THE GUIDE To

MaGIc LanTErn raWwritten and photographed

by stephen mick

VERSION 2.0.18.16.13

[ 2 ]

QUICK-START GUIDEFOR THE CANON 5D MARK III

Step One: Get the Firmware1. Download the latest nightly ML RAW build at this link:

(http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=6362.0)

2. Format Compact Flash (CF) and SDHC cards in-camera.

3. Make your Compact Flash and/or SD cards “bootable” by using one of the pieces of software below. If you want to, you can also format them in exFAT mode. (More on that later.) And always select the “Make DSLR Bootable” box if using Macboot.

(Windows users see EOSCard: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/eOScard)

(Mac users see MacBoot: http://www.zenoshrdlu.com/macboot/macboot.html)

4. Unzip the files from the “nightly build” download, and copy them to the main directory (root) of your CF card.

NOTE: At the end of all this, there should be 3 folders and 2 files on the SD card. The folders DCIM, MISC, and ML should be present, and the files “5D3_113_ bootflag.fr” file and the “autio-exec.bin” files should be present.

Step Two: Loading Magic Lanternon Your 5d Mark III

1. Always, always, always start with a battery fully-charged.

2. Check your camera’s firmware to make sure it’s on version 1.1.3. (If not, download it here. http://proofcreative.com/user/canon_5d3_113.zip)

3. Make sure your camera’s mode dial is set to Manual, and that the LiveView switch is set to the Movie Camera icon.

4. Insert the CF/SD cards into your camera, and power up.

FORMAT CARDSAlways format Compact

Flash and Secure

Digital Cards in-camera

before installing Magic

Lantern RAW.

THE FILESWhen you’re finished

loading the firmware,

your card directory

should look like the one

in the above image.

[ 3 ]

5. In the appropriate Canon sub-menu, select “firmware update.”

6. Once the process is completed, power down and restart your camera. You should see a quick internal “check” of the internal memory cards run by the ML firmware.

*Recommended Setup: Load the ML Firmware on your bootable SD card (which stays in-camera), and record video to your wicked-fast CF card.

Step Three: Dialing-In The Recommended Settings

1. Go into the Magic Lantern settings menu by pressing the “trash/delete” button.

2. On the latest builds, the RAW module will auto-load. (But if you’re on an older build for some reason, try using the top dial to navigate the sub-menus, go to the “Modules” menu (the M tab) and activate the raw recording module manually.)

3. Press the “Q” button to return to the main top menus, then go to the Movie tab, enable RAW recording, and choose your resolution/aspect ratio.

4. Go to the “Overlay” menu in ML and set Global Draw to LiveView only mode. Turn all other overlay settings to OFF.

5. In the Canon menus, set your photo mode to JPEG/S3 only (turn off RAW photo shooting). This frees up memory in the camera, allowing for more Magic Lantern mojo to happen in video mode.

Step Four: Go Shoot!

TRASH/DELETEWith the Magic Lantern

firmware installed and

running, pressing the

Trash button takes you

to the ML menu.

SUCCESS!When successfully

installed the ML

firmware will show the

above message when

you press the Trash/

Delete button.

[ 4 ]

QUICK-START GUIDEFOR THE CANON 5D MARK II

Step One: Get the Firmware1. Download and unzip the Magic Lantern software (currently

5D2 Alpha 1) at the link below:

https://bitbucket.org/a_d_/magic-lantern/downloads/5d2_alpha_One.zip

2. Download and unzip the latest ML RAW nightly build from this link:

http://nanomad.magiclantern.fm/nightly/

Step Two: Loading Magic Lantern On Your 5d Mark II

1. Always, always, always start with a battery fully-charged.

2. Make sure your camera is running version 2.1.2 firmware from Canon. If you need to download it, use this link:

http://proofcreative.com/user/canon_5d2_212.zip

3. Clear all user settings (3rd wrench) in Canon sub-menu

4. Set camera mode dial to M (Manual).

5. After formatting a CF card in-camera, copy ML software to the root directory of your CF card.

6. Insert CF card into camera, and update firmware via canon menu: wait for “success” screen in green text to show. Reboot by turning OFF camera then ON.

7. Remove CF card from camera and place in CF card reader.

8. Transfer the RAW nightly build into the appropriate direc-tories in your CF card (usually an autoexec.bin and an ML folder).

FIRMWAREFor Magic Lantern to work

properly, your 5D2 will

need to be running Canon

firmware version 2.1.2.

RESOLUTIONThe 5D2 isn’t capable of

recording at as high a

resolution as the Mark III,

so work with your setup to

find the right settings for

reliable shooting.

[ 5 ]

9. Place CF into your camera, turn ON, press live view, press trash bin icon to bring up ML menu, go to Modules Tab, Select Load modules now.

10. Still in ML menu, go to Movie tab, Scroll down to RAW video, press SET to turn ON, press Picture Style Button to go to RAW video sub menu, Select Resolution or Aspect Ratio, exit ML menu by pressing trash bin.

11. Shoot Raw Video by pressing SET button to start and stop recording.

Step Three: Dialing-In The Recommended Settings

1. Keep your mode dial in M (Manual Mode).

2. In ML menu (press trash bin) Go to OVERLAY tab, and just have Global Draw in LiveView, the rest is recommended to be OFF to maximize performance of the CPU.

3. In the MOVIE tab, leave the bitrate set at default, and we recommend setting FPS override at 23.976 or less.

4. For continuous recording on the 5D2, use a 1000x CF card.

5. The following resolutions give continuous raw recording using a recommended/ tested CF card:

1880 x 940 2:1 1872 x 936 2:1 1872 x 850 2.20:1 1856 x 928 2:1 1728 x 972 16:9 1472 x 828 4:3

Step Four: Go Shoot!

PICTURE STYLESOn the 5D2, a press of

the Trash/Delete button

will take you into the ML

menu. To make a selection

in the ML menu, just press

the Picture Styles button.

FILE BROWSERYou view and delete your

RAW videos here. Since

the 5D2 uses FAT32-format

cards, files bigger than 4GB

are split into sub-clips with

.RXX extensions, which will

have to be re-combined

using a voodoo ritual in post.

[ 6 ]

Notes for Other CamerasCANON 6D

This is a great, entry-level full-frame camera, and the ML firwmare seems to work very well with it. But it only records to SD cards, and they just don’t have the ability to keep up with the speed needed for full-HD RAW recording. That’s not to say you can’t use it for RAW, but you’ll likely have to step down in resolution a fair amount to accommodate the speed of the UHS SD card bus.

Verdict: Usable.

CANON 60D

This is an APS-C camera that was a workhorse for many shooters when it came out. But like the 6D, it relies on SD cards for recording, and because of that it suffers from the same limitations when recording RAW files.

Verdict: Usable.

CANON 50D

Wait…what? Yes, you read that correctly. The 50D, a camera that had ZERO video features on release, can record RAW video. And it’s really the best choice behind the 5D Mark III and the 5D2. Since it records to Compact Flash cards, it’s not subject to the speed issues of the 60D and 6D. It can’t quite match the bus speed of the 5D Mark III, so you’ll still have to step down in resolution a little bit. And the camera has no audio capability at all, so double-sys-tem sound is absolutely mandatory. But with the ML RAW firmware, it’s the cheapest reliable RAW-recording camera on the planet.

