We love Canon for taking a positive stand with Magic Lantern (in fact, we would not be surprised if when the entire ML story unfolds, it would be Canon who either funded or heavily tipped the custom firmware team)
It’s not that Canon cameras takes bad video, but with Magic Lantern, the footage is unarguably better. The well known hack, is an open source project that is available as a third party add-on for certain Canon camera models. Filmmakers consider Magic Lantern essential and many still photographers utilize it as well. It delivers photographers full control over bitrate and framerate, while providing the option for custom bulb timers, bracketing for exposure, and more. It basically fills in all the gaps left by, what some may consider, underwhelming Canon firmware.
But even with Canon not actively fighting it, the firmware add-on is not, nor ever has been, officially supported by Canon. That’s why it’s so bizarre to see some Magic Lantern RAW footage pop-up in an advertisement made by Canon dubbed “Bring It”. Take a look and keep your eyes open at about 0:15 and 0:18 seconds for the aforementioned clips.
All of the footage from Bring It is beautifully crafted, so much ado to the photographers whose footage was featured. But, the advertisement is starting to gain momentum around the photography internet circles as being somewhat deceptive as Canon has made no mention of the use of Magic Lantern in the video which was aimed at showcasing what is possible with your new Canon camera. Yes, those clips were shot on 5D Mark III‘s, but not as the camera comes right out of the box which has some photographers questioning the integrity of the ad. What are your thoughts? Is Canon in the wrong for not putting a disclaimer on the advertisement?
You can see the original footage the Magic Lantern RAW clips were excerpted from by clicking here: Video Skiing Sample by Justin Majeczky (at about 15 seconds in) and A Flood of Emotion by Kim Jong Seong at Pastel Glyph (at about 18 seconds in). The clips are shown in full below:
How here is an interesting question to ask: Is Canon starting to openly and positively support Magic Lantern? We hope so!
[ via CanonWatch | No Film School ]
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