Magic Lantern...Interesting

[FilmMan]

Interesting stuff. I like the possibility of clean HDMI out. Progress is being made with the Digic Registers. Fast Zebras is an improvement. Contrast and saturation adjustments for display when using flat pic style. And so on.


[url="http://www.magiclantern.fm/95-articles/tutorial/catexposure/125-new-fast-zebras"]New fast zebras in Magic Lantern[/url]

[b]If you have used Magic Lantern before, you have probably noticed that zebras were a little slow. Magic Lantern v2.3 comes with a very fast version of zebras, without any lag, suitable for monitoring scenes with fast motion.[/b]

Zebras are found on professional video cameras, used for marking the areas where highlights are clipping and where shadows are being crushed. In crushed areas, there is no recoverable data being recorded, meaning there will be no detail, only black. Conversely, in clipped areas such as bright clouds on a sunny day, there will be no details in the clouds that could otherwise show their subtle shading.
With Magic Lantern's implementation of fast luma Zebras; clipped areas are displayed as red, crushed shadows are shown as blue. Used in combination with the RGB histogram, Zebras are a great tool for judging your exposure.
There are times when clipped highlights are acceptable for a better overall exposure, such as when filming a live concert. Bright stage lights will most often clip; while your histogram will show the scene as having clipped areas, the Zebras can show you precisely what is being clipped, allowing the user to decide if this is a reasonable compromise in setting exposure. You can now properly expose the scene just to the point before clipping begins to move beyond the stage lights. Tip: in these situations, enabling Highlight Tone Priority, using a flat picture style and applying negative gain from advanced ISO settings in Magic Lantern will help you get more shadow details and less clipped highlights.
[b] Based on Canon's method[/b]

Canon's method for checking clipped areas is done during playback, by configuring the display image processor to highlight those areas. We have understood how this process works and extended it, enabling live zebras [b]with zero lag[/b], and, best of all, [b]without any extra CPU usage[/b] - the new zebras are effectively computed by the display image processor. As a result, there's more CPU power available for Magic Lantern background tasks (like histogram and waveform), and the release of ML v2.3 just feels faster and [b]much more responsive[/b].

When using fast zebras, the camera cannot display both overexposed and underexposed simultaneously - that is the price paid for efficiency. By default, Underexposure is disabled in the ML menu; you may enable both underexposure and overexposure, but in this case, the screen will switch between overexposed and underexposed markers every two seconds. Furthermore, the fast Luma method does not allow for the display of stripes - the clipped highlights are now a solid red. If you prefer the old implementation, it's still available.

[b]Tip: Many filmmakers believe that, when filming interviews, it's best to set Zebras / Overexposure to 70% to maintain proper skin tone exposure, while other find 80% to be optimal. The argument here is that over 70% the skin starts to shine and over 75% the face begins loosing fine details [/b][[url="http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-hvr-z1-hdr-fx1/70332-zebra-setting-broadcast.html#post512479"]citation dvinfo[/url]][b].[/b]
Technical details: zebras are enabled by reconfiguring the display device via [url="http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Register_Map"]DIGIC registers[/url] (for example, here we have used the register is located at [url="http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Register_Map/60D"]0xC0F140CC[/url]). There are many other handy features implemented using these registers, like LiveView contrast/saturation adjustments for display (useful for focusing with flat picture styles), cleaner ISOs (like ISO 80 or ISO 50), FPS override, or custom image effects for video mode. After the 2.3 release we will continue researching this area, as there are many promising features that [i]might[/i] become possible [size=5][u](such as clean HDMI out, anamorphic lens support or full-screen zoom while recording).[/u] [/size]Your help is more than welcome, as there are "only" 65536 DIGIC registers to be analyzed by brute force!

[FilmMan]

Magic Lantern Release:
July 23, 2012, with a donation
August 13, 2012, FREE

[url="http://www.magiclantern.fm/104-releases/124-ml2rc-2"]http://www.magiclantern.fm/104-releases/124-ml2rc-2[/url]

[FilmMan]

User Guide Info:
[url="http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/userguide"]http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/userguide[/url]

[FilmMan]

I like the options for the Display. Wow.
Options for display (most of them are for LiveView).
[b] [url=""]LV contrast[/url][/b]


Adjusts the contrast in LiveView. It doesn't affect recording. This helps when focusing with very flat picture styles.
Values: Normal (no effect), High, Very high, Zero, Very low, Low.
[b] [url=""]LV saturation[/url][/b]


