T2i Magic Lantern for 550D in progress!

That would be great! A real time saver.

Would this work by putting Magic Lantern and the custom cropmarks in memory, formatting the card using the built in camera formatting routine, writing Magic Lantern and the custom cropmarks back to the card, and then marking the filesystem as DSLR bootable?

I think this would be very well received. I know I would use it if it worked well.

Thanks!
 
robotsound said:
That would be great! A real time saver.

Would this work by putting Magic Lantern and the custom cropmarks in memory, formatting the card using the built in camera formatting routine, writing Magic Lantern and the custom cropmarks back to the card, and then marking the filesystem as DSLR bootable?

I think this would be very well received. I know I would use it if it worked well.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Indeed, but when I asked a1ex about this functionality a while ago, he said there are some complications preventing it. Always full of surprises!
 
Just updated to the August 22 build which is listed as stable on the site. I guess I'm slow to update, as I was using the Jan 30 build for months. It was stable and did everything I needed it too. But the Aug 22 build is amazing, Alex. Wow! Even a help menu.

Now a question for everyone. I'm in Phoenix, Arizona where the temps this summer were 110 plus. I have a overheating issue when I'm shooting outside. Yesterday the camera was on for 20 or 30 minutes as I set up a shot. I then recorded about four minutes and the camera is overheating. Other times the same thing. I just get in the habit of turning off the camera every chance I get. I'm not sure if it's because I'm using ML or not, as I only use the cam with ML. I do use zebras all the time, and setting up the shots I use the histogram. Is this contributing to the overheating? Or is it just the high temps here?

If the latter what are my options? I've seriously considered bringing an ice chest with some flexible gel freezer pads. And then wrapping the pad around the camera to quickly cool it down. But I hesitate to do that. I've also thought about buying a battery grip, as I've heard that helps with the overheating problem -- although I don't know how much of a help that would be in my hot climate. I'm currently in the habit of setting up a flag to keep the camera in the shade, but that's only been of minor help. Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
The latest bleeding edge (see above) has a powersaving feature which may help here: it can turn off the display AND the sensor in LiveView. Power draw is almost like in photo mode with display off, but the mirror is still in LiveView position. And you can enable the display just by waving your hand near the sensor (or by pressing some buttons).

Zebras and histogram may contribute a little bit to overheating, but not much according to the power tests (check the PDF manual). Focus peaking may contribute a bit more. You can bypass ML (hold the shutter half-pressed at startup) and check for yourself (I didn't have any overheating problem myself, even during stress tests).

But if the camera is under sunlight, then it will overheat simply because it's black ;)
 
I kind of thought the zebras and histogram wouldn't cause the overheating. I thought the high ambient temps were the problem. I also had the same thought as you Alex. The camera is black and will absorb heat from the intense sunlight here. I did find an aftermarket battery grip for about $30 so I think I'll buy it and see what it does. The other option I've heard is to use an external monitor. But for an hdmi one it's probably about $200. Definitely more costly. Plus it's a big piece of equipment and I try to stay small and light. Anyway, thanks for all the work you're doing on ML.
 
I kind of like the white camera. Don't know how I'd do something like that with my t2i. Anyway, I take it that what you're saying is that the camera heats up because of the power draw when the camera is in LiveView? Thus the new version of ML you referenced may help the problem. I may have to give it a try. But I have read others with the same problem and that using a battery grip has helped to some degree -- not too sure how much of a help though.
 
Compared to the LCD (which draws between 40 and 100mA), the camera itself draws 360-400 mA in LiveView when not recording. I expect even more power consumption during recording, as cpu usage and image buffer size increases. So I'd say an external monitor will help, but not that much. Same for the grip.
 
a1ex said:
I doubt using a grip or an external monitor will help much under sunlight. Most power draw is from sensor in LiveView, and battery only becomes a bit warm, but not hot.
Click to expand...
I shot a wedding outside on a bright sunny day (2 weeks ago) and the temp was ~28°C (82°F). I used a battery grip and I was also using an external monitor. Maybe it wasn't hot enough, but I never had that overheating issue. The battery help for sure, as it's no more in the camera, and not having the LCD working also help. Taky from LAcoloronline.com reported that the T3i vs T2i could last longer in the same conditions only because the LCD was "off" the camera body, being articulated. Not by hours, but it helped.

That being said, can't wait to test the new version of ML, and can't wait to finally preview on my LCD monitor in full size (not being stretched without black bars!). Keep up your great work!
 
Would this work by putting Magic Lantern and the custom cropmarks in memory, formatting the card using the built in camera formatting routine, writing Magic Lantern and the custom cropmarks back to the card, and then marking the filesystem as DSLR bootable?
Click to expand...

First successful test was on 60D. It restores all ML files (autoexec, custom cropmarks, docs, FIR files and so on) and it makes the card bootable. It takes a few seconds more than the original format routine.

Only works on FAT16 and FAT32 for now (no EXFAT).
 
a1ex said:
First successful test was on 60D. It restores all ML files (autoexec, custom cropmarks, docs, FIR files and so on) and it makes the card bootable. It takes a few seconds more than the original format routine.

Only works on FAT16 and FAT32 for now (no EXFAT).
Click to expand...

Any way you can add the function of swapping cards before the format? IE give magic lantern the ability to make new ML cards in the field with out a computer? So say your out at an event, you filled up all your cards and cant dump them, but you can buy new cards, just pop a new card in and have the camera make it a ML card?
 
I'll think about this, but that's difficult since the camera was not designed for hot swapping. So if I can't find a way to keep the camera powered on while swapping cards (and cleanly unmount and mount the new one)... I have to find a way to install ML in ROM.
 
drapeama said:
That being said, can't wait to test the new version of ML, and can't wait to finally preview on my LCD monitor in full size (not being stretched without black bars!). Keep up your great work!
Click to expand...

I'm trying to understand this... when you say "not being stretched without black bars" do you mean during recording? With this feature is the aspect ratio corrected during recording or what?
 
kylevant said:
I'm trying to understand this... when you say "not being stretched without black bars" do you mean during recording? With this feature is the aspect ratio corrected during recording or what?
Click to expand...
I think he means that with the t2i/t3i, if you were to hook up a HDMI recorder to it, you get a squished not true HD picture, even if you are not in record mode.
 
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