Verdict: Good, and a great value.

[ 7 ]

CANON 40D

This is a joke, right? A camera that just turned SIX YEARS OLD can’t possibly record RAW, can it? Well it can, in theory. It’s only real limitation is the speed of the elderly Digic 3 pro-cessor inside. There hasn’t been a whole lot of testing with this body, but it’s certainly possible that ML RAW will work on the 40D. Not bad for a body you can pick up used for $250.

Verdict: None. The jury is still out.

CANON 7D

Finally. The 7D, a dual Digic proccessing beast, has finally gotten its hack on. Development is still in process, so check the ML forums for the latest info.

Verdict: Stay tuned. Could be awesome.

CANON T4i / 650D

Again, this APS-C body is hampered by the slower speed involved in recording to the SD cards. They just can’t handle the same throughput as Compact Flash. So this one is only good for reduced-resolution shooting, which isn’t terrible considering the price of the body.

Verdict: Meh.

CANON T3i / 600D

See T4i above.

Verdict: Meh.

CANON T2i / 550D

See T3i above.

Verdict: Meh.

THE GUIDE To

MaGIc LanTErn raWwritten and photographed

by stephen mick

Disclaimer and Statement of Non-ResponsiblityMagic Lantern software, while being completely awesome, is still a hack, and as such, the authors of this Guide and the DVXUser.com management take no responsibility if you brick your camera in the process of using this soft-ware. The folks at Magic Lantern are also not responsible for any damage to cameras, lenses, or other camera accessories from using this firmware. To be fair, we haven’t heard of any cameras being bricked or otherwise rendered useless, but there’s always an outside chance it might happen. Your Canon warranty may also be voided by loading the Magic Lantern software. Fair warning has been given.

Copyrights, Trademarks, and Other Legal StuffAll rights reserved. But hey…feel free to share this book by any means nec-essary. Just don’t charge anyone money for it. We’re providing this as a free resource to the great filmmaking community that has given us so much over the years. If you charge someone money for this, the karma monster will eat your children.

All product names and services used throughout this book are used in edito-rial fashion only, and for the benefit of such companies, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any name or brand, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

Basically, the Canon brand name, its logo and products, the Magic Lantern name and its logo, are used here only for editorial purposes. And we hope the above jargon exempts us from legal action. We’re good people, doing something good for the community. Please, don’t sue us.

Table of Contents

1 IntroductIon, 13

2 GettInG Started, 16

complete 5d mark III InStallatIon GuIde, 18

complete 5d mark II InStallatIon GuIde, 26

3 ShootInG WIth maGIc lantern, 33

SettInG up maGIc lantern for raW ShootInG, 38

recommended maGIc lantern SettInGS, 44

recommended canon camera SettInGS, 45

www.dvxuser.com/v6

www.dvxuser.com/v6

[ 13 ]

INTRODUCTIONWhere we examine what all this awesomeness is about

1There’s just no other way to say it: the Magic Lantern RAW-video firmware for Canon HDSLRs has changed the game for budget-minded filmmakers. (And believe me, I hate using the phrase “game-changer,” or any variation thereof.) What has this firmware done? Well, it took something that was already revolutionary in the Canon HDSLR camera and turned it into something even more incredible: a filmmaking tool that unleashes the true power inside every 5D Mark III, not to mention a host of other Canon cameras.

The RAW-video firmware also builds on Magic Lantern’s previous work, firmware creations that have constantly given DSLR filmmakers the tools they needed to make working with these cameras easier in the context of cinematic shooting. Waveforms. Zebras. Aspect ratio guides. On-screen audio meters. All of these are things filmmakers use (and depend on) every day on-set. And even if RAW-video is not for you, or if the project you’re working on doesn’t need the benefits that shooting RAW can provide, your Canon DSLR should always be running the Magic Lantern software if you’re shooting video, simply to have these features at your fingertips.

But when Magic Lantern gives you the ability to record RAW sensor data, in full-HD resolution, at 24 frames per second (or more), with14-bit, 4:4:4 sampled color, all wrapped in a DNG file, why wouldn’t you use it?

[ 14 ]

So, what’s so great about RAW? To put it quite simply, we want tools that give us the look and feel of film. Back in the day, the original Panasonic DVX gave us the ability to shoot 24p, giving images with a much more film-like motion. But it wasn’t quite enough. We wanted the shallow depth-of-field look that motion pictures often have.

Then the Canon 5D Mark II came along, with a “video mode” tacked on almost as an afterthought. Shooters quickly embraced both the depth-of-field and low-light shooting potential with the Mark II, and the revolution had arrived. We quickly tossed aside our 35mm ground-glass adapter rigs, grabbed whichever of these cameras we could afford, rigged it up with all sorts of accessories, and went out shooting.

But even that wasn’t enough. These cameras lacked many of the features that video pros have come to depend on. And Magic Lantern was there, delivering the original

ML firmware that transformed these tools and what they could do.

Still, these great cameras were all hobbled by codecs that sometimes couldn’t keep up, bit-rates that made us cringe, and color space that was, to put it mildly, limiting. As amazing as the images coming from the Canon HDSLRs were, they left many people with a lingering thought:

If these cameras, with the powerful processors inside, are capable of recording so many frames per second in RAW-photo burst mode, could they be “hacked” to take that data stream in LiveView mode

and record it to the memory cards as a video file?

That’s exactly what the Magic Lantern team did.

With the RAW-video firmware, Magic Lantern is allowing us to record RAW sensor data, in the same way as we do with still photos in Camera Raw format. We get all (or at least most) of the dynamic range, resolution, and color space that these cameras are capable of, all laid down in a format that allows us to change and control the “look” of a clip in post-production, rather than doing it in-camera. Decisions we would have previously needed to make on-set (or even earlier) can be made in the edit or color suites.

More than anything, it means that this $2,800 DSLR is suddenly capable of giving us an even more film-like image than before. And in fact, it’s giving us an image that can hold its own against cameras ten and twenty times as expensive. Magic Lantern is a tool of empowerment, but it is up to all of us as filmmakers to deliver on what it promises.

…the original ML

firmware…transformed

these tools and what

they could do.”

[ 15 ]

about dvxuser, and a noteBefore we get to the good stuff, and before you load and play around with the powerful tools in Magic Lantern, we’d like to ask a favor. We’re providing this User Guide as a free resource, but the ongoing development and testing of the ML team needs your support. Take a moment, go over to the Magic Lantern site, and make a donation, either to Magic Lantern directly, or to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization working to defend our ability to “hack” cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III.

Special thanks go out to all of the DVXUser community involved in the Magic Lantern project, including Ted Ramasola, Squig, Steve Kahn, OlegKalyan, bumkicho and Samuel H, among others. And very special thanks go to A1ex and the ML team, without whom none of this would be possible, and we’d all be very sad filmmakers.

From the beginning, the forums at DVXUser.com have helped spread the word about the Magic Lantern software. As the RAW-video firmware has developed, our members have been on the cutting-edge, testing nightly builds, providing feedback on bugs, and helping the ML team refine the ongoing alpha releases. It is because of our members that a Guide like this is even possible. And as new developments come along, we’ll continue to update this Guide as quickly as we can.

