I have been using Magic Lantern since its early beginning. With the release of the new version 2.3, I thought it was about time I write about this awesome little software! As a supporter, I have been able to use this v2.3 for nearly a month now and I must say, it is very stable!

For those who don’t know what Magic Lantern (ML) is, it’s a hack/firmware you install on your memory card that will add a bunch of new menus with very useful video and photo features to your Canon DSLR (supported: 500D, 550D, 600D, 50D, 60D, 5DMkII). Don’t worry, it’s an “add on software”. It doesn’t replace anything! In fact, remove Magic Lantern from your card and you’re back to the default button layout/menus.

I personally use ML on a 550D, mainly for videos. Focus peaking, Magic Zoom, audio meters, movie logs, cropmarks, advanced ISO and manual white balance (K) are probably my favourites and the ones I use the most. The new ML introduces an improved zebra mode that has definitely come a long way. It is now VERY responsive.

Among the numerous features, the FPS override one is quite cool. It allows you to record at advanced FPS (from 0.15fps to 65fps). So basically you can create timelapses videos just by pressing the record button (or shoot at even higher fps than normal).

Talking about time lapses, you can now manually set exposure and focus ramping as well as using auto exposure ramping presets (sunset / sunrise). I haven’t try it out yet but I have seen other users video experiments and it seems to work quite well. I did try the new automatic HDR bracketing though: Take the first picture and Magic Lantern will analyse how many more exposures you need to cover the entire dynamic range. It works like a charm!

The UI was also updated. The interface is now cleaner and easier to use with snappy tabs, menus and sub menus you can navigate into with the scrolling wheel. You can now hide features you don’t use and customise the shortcut keys.

There are many many more features I’m not going to cover here but if you’re curious and have one of the supported Canon DSLR, I highly recommend you check their website! And if you need help installing it, let me know. I’ll be happy to help.

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