worrying about those. Go start shooting with different settings to see which kind of result you can get. Your T3i is very capable of getting exceptional quality footage.

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    I always shoot in 24p. My shutter is on 50, but if I go with magic lantern do they have the white balance temp and shutter of 48? Where can I download magic lantern? Also will my 16gb sandisk class 10 30/mbps work with magic lantern?

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    Noticed the same thing, I reckon ML just doesn't compensate for the PAL settings. The non-ML sections do mention 50 and 48 is the equivalent of 50 in PAL. And a class 10 card will be fine, ML or not, tried and tested it.
    Downloading ML, if you already have these questions I wouldn't use ML. Risk of forgetting some important file bricking the camera. Just Google it and read the wiki. You'll find all the inforation you need.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by BarteS View Post
    Noticed the same thing, I reckon ML just doesn't compensate for the PAL settings. The non-ML sections do mention 50 and 48 is the equivalent of 50 in PAL. And a class 10 card will be fine, ML or not, tried and tested it.
    Downloading ML, if you already have these questions I wouldn't use ML. Risk of forgetting some important file bricking the camera. Just Google it and read the wiki. You'll find all the inforation you need.
    I have ML installed, wasn't that hard if you follow the instructions step by step. I got it for disabling AGC for sound, but the sound on the camera is still crap so that doesn't really help much. I also got it for doing time lapse, as opposed to buying an intervelometer since ML is free, but haven't done any Time Lapse yet.

    I'd say you can really live without ML, although some people swear by it.
    "beautiful girls are the cheapest special effect"
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    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    Its so good I donate to them. :-)

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    Hey Lunchbox, what sd card do you use? Also, I downloaded the 11.11.11 for my t3i and it doesnt have as much options as the 10/21 firmware. Is it just like that or do I need to download something else before I download the latest 11.11.11?

    One more thing, is it really neccessary to delete everything in my camera, such as the picture styles?

    Thanks lunchbox. Also, the batteries you see for t3i, how long do they last for?

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    jr,

    Here's the best advice you're going to get:

    Learn the T3i as you got it out of the box. One change you might make is to set up a "user defined" picture style based on NEUTRAL and for starters take the Contrast and Saturation down 2 "notches" from default. This is advised because many of us feel the default STANDARD picture style is too "vivid".

    Second: Begin learning basic photography starting with the "exposure triangle". Here:

    http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&s...1t:429,r:3,s:0

    Then "Google" for "camera settings explained".

    When you have that somewhat understood learn lighting. Start here:

    https://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=phot...iw=891&bih=487

    IMPORTANT: There are NO SHORTCUTS, NO "MAGIC SETTINGS" for where you seem to want to go. The people who achieve "the look" do so by applying knowledge of basic photography (and video {"motion picture"} is photography), and have learned to "see" the lighting they either apply or "found" on location.

    Learn to "see" photographically and then you are off to a much better start. The T3i will "do it" if you will.

    Bruce Foreman

    I am a reforming videomaking addict

  13. #13
    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    I am using Sandisc 16GB class 6 and class 10 cards. I have a total of 18 of them. Bought the first 16 at amazon at $70 each. The last two class 10 cards I bought was last week. $28 each.

    The stock Canon LP-E8 is 1120mah capacity. I have 1200mah and 1400mah batteries for sale.
    http://lacoloronline.com/product/?LP...Li-Ion-Battery
    http://lacoloronline.com/product/?LP...atible-Battery

    Adding battery grip makes the camera less toyish.. and better grip. Double battery run time.
    http://lacoloronline.com/product/?BG...D-600D-T2i-T3i

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gillvane View Post
    I have ML installed, wasn't that hard if you follow the instructions step by step. I got it for disabling AGC for sound, but the sound on the camera is still crap so that doesn't really help much. I also got it for doing time lapse, as opposed to buying an intervelometer since ML is free, but haven't done any Time Lapse yet.

    I'd say you can really live without ML, although some people swear by it.
    You mention the import bit...'if you follow the instructions'. Unfortunately not everybody does follow them and it does have some important statements, like deadlock events.
    Regarding whether one can live with or without it is again about what and how you are shooting. In my case it would be essential. The magic zoom and the exposure are very important to me. Also the 12 minutes sort of fix would be helpful, in case I do forget/have no chance to stop and start the recording at a good moment (such as the moment a question is asked or some little, obvious, brake occurs).

  15. #15
    Forum Mithril
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    does ML fix the "time remaining on card 29 minutes" glitch for those 16 gb cards?

    does ML add HDR photo functionality to the t3i?

    how about night vision?

  16. #16
    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    I installed the dated 11.11.11 version. There're options to show the remaining recording time of the SD card instead. I found that quite useful.

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    I've installed the November 20th version and it fixed the Canon vs ML bottom bar flickering. It also includes the remaining battery icon which is great (green little vertical battery). I haven't tested it much yet, but it seems that the HDMI output has been improved too. It stills display stretched when recording, but at least, it fills the 16x9 area. I think I'll donate them too, when I'll get some spare money...(oh christmas time...)...
    I DO IT BECAUSE I CAN. I CAN BECAUSE I WANT TO. I WANT TO BECAUSE YOU SAID I COULDN'T.

  18. #18
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    Oh man.. there is a Nov 20 version? I need to download it agian.

    I donated some money to them a while back. ML makes DSLR becomes a full functional camcorder =)

  19. #19
    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    Where is the Nov 20 version? I only see 11.11.11

    http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lunchbox View Post
    Where is the Nov 20 version? I only see 11.11.11
    http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified
    Check in the experimental updates (Twitter feed):
    http://twitter.com/#!/autoexec_bin/s...72670939750401
    http://groups.google.com/group/ml-de...c1059d88485e28

    You can download only the autoexc.bin and replace the one you have and it "updates" to the lastest build. I receive the updates via RSS feeds on my OUTLOOK every time there's an update. I tried pretty much all of them periodically and never experienced any problems with an "experimental" build.
    Or you can check in the option on top of the "dark grey title bar" and select "receive updates via email".
    I DO IT BECAUSE I CAN. I CAN BECAUSE I WANT TO. I WANT TO BECAUSE YOU SAID I COULDN'T.

  21. #21
    Administrator Lunchbox's Avatar
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    Oh.. I rather get the stable build =)

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lunchbox View Post
    Oh.. I rather get the stable build =)
    I'll test it more tomorow, but from what I've tried, it looks just as stable as the previous stable build I've installed *(early november). The bottom bar is a nice addition as the flickering was annoying after a while. But God that I like the cropmarks on that toy! (even if I just use an orange 1.85:1 one most of the time!).
    I DO IT BECAUSE I CAN. I CAN BECAUSE I WANT TO. I WANT TO BECAUSE YOU SAID I COULDN'T.

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