Adjusts the saturation in LiveView. It doesn't affect recording. This helps you focus without being distracted by color.
Values: Normal (no effect), High, Very high, Zero (grayscale).
[b] [url=""]LV display gain[/url][/b]


[url="http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/_detail/nightdemo.jpg?id=userguide"][img]http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/_media/nightdemo.jpg?w=200[/img][/url]
Photo mode only: this feature increases the brightness in LiveView, making it usable in very dark scenes (where Canon's LiveView would be pitch black). Combine this with FPS override for better low-light performance.
For movie mode, use ML digital ISOs for a similar effect.
[b] [url=""]Color Scheme[/url][/b]


This affects the colors and brightness of the on-screen information (including LiveView overlays, Canon menus and ML menus). Range from: Bright (default), Dark, Bright Gray, Dark Gray, Dark Red. Tip: dark themes may reduce the eye strain during night shooting.
[b] [url=""]Clear Overlays[/url][/b]

Clear bitmap overlays from LiveView display.[list]
[*]
HalfShutter: Hold the shutter half-pressed, or the * button, or DOF preview for around 1 second to clear all the overlays from the Live View display (audio, zebra, crops, shutter speeds…).Tip: assign autofocus to * button (from Custom Functions, set Shutter/AE lock button = AE lock/AF).
[*]
WhenIdle: In this mode, all the overlays are erased from the screen (100% clean display) when the camera is idle (i.e. you don't press any buttons).
[*]
Always: In this mode, all the overlays are erased from the screen; you will have to change shooting settings blindly. You can still use the menus.Tip: this feature may be useful with [url="http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/external_recorders"]External Recorders[/url], since it removes the focus box and other graphics from the display.
[/list]
[b] [url=""]Focus box (LV)[/url][/b]


With this setting you can choose to show the Focus box in liveview or hide it when not needed.
[b] [url=""]Force HDMI-VGA[/url][/b]


This option will force a low-resolution mode on HDMI displays (720×480), which avoids black screen when you start/stop recording.
[b] [url=""]Screen layout settings...[/url][/b]


Screen orientation, positioning fine tuning, adjustments for external monitors…
[b] [url=""]Screen Layout[/url][/b]

Choose screen layout (position of ML top and bottom bars), for different cameras or for external monitors.
Top/bottom layouts:[list]
[*]
Inside 3:2: default layout for 3:2-screen cameras (550D and newer).
[*]
Inside 16:10: for 16:10 HDMI monitors.
[*]
Inside 16:9: for 16:9 HDMI monitors.
[*]
4:3 movie (for 5D Mark II, 500D and 50D in movie mode).
[/list]
Bottom-only layouts:[list]
[*]
Under 3:2: useful for 4:3-screen cameras (500D, 50D, 5D Mark 2) in photo mode.
[*]
Under 16:9: suitable for low-resolution external monitors and for 4:3-screen cameras in movie mode.
[/list]
[b] [url=""]Image position[/url][/b]


This may make the image better visible from different angles (especially on cameras without flip-out screen).
[b] [url=""]UpsideDown mode[/url][/b]


[url="http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/_detail/up_down.jpg?id=userguide"][img]http://wiki.magiclantern.fm/_media/up_down.jpg?w=200[/img][/url]
This mode is useful if you want to mount your camera upside-down.
[b] [url=""]Auto Mirroring[/url][/b]


For cameras with flip-out LCD, this options prevents mirroring the display when you open it at 180 degrees.
[b] [url=""]Display: Normal/Reverse/Mirror[/url][/b]


For cameras with flip-out LCD, you may select a different flipping/mirroring option.
[b] [url=""]Level Indicator (60D)[/url][/b]


Shows if the picture levels with the horizon. Can be used while recording.
[b] [url=""]Kill Canon GUI[/url][/b]

For 50D only: disable Canon graphics elements to avoid conflicts with ML graphics in LiveView.[list]
[*]
Idle/Menus: only enable Canon graphics when some transparent menu from LiveView is active.
[*]
Idle/Menus+Keys: only enable Canon graphics when you press some keys or navigate the transparent menus from LiveView.
[/list]

[FilmMan]

Sorry Guys for another post. With respect to batteries. If you use a generic battery, you don't know how much charge left on it. I wonder if ML's battery life display works for generic batteries? Interesting.
[b] [url=""]Battery remaining[/url][/b]


60D and 5D Mark II only: displays battery percentage, estimated time remaining and battery discharging rate.
For accurate readings, wait until the percentage indicator decreases by at least 2% since powering on