Magic Lantern Is Back

Posted by felipemesquita 8/30/2025

Magic Lantern Is Back(www.magiclantern.fm)

501 points | 165 commentspage 4

MDGeist 9/3/2025|

It has been many moons since I used Magic Lantern. Has anamorphic desqueeze ever been a feature or could it be in the future? That's one missing feature that bums me out about shooting videos on Canon.

WalterSchulz 9/3/2025|

Support for anamorphic lense ML has for ages: 5:4 (1.25); 4:3 (1.33); 7:5 (1.4); 3:2 (1.5); 5:3 (1.66); 9:5 (1.8); 2:1 (2)

MDGeist 9/3/2025||

Awesome thanks for the heads up! I wasn't using anamorphic lenses back when I tried ML so I'll have to give it another try now.

lofaszvanitt 9/3/2025||

The nifty thing would come from opening up the high end cameras, so why not go there? Of course Canon's legal team gonna crack down on the project, as they've previously said.

names_r_hard 9/3/2025|

Canon's legal team have never said anything about Magic Lantern in any context that I'm aware of.

The high end cams need ML less, they have more features stock, plus devs need access to the cam to make a good port. So higher end cams tend to be less attractive to developers.

lofaszvanitt 9/4/2025||

Of course they did. They explicitly said, that if ML team touches their high end cameras lawyer team gonna push their shit in.

WalterSchulz 9/5/2025|||

No, they explicitly never said that. This is the origin:

https://www.canonrumors.com/inside-the-canon-eos-1d-c

Quote:

I was told by someone at Canon that they would “bring the might of its legal team” to anyone that attempts to modify at the software level, the features of an EOS-1 camera body

/Quote

"Someone"'s name was never revealed.

ML was never mentioned directly.*

ML team was never contacted by any Canon official or anyone speaking in their regard.

* Of course it is logical to assume there is a connection to ML.

names_r_hard 9/5/2025|||

I don't believe they did. Where did they say that?

sails 9/3/2025||

Amazing to see this, I haven’t thought about this since 2013. This turned my very basic entry level 550D into a crazy powerful camera for time lapse photography, I loved it!

abdusco 9/3/2025||

Are there modded firmware for Sony or Lumix cameras?

acid303 9/3/2025|

Sony has https://github.com/ma1co/OpenMemories-Tweak The developer disappeared but it still works I think.

MartijnBraam 9/3/2025||

Magic lantern is amazing. I'm still hoping a project grows for the other camera brands since I only have Nikon and Panasonic cameras.

bambax 9/3/2025||

Fantastic news! Congrats to the new team!

miguehm 9/3/2025||

Magic Lantern Devs are GOAT < 3

larodi 9/3/2025||

If I’m to get a secondhand camera to run MM which would your recommend? 200D or 600D?

names_r_hard 9/3/2025|

I wouldn't recommend the 600D if you want to do video. For stills it's perfectly acceptable. Auto-focus will feel slow compared to a modern cam. If you're going for an old / budget cam, try and reach to the 650D or 700D, those are a newer generation of hardware.

200D is much newer, but less well supported by ML. I own this cam and am actively working on improving it. 200D has DPAF, which means considerably improved auto-focus, especially for video. Also it can run Doom.

Are there any ML features in particular you're interested in?

larodi 9/3/2025||

I'm interested in using all kinds of devices for streaming live video from live (think music) events via OBS with minimal effort. Current setup is with a device (just an old iPhone can do) which provides WiFi connectivity, then another (or the same device) runs DroidCAM which them streams into a nearby laptop with OBS (typically capturing the audio needed) and this is then sent to wherever we decide (twitch, RSTP, etc). We've tried this setup with as many as three droidcam phones, and it is just fine on... a legacy MacBook Pro with Intel + 1500MB Iris card.

So ideally I'd imagine getting a second-hand 600D or 200D and having a similar setup. We did have a setup (previously) where a GoPro or mini-HDMI campera is captured and then processed by a RBPi 2/3/4, but this seems an overkill compared to the DroidCAM Setup.

And, of course, the optics on the 600D/200D are expected to be much more correct than those on an iPhone or similar phone/mobile device.

Thanks for your kind attention.

WalterSchulz 9/3/2025||

With 600D you are stuck to 1620x912 in video mode embedded in 1080i59.94 8-bit. Black borders around and you have to crop and - maybe - scale up. 200D HDMI stream with ML is clean with MF but AF will still draw a focus rectangle. But at least true FHD via HDMI.

AF with 600D in liveview: Phase detection only. Focus hunting galore. 200D comes with usable DPAF.

I prefer 250D for streaming. Dual display support, no 30 minute limit for HDMI out (but cam display will go dark until some button action).

larodi 9/5/2025||

But there’s no way to skip HDMI right? I mean I’m not familiar with ML, but think whether some wiring can be spared. Don’t these cameras expose wifi of some sort?

IMHO even 800x600 is okay for most streaming needs. And particularly when sound quality is of primary importance.

WalterSchulz 9/5/2025||

600D doesn't have WiFi. You can stream via HDMI or USB. USB stream for cams not supporting UVC (in general every EOS before Digic X and even some of those) is limited to 576p. Don't get your hopes high subscribing to EOS Webcam Utility Pro. Canon says it is able to deliver 720p and 1080p but they are scaled up from 576p. And you need a dedicated mic. No audio support via USB or HDMI in early cams.

larodi 7 days ago||

Thanks for taking time to explain. Perhaps I should also take time to share our setup in some sort of blog or gist.

andrewstuart 9/3/2025||

[flagged]

slacktivism123 9/3/2025||

The linked page explains:

    Magic Lantern is a free software add-on that runs from the SD/CF card and adds a host of new features to Canon EOS cameras that weren't included from the factory by Canon.

I also found this concise, human-written readme on the project page. Since it's not AI slop churned out by a startup, it's worth reading! :-)))

https://github.com/reticulatedpines/magiclantern_simplified/...

    Magic Lantern
    =============

    Magic Lantern (ML) is a software enhancement that offers increased
    functionality to the excellent Canon DSLR cameras.
      
    It's an open framework, licensed under GPL, for developing extensions to the
    official firmware.

    Magic Lantern is not a *hack*, or a modified firmware, **it is an
    independent program that runs alongside Canon's own software**. 
    Each time you start your camera, Magic Lantern is loaded from your memory
    card. Our only modification was to enable the ability to run software
    from the memory card.

    ML is being developed by photo and video enthusiasts, adding
    functionality such as: HDR images and video, timelapse, motion
    detection, focus assist tools, manual audio controls much more.

    For more details on Magic Lantern please see [http://www.magiclantern.fm/](http://www.magiclantern.fm/)

    There is a sibling repo for our patched version of Qemu that adds support
    for emulating camera ROMs. This allows testing without access to a physical
    camera, and automating tests across a suite of cameras.  
    https://github.com/reticulatedpines/qemu-eos  
    https://github.com/reticulatedpines/qemu-eos/tree/qemu-eos-v4.2.1 (current ML team supported branch)

aspenmayer 9/3/2025||

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Lantern_(firmware)

BLKNSLVR 9/3/2025|

I was hoping it was these guys: https://youtu.be/x3Y1dAcHK5Y

But this is actually really cool because, as it turns out, I've got an old Canon Eos DSLR that I haven't used for a long time and didn't know this thing existed before.