[ 16 ]

GETTING STARTEDDownloading, installing, and preparing to shoot RAW with ML

2Before you get started with Magic Lantern, there are a few things you’ll want to make sure you’ve prepared and considered.

First, you’ll want to confirm that your battery is fully-charged. If something is going to get fubar’ed with your install of ML, it’s likely going to be due to your battery running out of juice. There’s a reason Canon encourages you to have a full battery in the camera when you’re updating the main camera firmware, and it’s because bad things can happen if you don’t. In fact, I prefer to take in another step, and to only use a fully-charged genuine Canon battery when I’m running firmware updates. If your battery fails in the middle of a firmware update, whether it’s Canon firmware or Magic Lantern, your camera is probably going to be toast. So take every precaution you can to avoid a failure.

Next, there are certain Canon firmware versions that are Magic Lantern-friendly. So, if you’re using the 5D Mark III, you’ll want your camera’s firmware to be set on version 1.1.3. For those of you using the 5D Mark II, you’ll want version 2.1.2. These are the most/only stable versions currently playing “nice” with the Magic Lantern firmware. If you don’t have these, check the Quick-Start section at the beginning of this Guide for download links.

[ 17 ]

Next, be sure to do a full format of both your CF and SD cards in the camera. This ensures that the correct directories and folders are in place for your install of Magic Lantern. But about those cards…

Recommended CF Cards

Given the sheer amount of data being written from the camera to the CompactFlash card, not just any memory card will work with ML RAW. And to make it more complicated, cards that say they’re a certain speed may not actually write AT that speed. For example, a few of the larger-capacity cards (128GB or so) actually write slightly slower than the same model card with a lower capacity.

Below is a list of CF cards that have been tested and are verified working with full-HD (1920x1080) resolution at 24/25p from the ML RAW Canon 5D Mark III. Keep in mind that card speeds and capacities are constantly getting better (and bigger), so there may be other cards out there that shooters are using with ML RAW. This list includes only the cards we’ve actually been able to test and verify as working with the Mark III:

- Lexar 1000x

- Toshiba 1066x

- Komputerbay 1000x (with reservations)

Many people have had success with Komputerbay brand 1000x CF cards, but others have had some issues with them. Even though they may be branded the same, with the same speed, there may be variations in quality from card to card. Buyers have had good luck getting problem cards replaced with new ones. We’ll leave it up to you to make the decision as to which cards to use, but to us the possibility of losing a single shot (or an entire card’s worth of footage) isn’t worth the savings to buy anything but the best memory cards possible.

As always, be sure to get your cards from a reputable dealer. There are counterfeit cards out there, and there’s a decent chance you might get one if you buy from places like eBay, or from discount online stores. In the era of e-commerce, we prefer to buy memory cards from (gasp) our local retail camera stores. If something goes wrong, they always stand behind what they sell, and by supporting them, we know they’ll be around when we need them.

…not just any memory

card will work with

Magic Lantern RAW.”

[ 18 ]

Installation: A Complete Step-By-Step GuideFor the 5D Mark III

1. Preparing Your CameraBefore you can even begin to load the ML firmware and start playing with RAW, follow these steps to get your 5D Mark III ready. (And remember, make sure your battery is fully-charged before you start.)

a. Check the firmware version that your camera is running. If it’s not running 1.1.3, you’ll need to get it. Keep in mind, it doesn’t matter if you’re running an older OR a newer version than 1.1.3. ONLY genuine Canon firmware version 1.1.3 will work with Magic Lantern software.

b. You can download the correct Canon firmware version at this link:

http://proofcreative.com/user/canon_5d3_113.zip

c. Unzip the package and load the .fir file onto your memory card.

d. Select the “firmware ver.” item in the Canon SETUP 4 submenu, and confirm that you want to update your firmware.

e. Once the process is complete, power off and re-start your camera, and navigate to the firmware submenu to confirm that the update was completed.

2. Formatting Your CardsNow that you’ve got the right firmware on your camera, the next step is to re-format your memory cards. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again (and again): always first format your cards in-camera, using the Canon menus to do it.

a. Insert both a recommended CompactFlash card and an SDHC card in your camera.

b. Power up your camera.

c. From the Canon SETUP 1 sub-menu, select each of your memory cards, and format them using the commands shown.

d. Your cards are now ready to be Magic Lantern’ed.

[ 19 ]

CANON FIRMWARE VERSION

At the time this Guide was created,

only Canon 5D Mark III firmware

version 1.1.3 is verified to be work-

ing with Magic Lantern software. If

you don’t have this version, get it.

FORMATTING YOUR CARDS

Always format your memory cards

in-camera before you proceed with

any of the installation of Magic Lan-

tern. This ensures that the correct

files and directories are in place so

you can work with ML.

UPDATING YOUR FIRMWARE

Selecting the “firmware ver.” item

in Canon SETUP 4 menu will allow

you to re-flash your camera with

the correct firmware 1.1.3 version

loaded on your memory card.

WHY FORMAT IN-CAMERA?

Using the camera to format your

cards at the very beginning en-

sures you’ll have the correct file and

folder structure for installing Magic

Lantern in the steps ahead.

[ 20 ]

To make your life easier, you can use software to create a bootflag that will allow the Magic Lantern firmware to auto-load when you restart your camera.

NOTE: USE A CARD READER

When you’re copying files to and from your memory cards, always use a card reader. I like the Lexar combo CF and SD card reader, with a USB 3.0 connection.

3a. Making Your Cards Bootable (Mac)a. Download and unzip MacBoot from the link below:

MacBoot: http://www.zenoshrdlu.com/macboot/macboot.html

b. Double-click the MacBoot icon to launch the application.

NOTE: If you’re on the Mac and running OS X 10.8 or later, you’ll need to make sure you’ve downloaded the macboot.command file from the MacBoot page (linked above). Before you open MacBoot, double-click this file in your finder (which will launch MacBoot), or you won’t be able to successfully make your card(s) bootable.

c. From the dialog box, select “Make DSLR Bootable,” and click the “Prepare Card” button.

d. A process will run on-screen and confirm that everything is complete.

3b. Making Your Cards Bootable (Win)a. Download and install the EOSCard application from the link below:

EOSCard: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/eOScard

b. Run the EOSCard application, and choose your Compact Flash card from the drop-down selection box.

c. Click the Magic Lantern Logo, then click Save.

NOTE: Be aware that EOSCard might install one of the older 5D Mark II Magic Lantern releases on your card. If so, delete those files manually.

[ 21 ]

MACBOOT

EOSCARD

www.dvxuser.com/v6

[ 22 ]

4. Formatting Your Cards in exFAT Mode

exFat is a file system created by Microsoft originally for use in flash drives. It allows for unlimited file sizes, up to (obviously) the limitation of the storage media.

Why bother formatting your cards in exFAT mode? Canon HDSLRs are designed to format media cards in the FAT32 format, which limits file sizes to 4GB. Files larger than 4GB are split up into multiple pieces by the operating system. By reformatting your cards in exFAT mode, your camera will be able to record files larger than 4GB, saving you a lot of hassle in post.

