10Mar Magic Lantern Key feature overview, Noob guide part 1
Behold the majestic Canon t2i sporting the Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens, basking itself in the late afternoon sunshine. But seriously as of right now the Canon t2i combined with Magic Lantern is the best bang for your buck out of any DSLR video option on the market. A used t2i body sells for well under $500, add a few modest price lenses to that and you’ll have a video camera that easily outperforms most prosumer camcorder. But honestly the t2i is useless without all of the features added by Magic lantern.
I know there are a number of you that are nervous about installing Magic lantern on your camera. Older versions of the firmware were a little bit sketchy and would sometimes lock up the camera or cause hdmi output problems. But the firmware has come a long way since the early releases. I would almost call the current release (December 22 2011) user friendly.
I’ll spend some time going over the basic features and providing links and videos to help get you started. As you can see this post is labeled “part 1”, it will take a number of posts to cover this subject. When I’ve finished I’ll combine all of these posts into a new tab at the top of the site.
Installation Guide:
Before you do anything else, you’ll need to upgrade your camera to the latest Canon firmware, so head over to Canon’s SLR page (Click here), find your camera in the list, click on it and you’ll be redirected to your cameras info page. Just below the picture of your camera you’ll see “Drivers & Software”. Click on that, select your operating system from the drop down menu, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you’ll see firmware, select “1.0.9 download” and follow the Canon installation guide that pops up.
Once you have the latest firmware on your camera, you’re ready to start with the magic lantern fun. On a side note Magic lantern supports most of Canon’s DSLR cameras, but if you’re a 7d owner then you’re out of luck.
Youtube member ChadwickPaulPost has the easiest to follow magic lantern installation guide that I’ve seen. Here is the link you’ll need to download the files he mentions in the video. If you get lost here is the written installation instructions.
Basic Screens:
The key to accessing all of the magic lantern menu options is the trashcan button at the bottom right hand side of the camera. Press this button once to bring up the Magic Lantern menu and again to return to your normal screen.
Audio Screen:
When you first access the Magic Lantern screen you’ll see the easy mode. This mode displays all of the basic features most users will really need to get things started. There are seven menus total in easy mode, but the first five contain all of the important stuff. To navigate simply use the 4 arrow keys. To change a setting press the set button until the value you want is reached.
The new Magic lantern firmware has a short description of what each item does at the bottom of the screen, but if you need more information simply push the “DISP.” at the top left hand corner of the camera to bring up the help menu. The help menu contains a longer description of the selected item (indicated in blue). Press the “DISP.” again to return to the previous menu.
The audio Screen above is one of the more important menus so lets go over the settings.
- Analog Gain – is the amount of volume boost applied to the audio entering the mic input on the camera
- Input Source – allows you to select between the built in mic, external mic input or a combination of both
- Mic power – Reduced the input impedance from 30k ohm (off) to 2k ohm (on), check your Mic’s manual for more info
- Monitoring-USB – This allows you to monitor audio through the USB port on the camera by using either AVC-DC400ST cable with RCA outs, or the Sescom DSLR-550D-HOCF A/V cable with 3.5mm female out (Dave over at learningdslrvideo has a video on this). Note that if this function is on you will not be able to use the USB port for video.
- Audio Meters – On gives you audio meter displayed on screen, Off removes them from the screen.
Note: AGC is disabled by default in Magic Lantern firmware so that option isn’t displayed in easy mode.
With the wireless system I normally use 17db gain works about right, but when I’m using something like the Juicedlink DS214 I usually set it at 10db. I like to leave the camera in Auto internal/external that way if they accidentally unplug a mic cable from the camera at least some audio is recorded. The audio meter is a very handy tool for me so I always leave that on.
If you would like to find out more about audio interfaces that work well with DSLR cameras, here’s a good place to start.
Let me know if you spot anything that needs to be corrected.
UPDATE: Part 2 of the Noob Magic lantern Guide is now posted here and Part 3 of the Noob Magic Lantern guide can be found here.
March 10th, 2012 at 10:31 pm
what battery grip is that?
