HDR video firmware for Canon DSLRs? Magic Lantern adds new features!

Posted on 20. Dec, 2011

Is it really true? A tweet this evening said that Magic Lantern has added HDR video for some Canon HDSLRs to their arsenal!

We watched the video and it looks pretty impressive – but there are indeed some limitations – please read on for more info and thanks to gizmag.com for their story with all the info

UPDATE: Watch our video demo as well

Sample HDR video

Magic Lantern announces HDR video

Those cheeky gear hackers at the Magic Lantern team have announced a very interesting upgrade to their custom Canon firmware mod. As of tomorrow, owners of 550D, 600D and 60D DSLR cameras will be able to use a very cool new tool to shoot video in HDR, meaning that you can capture scenes where the lights would normally be too bright and the shadows too dark to get a workable exposure level. Check out the demo video after the jump.

Magic Lantern is a non-destructive firmware add-on for certain Canon DSLR cameras. It opens up software options like extended exposure bracketing, focus stacking, extended long exposure shooting, and a wide range of video and audio assist tools that Canon chose not to include in the cameras’ stock software.

It’s a well-established piece of software with a pretty active community of users and developers continually improving the product – but it’s been quite a while since we saw a marquee feature like this get added.

To record HDR video, Magic Lantern causes the camera to record each alternate video frame with a different ISO setting. Presumably you can set your “dark” and “light” exposure settings manually.

And the limitations (posted at the end of the article)

The HDR video feature will only be released with the unified Magic Lantern distribution (for 550D, 600D and 60D cameras) – there’s no indication that it will be rolled back to the 5D mark II, which doesn’t support high frame rate video recording, or the 7D, which has proven difficult to hack due to its twin Digic processors. That’s a pity, we use Canon 5Ds and 7Ds for all our video work here at Gizmag. Maybe it’s time to downgrade?

via Magic Lantern announces free HDR video firmware for Canon DSLRs.

[source: tweet from Dustin_Farrell]

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

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About planetmitch

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12 Responses to “HDR video firmware for Canon DSLRs? Magic Lantern adds new features!”

Framelab

21. Dec, 2011

Well i just love my 550D with magic lantern already, and have done for the past year. It only gets better.

Reply to this comment
Craig

22. Dec, 2011

I am so excited and yet so confused. Your blog post sounds like it might not come to the 5dmkII but the post on canonrumors (sorry I follow both of you guys) does:

www.canonrumors.com/2011/12/new-magic-lantern-unified-running-on-the-5d-mark-ii/

I hope you are wrong only because I have a 5dm2 or partially right meaning the 5dm2 release is just further down the road.

Reply to this comment
- planetMitch
  
  22. Dec, 2011
  
  There are many features of the new ‘universal’ version – but the HDR movie feature only works for the cameras I listed earlier.
  
  Reply to this comment
  - Goreality
    
    22. Dec, 2011
    
    EOSHD says “… including HDR Video, easy to use menus and AF based follow focus to the 5D Mark II.” That information is wrong? Also do you know any new features?
    
    Thank you.
    
    Reply to this comment
    - planetMitch
      
      22. Dec, 2011
      
      I haven’t read the EOSHD article – but the one I posted insists that the HDR features will likely not be migrated to the 5D2
      
      Reply to this comment
Goreality

22. Dec, 2011

Thanks for info Mitch. I just read MILapse post and it seems HDR feature works on 5DMK2.
twitter.com/milapse/status/149937483667353600

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DJ Monopoli

23. Dec, 2011

I ran a quick test with the HDR feature using a T2i. I tried two different HDR techniques. One strictly for the dynmaic range, and the other for the surreal look. Turned out pretty cool:
youtu.be/W7DOGVjNzLY

Reply to this comment
Craig

24. Dec, 2011

DJ – Excellent test.

Still hoping to see it on a 5d. Seems like some blogs say yes and some say no. Guess we will have to wait and see if the 5d gets it. If someone knows please post a comment. Be a lot of fun to play with on Holiday break.

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