How do you do it on the Mac? It’s easy…

a. In your Utilities folder, find and launch Disk Utility.

b. Insert your Compact Flash card in a card reader, connected to your Mac. (If you’ve followed our recommendations and installed ML software on your SDHC card, then you’ll be saving yourself some headaches right now.)

c. Select your “EOS_DIGITAL” Compact Flash card from the left window, then click the “Erase” tab at the top.

d. From the “Format” drop-down menu, select exFat, and click Erase. Be sure that you leave the card name the same as it was when you loaded it in the card reader. Your Canon camera will thank you for it.

5. Copying the Firmware to the CardsNow that you’ve gone through all the steps to get your camera and cards ready, it’s time to load up the Magic Lantern firmware, and it couldn’t be easier.

a. If the card you want to load the Magic Lantern software on isn’t in your card reader, put it there. (Ideally this will be your SDHC card.)

b. Get the latest “nightly build” of the Magic Lantern software at the link below:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=6362.0

c. Unzip the file, and drag the contents of the folder (all of them), to the ROOT level of your memory card. There should be 3 folders and 2 files on the card. The folders DCIM, MISC, and ML should be present, and the “5D3_113_ bootflag.fr” file and the “autoexec.bin” files should be present.

[ 23 ]

exFAT FORMATTINGIf you want to shoot longer clips in RAW with Magic Lantern, you’ll want to format your cards in exFAT format. It’s quick and easy to do with Disk Utility on the Mac.

SUCCESS!

If you’ve done everything right, you

should see this screen when you

start up your camera. (If you don’t

see it, double-check your work, and

perhaps start over again.)

[ 24 ]

6. Verifying and Accessing the Magic Lantern Firmware It takes some time to accomplish, and there’s a bunch of steps to get it done, but when you install Magic Lantern, you’ve essentially created a completely new filmmaking tool.

A quick way to verify that the software is installed and working is at camera start-up. When you start up your 5D Mark III, you should see indications of the Magic Lantern software at work. The first of these is the “card check” function, which will go through a complete check of the setup and speeds of both of your memory cards. You might also see audio meters at the bottom of your LCD, another indication that Magic Lantern is installed and working properly.

Once startup is complete, you can access the Magic Lantern menu by pressing the Trash/Delete button on the lower left side of the camera. The first press will bring up the “Enjoy!” message seen on the right. A second press of the button will take you into the main Magic Lantern menus, which we’ll go into in the next section.

One last method you’ll want to know about to verify that Magic Lantern is installed is found in the Canon SETUP menu. Here, your Canon firmware version should no longer read “1.1.3,” but it should look like the image on the bottom of the next page.

If you don’t see these indications of success, backtrack through the installation guide to make sure you didn’t miss a step, or check the “Troubleshooting” section that follows below.

www.dvxuser.com/v6

[ 25 ]

SMELLS LIKE VICTORY

Once you’ve installed everything

and restarted your camera,

all you have to do is press the

Trash/Delete button to bring up

the Magic Lantern menu.

ENABLE BOOTDISK MESSAGE

Below is an image that shows the “EnableBootDisk” message that you should see if you go into

the Canon SETUP 4 sub-menu. This is a good thing, and it means you have been chosen.

[ 26 ]

Installation: A Complete Step-By-Step GuideFor the 5D Mark II

NOTE: For the most part, the steps needed to install Magic Lantern on the 5D2 are very similar

to the ones for the 5D Mark III. But be sure to follow the specific steps for your camera model to

ensure the ML firmware “takes” to your camera.

1. Preparing Your CameraFollow these steps to get your 5D2 ready. (And make sure your battery is fully-charged.)

a. Remove all external accessories from your camera (grip, flash, etc.), and set your camera’s mode dial to M (Manual) mode.

b. Check the firmware your camera is running. If it’s not version 2.1.2, you need to get it. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you’re running an older OR a newer version than 2.1.2. ONLY genuine Canon firmware version 2.1.2 will work with Magic Lantern software.

c. You can download the correct Canon firmware version at this link:

http://proofcreative.com/user/canon_5d2_212.zip

d. Unzip the package and load the .fir file onto your CF card.

NOTE: Only CF cards of 64GB or less will work for updating firmware on the 5D2. You can RECORD RAW video to a 128GB card, but cannot use it for firmware updates.

e. Clear all User Settings off your 5D2 (use the function in the camera’s SETUP menu.

f. Select the “firmware ver.” item in the Canon submenu, and confirm that you want to update your firmware.

g. Once the process is complete, power off and re-start your camera, and navigate to the firmware submenu to confirm that the update was completed.

2. Formatting Your CardsThe next step is to format your memory cards. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again (and again): always first format your cards in-camera, using the Canon menus to do it.

a. Insert a recommended CompactFlash card card in your camera.

b. Power up your camera.

c. From the Canon SETUP sub-menu format your CF card using the commands shown.

[ 27 ]

EOSCARD

www.dvxuser.com/v6

CANON FIRMWARE VERSION

At the time this Guide was created,

only Canon 5D2 firmware version

2.1.2 is verified to be working with

Magic Lantern software. If you

don’t have this version, get it at the

link provided on the previous page.

FORMATTING YOUR CARDS

Always format your memory cards

in-camera before you proceed with

any of the installation of Magic Lan-

tern. This ensures that the correct

files and directories are in place so

you can work with ML.

UPDATING YOUR FIRMWARE

Selecting the “firmware ver.” item

in Canon SETUP menu will allow

you to re-flash your camera with

the correct firmware 2.1.2 version

loaded on your memory card.

PRO TIP: AUTO POWER-OFF

Many Canon shooters will keep the

Auto Power-Off function turned on

to save battery life. With Magic Lan-

tern running, you want to disable

this, so that your camera doesn’t

shut off in the middle of a shot.

[ 28 ]

3a. Making Your Cards Bootable (Mac)a. Download and unzip MacBoot from the link below:

MacBoot: http://www.zenoshrdlu.com/macboot/macboot.html

b. Double-click the MacBoot icon to launch the application.

NOTE: If you’re on the Mac and running OS X 10.8 or later, you’ll need to make sure you’ve downloaded the macboot.command file from the MacBoot page (linked above). Before you open MacBoot, double-click this file in your finder (which will launch MacBoot), or you won’t be able to successfully make your card bootable.

c. From the dialog box, select “Make DSLR Bootable,” and click the “Prepare Card” button.

d. A process will run on-screen and confirm that everything is complete.

3b. Making Your Cards Bootable (Windows)a. Download and install the EOSCard application from the link below:

EOSCard: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/eOScard

b. Run the EOSCard application, and choose your Compact Flash card from the drop-down selection box.

c. Click the Magic Lantern Logo, then click Save.

4. Copying the Firmware to the CardsNow that you’ve gone through all the steps to get your camera and cards ready, it’s time to load up the Magic Lantern firmware, and it couldn’t be easier.

a. If the card you want to load the Magic Lantern software on isn’t in your card reader, put it there.

b. Get the latest “nightly build” of the Magic Lantern software at the link below:

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=6362.0

c. Unzip the file, and drag the contents of the folder (all of them), to the ROOT level of your memory card. There should be 3 folders and 2 files on the card. The folders DCIM, MISC, and ML should be present, and the “5D2_212_ bootflag.fr” file and the “autoexec.bin” files should be present.