March 11th, 2012 at 9:51 am
The battery grip is a Zeikos T2i Battery Grip. There is a full review up on the site here. I have one on each of my canon t2is and they’ve worked pretty well.
March 10th, 2012 at 11:34 pm
I think it’s great that you are doing this. I think some people have problems with the wiki and a simpler source might work well. A note to add to this first part regarding audio, it could be helpful to know that when you start to touch on CBR and recording a higher data rate, that by turning audio off, there is the possibility of capturing a higher bandwidth recording if the complexity in the scene requires it; and of course if the person recording doesn’t need the on camera audio!
Also, when you bring up something like the Juicedlink, maybe you could reference that you can add a future story about using external audio, if there is interest with your readers. You could also introduce them to PluralEyes for those who really want to learn more about syncing audio.
I think it’s great that you are taking people on a detailed journey into Magic Lantern, I’m in love with it and am considering picking up a second T2i body, I’ve seen them as low as $449 lately!
March 11th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Those are some great Ideas. Once I get finished writing up the basics I’ll see if I can put together an advanced features portion that covers PluralEyes, Higher data rates, and so on. Keep the ideas coming and I’ll add them to the list. I think this is going to take me a few weeks to finish up this project. I’ll be living out of a motel for the next week so I’ll have plenty of free time to continue work on it.
March 11th, 2012 at 7:06 am
Great to see you doing this ! Thanks for the guide I think it will help a lot of people, many users complain about scattered informations. Also, feels great to see blog articles coming in again !
March 11th, 2012 at 9:15 am
Yes, this is very valuable. I have not installed ML on my t2i because of the reasons you mentioned ..but now I will. Thanks.
March 11th, 2012 at 9:18 am
I first used this for waldheimresort website project this last summer. Timelapse, HDR photography, video with AGC disabled – I just love it! Do yourself a favor and donate to the team after trying it out. It’s one of the best developed additions to hardware I have ever used!
March 11th, 2012 at 11:04 am
“The T2i is useless without Magic Lantern…”?
That’s a very bold statement.
March 11th, 2012 at 11:13 am
Let me know what you’d like to see it changed to. Maybe “crippled by canon” would be better. You’re right “useless” might be a little to absolute.
March 12th, 2012 at 10:17 am
You just have to remember it’s a stills camera that takes great video.
I just don’t want DSLR owners reading your blog to be discouraged thinking they have a useless piece of hardware before they start their journey into the world of video.
The camera is merely a tool – what really set videos apart the subject matter, artistry and use of concepts (exposure, lighting, composition, etc). I have produced great videos using a vanilla T2i and a third-party picture style (CrookedPathFlat).
But back on topic, MagicLantern really makes a good tool great. I use these added functions all the time:
– Focus peaking;
– ISOs in multiple of 160;
– Automatic switching between viewing and recording picture styles (CrookedPathGraded – CrookedPAthFlat);
– Visible cropmarks during filming;
– Higher bitrate recording (CBR x1.3);
– Zebras; and
– AGC-disable (although any videographer would recommend recording sound to a dedicated device, regardless of your camera).
Keep blogging – really enjoying your reviews.
Cheers!
March 16th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
this convinced me to order the 550D
March 17th, 2012 at 10:35 am
The link to part two under the update heading doesn’t work for me. I have to link to part 3 and then click the part 2 link on that page to get there.
Otherwise great article. Very informative for those getting familiar with ML.
March 17th, 2012 at 11:17 am
Thanks for the heads up, Just fixed the link.
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:26 pm
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March 29th, 2012 at 9:20 am
A bit of a sidebar: but how do you like that 30mm? That’s an interesting focal length.. only ever had 35 and 28 in that range.
March 29th, 2012 at 9:57 am
I have both the canon 35mm f1.4 and sigma 30mm f1.4. Both of the are almost always mounted on a camera. The sigma is a little closer to the clasic 50mm look on a crop body. Having used the sigma 30, and the canon 28 I prefer the sigma. But if you plan to move to a full frame body in the future the sigma is useless.
April 1st, 2012 at 7:09 am
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