[ 29 ]

MACBOOT

EOSCARD

www.dvxuser.com/v6

[ 30 ]

5. Verifying and Accessing the Magic Lantern Firmware It takes some time to accomplish, and there’s a bunch of steps to get it done, but when you install Magic Lantern, you’ve essentially created a completely new filmmaking tool.

A quick way to verify that the software is installed and working is at camera start-up. When you start up your 5D2, you should see indications of the Magic Lantern software at work. The first of these is the “card check” function, which will go through a complete check of the setup and speeds of both of your memory cards. You might also see audio meters at the bottom of your LCD, another indication that Magic Lantern is installed and working properly.

Once startup is complete, you can access the Magic Lantern menu by pressing the Trash/Delete button on the lower left side of the camera. This will bring up the “Enjoy!” message seen on the right. Then press the Picture Styles button (the one that looks like some kind of weird digital flower.) This will take you into the main Magic Lantern menus, which we’ll go into in the next section.

One last method you’ll want to know about to verify that Magic Lantern is installed is found in the Canon SETUP menu. Here, your Canon firmware version should no longer read “2.1.2,” but it should look like the image on the bottom of the next page.

If you don’t see these indications of success, backtrack through the installation guide to make sure you didn’t miss a step, or check the “Troubleshooting” section that follows below.

THE RED LIGHT

You see that little light that

flashes when you open the CF

card door? It tells you that the

camera is accessing the card.

Well, with Magic Lantern loaded,

when you open the card door

and the light goes off, there

still may be stuff going on. So al-

ways wait three or five seconds

before you pull the card. Other-

wise, you might lose some clips.

www.dvxuser.com/v6

[ 31 ]

THE LIMITATIONS OF CF CARDS

One reason the 5D Mark III may

be able to provide higher reli-

able resolutions than the 5D2 is

because the Mark III can use the

SD card slot for the firmware

while recording to CF, where the

5D2 has to use the CF for both.

SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION

Below is an image showing what the Canon firmware version readout should look like if you’ve

succesfully installed the Magic Lantern firmware.

[ 32 ]

Magic Lantern FeaturesWhen you first load up Magic Lantern and pull up the menu, what you see can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many settings and features, it can be hard to know where to start, or even which settings to mess with. Here are a few key features that you’ll want to familiarize yourself with, just so you know what’s going on with your camera.

- Card test at startup

- Histogram and waveform moved to bottom

- New experimental display for focus peaking (extreme sharpness)

- 16:9 bars for anamorphic preview

- Saturation boost when adjusting white balance

- Warnings for bad settings (e.g. if you set picture quality to JPEG instead of RAW by mistake)

- Dim the red LED while recording (make it less distracting)

- Magic Zoom (zoom while recording), experimental focus peaking modes, ghost image, display presets

- Movie indicators, movie logging, rec/standby notification, force LiveView for manual lenses

- Gradual exposure in movie mode

- HDR video

- Brightness, contrast, saturation, display gain, color schemes, UniWB correction, upside-down mode

- Clean HDMI with pillarboxes

- Anamorphic and fisheye correction

- Image review tweaks (exposure adjust, remember zoom position...)

- Task and CPU usage info

- zebras, focus peaking, cropmarks, spotmeter, histogram, waveform, vectorscope, audio meters.

- card benchmark, debug info, stability tests.

[ 33 ]

Links to Firmware and ApplicationsMagic Lantern Nightly Builds

http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=6362.0

Canon EOS Firmware Version 1.1.3 for 5D Mark IIIhttp://proofcreative.com/user/canon_5d3_113.zip

Canon EOS Firmware Version 2.2.1 for 5D Mark IIhttp://proofcreative.com/user/canon_5d2_212.zip

MacBoothttp://www.zenoshrdlu.com/macboot/macboot.html

EOSCard for Windows

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/eOScard

Tips and “Best Practices”What follows is a list of tips and techniques that we use to help get the most out of Magic Lantern, with as little teeth-gnashing and cursing as possible. Think of these as the “commandments” for working with ML RAW firmware.

- Always format your cards (CF and SD) in-camera.

- Remove the battery from your camera if you’re not going to be shooting for an extended period of time.

- Always use a card reader to move files to and from your computer to the CF and SD cards.

- Don’t pull your card too fast. When you open the door, the camera may take a second or so to access the cards. Pulling them during this process may force the camera to continue “working,” and can drain the battery.

- If you want to remove ML from your cards, be sure to format them in-camera. Don’t try to remove the files through your computer.

Magic Lantern opened up

a world of possibilities for

filmmakers. RAW changes

that world yet again.

[ 34 ]

TroubleshootingOkay, let’s face it. Sometimes things go wrong. And when they do, all you want is to get back to shooting as quickly as you can. So here are a few common-ish problems that ML RAW users talk about, and what you can try to fix them should they happen to you.

The main thing to keep in mind is…don’t panic. Formatting your cards will (almost) always get you back to at least being able to shoot with you camera in an “unhacked” state.

1. When I start up my camera, why won’t the ML firmware load?

First, make sure the folders and directories on your cards match the ones at the end of the step-by-step install guide above. If that doesn’t work, double-check that your camera’s Canon firmware version matches the recommended versions from earlier in this Guide. Finally, if neither of those are the issue, try completely removing all User

Settings from your Canon camera, re-installing the recommended firmware version, and then go step-by-step through the installation guide above.

If you’re using the 5D Mark II, you might also try turning off the “Auto Sensor Cleaning” function in the Canon menus. This feature can mess with Magic Lantern’s ability to auto-boot the software.

If you still have problems, check out the Magic Lantern forums. Someone there can probably answer your question.

2. I can’t bring up the Magic Lantern menu. What’s up with that?

Remember, the Magic Lantern menus exist in a completely different location than the normal Canon menus. On the 5D Mark III, you bring up the ML menu by pressing the “trash can” or delete button., and then you navigate the menus using the two scroll wheels (one on the top next to the shutter button, and the other on the rear of the camera). On the 5D Mark II, you bring up the ML menu by going into LiveView mode, and pressing the Picture Styles button. Then you can navigate your way through the menus using the joystick.

3. My camera is freaking out, locking up, and giving me corrupt files.

Chances are, if you’re having these problems, you didn’t format your cards in-camera. You’ll need to re-format them in your camera, then repeat the installation process. If you did format them in-camera, try running the “stability tests” in the Magic Lantern

There’s not a whole lot

you can really do to get

in big trouble with Magic

Lantern. Remember, you

can always start over.

[ 35 ]

debug sub-menu. Again, if this doesn’t solve your problems, check out the online Magic Lantern forums for additional help.

4. When I remove the CF card from the camera to copy my files, the camera won’t start up after I put the card back in. What’s up with that?

When you open the card door to remove a card, there’s a moment of time when the camera is actually interacting with the cards. If you pull the card immediately, the camera can get stuck in a kind of “loop,” where it’s trying to access the card, but the card isn’t there. If this happens, you’ll likely have to remove the battery, re-insert it, and restart your camera. And to avoid this in the future, just wait a moment or two before pulling your card once you’ve opened the card door.

The online community

is your friend. If you’re

struggling, visit the

Magic Lantern forums

for more help.

www.dvxuser.com/v6

www.dvxuser.com/v6

[ 37 ]

SHOOTING RAW WITH MAGIC LANTERNThis is the good stuff you’ve been waiting for

3

If you’ve loaded the ML firmware on your camera (and by this point I hope you have), it can be overwhelming to see the sheer number of options and menus that pop up when you hit the trash can button. Honestly, there are more options and choices in the menus than we have time to cover here. So we’re choosing to focus on the key settings and features that you’re likely to want to use most often in the Magic Lantern world.

Don’t let that deter you from experimenting with the various options in the ML software. There’s nothing wrong with trying different things out, and seeing what they do and how they work. Best of all, there’s not a whole lot you can do to get yourself in trouble. If you get lost, or if you’re having issues with your camera after you change some settings, you can always reformat your cards and start over with a fresh install of the ML software.

[ 38 ]

What Is RAW, and Why Does It Really Matter?

There’s a surprisingly large amount of misunderstanding about what RAW is. Put very simply, the RAW video that Magic Lantern lays down on your memory card is raw sensor data (just as you would get from a RAW still), recorded at whatever resolution and frame rate you set in the Magic Lantern menu. The resulting images offer 14-bit, 4:4:4 color, providing a range and flexibility in post that is only matched by the highest-end professional digital cinema cameras.

But as great as it is to be able to shoot RAW video with these cameras, remember, it isn’t likely going to be the difference between your film project being lauded at festivals or not. RAW can get you extra resolution. It can get you another stop or two of dynamic range. But it can’t make up for bad dialogue. It can’t replace an amazing location that oozes character. And it’s never going to help your actors deliver better performances.

Love RAW for what it is, and for what it can give you. But remember it’s only one of a long list of things that give a project that “film look.”

Should You Shoot RAW?

Before we go any further here, let’s start with a simple question: should you even bother shooting RAW? (Let’s be honest here…the answer is generally going to be “yes,” for many reasons.) Shooting RAW, whether with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, the RED Epic, or the Canon 5D Mark III running Magic Lantern, means you’re going to have to deal with a few things. One, you’ll generally need a lot of fast, high-capacity media. Two, you’ll need a computer with enough space to store all that media. And three, you’ll need the time (and skills) to take the RAW goodness and make post-production magic with it.

Now, you’re here, reading this Guide, so you probably already know these things, right? So let’s move along.

[ 39 ]

CINEMA-RIGGED CANON 5D MARK IIIWith the RAW ML firmware running, the Canon HDSLRs suddenly

become digital cinema beasts. Feel free to kit them out appropriately.

CINEMA EOS LENSESGreat cine glass will help get

the most out of your images.

CINE ACCESSORIESMattebox, follow focus, and ND

filters are a must with the 5D.

[ 40 ]

…you’ll need time (and

skills) to take the RAW

goodness and make post-

production magic with it.”

The Cinema DNG Format

At the heart of the ML RAW phenomenon is the ability for the software to create files in the Cinema DNG format, an industry-standard, open-source format made for digital cinema files. Cinema DNG files are basically an image sequence comprised of individual frames. When you record on the 5D Mark III (or other Canon camera) using ML RAW, the camera is taking a stream of RAW images and creating a Cinema DNG sequence, embedded in a special file wrapper. Later in this Guide, we’ll look at in-depth workflows for ML RAW, including how to take these files and prepare them for editing and post-production.

In 2008, Adobe introduced Cinema DNG, a new open standard imaging file format. CinemaDNG stores raw, uncompressed image data. Since 2009, more than a dozen companies have developed products utilizing the new file format, and a dozen others support the format. The format is unencrypted and free from intellectual property encumbrances or license requirements.

There are several advantages to using raw image data for cinema. The ability to store images as a DNG-sequence provides extra flexibility. An additional benefit of using DNG is that there can be interchange between a CinemaDNG workflow and a still camera workflow.

Understanding Color Sampling, Or Why 4:4:4 Color Makes A Huge Difference

Color sampling can be a difficult concept to grasp. Put simply, it’s a form of compression. The concept is based on the way our eyes work, with rods and cones to sense light. There are lots of rods (which sense brightness, but not so much color. The cones allow

us to see color, but there’s not nearly as many of them as there are rods. So, engineers decided that they’d create a system that mimics the way we see, putting emphasis on brightness over color.

In the color sampling system, the number 4 represents the maximum value given to one Luma (brightness) channel (Y), and two Chroma (or color) channels, (Cb and Cr). Stock Canon HDSLRs operate in video mode in a 4:2:0 color space, offering full resolution luma, and half resolution in the horizontal direction and vertical direction for the chroma components.

[ 41 ]

CINEMA DNG FILESCinema DNG stores raw, uncompressed image data in an unencrypted

format and free from license requirements. It also plays well in a

professional cinema workflow, including programs like Blackmagic Resolve.

4:2:0 Color Space (Stock 5D)As you can see, there are lots of

pretty colored squares here. I’ve

worked hard to make this graphic

look nice. Hopefully someone else

can tell you what it means.

4:4:4 Color Space (ML RAW 5D)In the graphic above, you can

clearly see that there are more

squares. And as we were all taught

in elementary school, more squares

equals better color.

[ 42 ]

With the Magic Lantern firmware installed, and the RAW module active, images are recorded in full 4:4:4 color space, where the Luma channel and both of the Chroma channels are seeing full resolution.

For reference, the Arri Alexa also has the ability to record images in 4:4:4 color space, and the camera is priced in the mid-five figures. The fact that the ML RAW firmware allows us to bypass the built-in 4:2:0 color sampling in favor of the same 4:4:4 sampling of the RAW stills is nothing short of revolutionary. The fact that it’s free, and runs on our $2,800 (and under) camera bodies is mind-boggling.

Bit-Depth Explained

My apologies in advance. There is more math involved.

Digital SLRs use the binary number system. Binary numbers are constructed from two digits: 1 and 0 (the decimal system by contrast has ten numerals). A single digit in a binary number is called a bit (shortened from ‘binary digit’).

Each of the millions of pixels in a digital photo corresponds to a photosite (also called a pixel) on the camera’s sensor. Photosites generate a small electric current when hit by light, which is measured by the camera and recorded in a JPEG or RAW file.

The factory Canon HDSLRs (in video mode) record the color and brightness information for each pixel with three 8-bit numbers, one for each of the red, green and blue channels (these color channels are the same as the ones you see in programs like Photoshop or in your camera’s color histogram display).

Each 8-bit channel records color on a scale of 0-255, which means that 8-bit color is delivering over 16 million individual shades. Not too shabby.

The Magic Lantern RAW firmware allows us to record a stream of RAW files, just as we might shoot stills in “burst” mode. These are 14-bit color files, which when you do the math, translates into over 68 billion shades of color.

Now think about this: the RED Epic records .R3D files with 16-bit color. Do the math, and that gets you over 281 trillion shades of color. Of course there’s a price for that power, and for anything not set in Middle Earth, 14 bits is probably enough.

These are 14-bit color

files, which…translates

into over 68 billion

shades of color.”

[ 43 ]

To illustrate how bit-depth affects color and how we see it, take a look at the two bars on the right. The first one represents 8-bit color, and as you can see, the transitions between shades are rougher and more abrupt. There just aren’t enough shades to create a smooth gradient.

On the far right is a bar that rep-resents 16-bit color. There are so many more subtle shades, it’s hard to even tell where the transitions are happening. It’s a perfectly smooth gradient from top to bottom.

Now, where might this matter? Think of the blue sky, for ex-ample. To our eyes, it registers as blue, maybe a handful of different shades, but it looks blue. But in reality, the sky is made up of millions of differ-ent shades and hues. An 8-bit camera is likely going to suf-fer from the same “transition” (banding) artifacts as the 8-bit bar shows. But the ML RAW camera, with 14-bit color, is going to do a much better job of reproducing a wider range of colors, showing less (if any) banding, and providing a bet-ter color palette for grading.

8-Bit 16-Bit

[ 44 ]

Setting Up ML Firmware For RAW Shooting

Once you’ve got Magic Lantern loaded and booting on your camera, you’ll need to go through the menus and set up a number of features before you can get started shooting. As we said before, there are a metric ton of different settings available to you in Magic Lantern. But we’re focusing on the handful that you’re most likely to use in your pursuit of digital cinema greatness. And it starts with the RAW recording module.

THE RAW MODULEThis is the big addition to the Magic Lantern landscape: the RAW Module. It’s what makes shooting RAW possible, but there are quite a few other settings and features hidden inside.

As of the writing of this sentence, if you have the ML RAW correctly installed, the RAW module should auto-load at startup. (Earlier builds required you to manually load the RAW module, which you can do via the Modules submenu, if needed.) With the RAW

module loaded, you can activate RAW shooting by going into the Movie submenu (with the video camera icon) and selecting RAW Recording.

Resolution and Aspect Ratio

One of the beautiful things about Magic Lantern RAW is that it takes a tool that once could only shoot video at either 1920x1080 or 1280x720 resolutions, and allows the user to choose whatever resolution they want (within the limitations of the card speed/processing pipeline,

of course). If you want to shoot full-HD, go ahead. If you need to drop your resolution down to accommodate a slower card, or a faster frame rate, do it. If you want to shoot “squeezed” for anamorphic lenses, knock yourself out. It’s all up to you.

In the ML Movie menu, when you select RAW recording, you can press the “Q” button to enter the resolution/aspect ratio settings. Here, you can change your vertical AND horizontal resolution independent of each other, and when you do, Magic Lantern automatically calculates the aspect ratio based on the settings you’ve entered. This allows you to prioritize any of these settings depending on your needs, and Magic Lantern will help you “do the math” to set up the rest.

This is the big addition

to the Magic Lantern

landscape. It’s what makes

shooting RAW possible.”

[ 45 ]

THE ML MOVIE MENU

When you first boot up your camera

after installing ML RAW, you won’t

actually see anything different in

your Movie menu. Relax, everything

is fine, there’s just one thing to do.

RAW VIDEO

Now if you go back into the ML

Movie menu, you’ll see RAW video

listed. Scroll down to it and hit the

SET button to turn it on. You’ll see a

little “Q” icon on the right. Press the

Q button on your camera and…

THE MODULES MENU

Go into the ML Modules menu, and

select the item that says “Load

modules now…”. This will activate

any modules that you installed with

Magic Lantern, including RAW.

THE RAW VIDEO SUBMENU

Now you’re in the RAW video

submenu. This is where you’ll set

your resolution, aspect ratio, frame

skipping options, and a few other

things like the Digital Dolly function.

[ 46 ]

Preview

This is where you tell Magic Lantern how you’d like to see the image you’re shooting on your LCD screen. AUTO will let Magic Lantern decide for you, this is what we recommend using. Selecting CANON will get you the normal LiveView look, but your framing may not be accurate.

Digital Dolly

This feature allows you to simulate a dolly move using a cropped area of the sensor. Think of it as a window over your sensor, and you can “move” it digitally to create the effect of a slider or dolly. Using the software, your camera joystick becomes the controller. You can set your start and end point and create the dolly move you want. Cool, eh? We talk more about it later in the Advanced section.

Frame Skipping

The idea behind this function is simple: if you’re using a slower card, and you drop a frame, frame skipping set to “allow” means your camera will continue recording, dropped frames and all. If this is set to “OFF,” the camera will stop recording when dropped frames are encountered. We’d encourage you to always leave this set to “OFF,” provided, of course that you’re using one of the recommended Compact Flash cards.

Card Warm-Up

Due to some internal card-related mojo, some cards don’t like to have a bunch of RAW files dumped to them when they’re still cold. They want you to buy them dinner, tell them they’re pretty, and THEN record RAW files. The “Card Warm-Up” function simply records one long file to the card at startup, giving the card a chance to warm up and be ready for future recordings.

Memory Hack / Small Hacks

At the moment, these “hack” functions seem to allow slight improvements related to memory usage, and the speed of the Canon GUI. Beyond that, I have no idea what they do. (I’ll try to find out and get back to you.)

[ 47 ]

PRO TIP - PREVIEW

If you’ve got an HDMI monitor

connected to the 5D2, and you’re

seeing buggy or glitchy video, you

might try setting your Preview

mode to “ML Grayscale.”

FRAME SKIPPING

With Magic Lantern RAW, your

memory cards need to be up to

speed (at least 1000x). But if they

aren’t, and if you don’t mind drop-

ping frames, use this function to

continue recording.

DIGITAL DOLLY

With the full-frame of the 5D Mark

III sensor, there are lots of possibil-

ities that can be unlocked. “Digital

Dolly” is one of them, helping you

get shots that simulate a dolly, even

if you don’t have one.

PLAYBACK

To play back clips shot in ML RAW,

simply go to the RAW Video menu,

and select the “Playback” function.

Clips won’t play back using the nor-

mal Canon system, so you have to

do it in the ML menus for it to work.

[ 48 ]

KEY SETTINGS IN OTHER MODULESFPS Override

(MENU:MOVIE:FPS OVERRIDE)

With the stock Canon HDSLRs, your choice of frame rates was limited to 30p, 24p, and 60p, depending on which camera and which firmware you were running. But Magic Lantern does away with that limitation. In the Movie menu, the “FPS Override” function will allow you to set whatever frame rate you want, and the setting will “override” whatever is set in the Canon camera menu. The frame rates available for real-world shooting will still be limited by the speed of your memory cards, and you’ll have to find that “balance point” between resolution and frame rate. Our recommendation is to ALWAYS use this function to set the exact frame rate you want to shoot with.

Audio Settings

(MENU:AUDIO:BEEP, TEST TONES)

Sound with Magic Lantern RAW is a bit of a train-wreck at the moment. But hey…audio was never that great on these cameras to start with. There’s just too much processing going on to reliably record in-camera sound. But you still have some tools to work with. The main one you’ll want to enable is the “Beeps.” Basically, this generates an audible beep whenever you start recording. This gives you an easy sync point for matching up your picture with sound (recorded by someone else, preferably) in post.

Global Draw Settings

(MENU:OVERLAY:GLOBAL DRAW)

These settings might seem pretty harmless. After all, they simply dictate when the ML graphics are overlaid on your LCD screen. But remember, there’s a lot of processing that goes into recording RAW files, and drawing histograms, waveforms, peaking, all adds to the processing load. If your card is having a hard time keeping up, try turning this OFF. Otherwise, I always leave mine set to LiveView, so it’s available when shooting video, but off when I want to shoot stills.

Histogram

(MENU:OVERLAY:HISTOGRAM)

The one exposure tool that should be available to you on-screen at all times is the Histogram. In ML RAW, the histogram reflects the RAW data, and learning how to use it means you won’t ever have to worry about overexposure or clipping again.

[ 49 ]

FPS OVERRIDE

Since ML RAW is recording unpro-

cessed stills without compression,

you are no longer limited to the

frame rates the camera was de-

signed to record. ALWAYS set this

to the exact frame rate you want.

GLOBAL DRAW

Think about what Magic Lantern is

doing. It’s recording RAW video, on

top of the existing Canon firm-

ware. All the while the Global Draw

feature gives you on-screen data to

help you shoot better video. Damn.

THE SYNC BEEP

For as long as there have been

“talkies,” people have been syncing

picture and sound recorded and

shot separately. The “sync beep”

gives a nice, loud reference tone for

syncing your footage in post.

THE HISTOGRAM IS YOUR FRIEND

Magic Lantern’s histogram is an

amazing tool that can really help

you expose correctly when shoot-

ing RAW. (The standard Canon

histogram is pretty useless by com-

parison.)

[ 50 ]RECOMMENDED MAGIC LANTERN SETTINGS

After extensive testing and in-the-field use, below are the settings we recommend when shooting with Magic Lantern RAW. These settings reflect 24p shooting for 1080p delivery. (Next to each setting is the menu path to get there in Magic Lantern.)

Resolution: 1920x1080 (MENU:MOVIE:RAW VIDEO:RESOLUTION)

Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (MENU:MOVIE:RAW VIDEO:ASPECT RATIO)

FPS Override: 23.976p (MENU:MOVIE:FPS OVERRIDE)

Preview: Auto (MENU:MOVIE:RAW VIDEO:PREVIEW)

Small Hacks: OFF (MENU:MOVIE:RAW VIDEO:SMALL HACKS)

Global Draw: ON, LiveView Only (MENU:OVERLAY:GLOBAL DRAW)

Frame Skipping: Off (MENU:MOVIE:RAW VIDEO:FRAME SKIPPING)

REC Indicator: Elapsed Time (MENU:MOVIE:REC INDICATOR)

Sound: Sync Beep (MENU:AUDIO:BEEP, TEST TONES)

Enable Beeps: ON (Square Wave 880 Hz) (MENU:AUDIO:BEEP, TEST TONES)

Color Scheme: Dark Green (Retro stylin’) (MENU:MOVIE:RAW VIDEO:RESOLUTION)

PRO TIPBe sure to double-check your Global Draw settings. These can impact the max speed at which your RAW files can be written to the cards.

PRO TIPUnder the RAW video menu you’ll find this feature. The “card warm-up” function writes a big file to the card when you boot up, which some cards seem to enjoy.

[ 51 ]RECOMMENDED CANON MENU SETTINGS

Since we’re shooting RAW now, most of the normal settings you’d worry about in the Canon menus no longer affect the images coming out of the camera. But how they’re set WILL affect how the camera performs, and the frame rates and resolutions that are able to be recorded to the CF card.

Here’s a handful of settings you’ll want to make sure and double-check before you start shooting with Magic Lantern RAW:

Auto Lighting Optimizer: OFF

Long Exposure Noise Reduction: OFF

High ISO Noise Reduction: OFF

Higthlight Tone Priority: OFF

Multiple Exposure: Disable

HDR Mode: Disable

Auto Power Off: Disable

Image quality: Set RAW stills to OFF, and JPEG quality to S3

IMPORTANT NOTE!

One of the most important settings you’ll need to set in the Canon menus is to choose the destination card for your recordings. A lot of people overlook this setting, and they wonder why they can’t get sustained RAW recordings out of their cameras. If the camera is trying to record to the SD card INSTEAD of the CF card, you’re going to have problems. So be sure to go into the Canon settings and choose the Compact Flash card as your recording location.

The settings in your Canon menus may not have any effect on how your images look, but they can affect how your camera performs in RAW. Set them accordingly.

PRO TIPOn the 5D2, you can set it to providing framing guides with black bars, making it easier to focus on composing your shot.

PRO TIPHit the Magnify button once to get into 3x crop mode. Pressing it twice gives you normal 10x magnification you can use to aid in focusing. Press it a third time to get back to the 1x normal view.

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THE RAW HISTOGRAM (MENU:OVERLAY:HISTOGRAM)

For those coming to RAW video from a photography background, or if you’ve been shooting video on HDSLRs for a while now, the histogram is like an old friend. But in Magic Lantern, the histogram is a super-charged exposure tool with all sorts of bells and whistles. First, it reflects the RAW sensor data when you’re in LiveView mode. Second, you can set it to alert you when individual color channels may be clipping. Third, and perhaps the coolest feature, is that it can give you an exposure “hint” using the ETTR (Expose To The Right) approach. (We’ll talk more about ETTR a bit later in the Advanced section.)

EXPOSURE AND FOCUS TOOLS EXPLAINED

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THE WAVEFORM (MENU:OVERLAY:WAVEFORM)

If you’re coming to RAW shooting from a video background, the Waveform may be familiar to you. It plots exposure from 0-100 IRE levels, with 0 being black and 100 being pure white (or overexposed).

FOCUS PEAKING (MENU:OVERLAY:FOCUS PEAK)

Anything that can help you nail critical focus is a good thing. Try playing around with the Focus Peaking function, which draws colored edges on objects in the frame that are in sharp focus.

www.dvxuser.com/v6

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WORKFLOW AND EDITING WITH ML RAW FILESYou’ve got beautiful RAW files, now what do you do with them?

5We want RAW for one very simple reason: we want to preserve as much information as possible in the original image file. It is this information, which we call dynamic range, detail, and color accuracy, that RAW is designed to capture. But once we have that information captured digitally, we need to have the right tools to turn that information into beautiful images, and we need to know how to use them.

How you use those tools, and the process that takes you from footage to finished product is called workflow, and it’s the key to getting the most from RAW.

Figuring Out Your Workflow

With almost every other camera format, the question of workflow is one that can generally be left to the post-production team. And increasingly, NLEs are supporting more and more native camera formats, making life easier (in most respects) for editors everywhere. But with RAW, the workflow is something you really need to think about in advance.

And it starts with where you put those files.

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Storing Your .RAW Files

The first thing you’ll learn when you load up your memory card to copy your RAW files for the first time, is that they’re huge. RAW files are big. Really big. Each file is basically a collection of RAW still images, recorded at a certain resolution and frame rate. There’s no compression, H.264, JPG or otherwise. It’s RAW sensor information, and it eats up digital storage space like crazy. So you have to come up with a storage solution that will accommodate shooting RAW, preparing and/or transcoding your files, editing, and finishing. Not a task to be taken lightly.

Exactly how you build your storage is up to you, and if you’re shooting RAW, chances are you’ve already got this sorted. But if you don’t, you’d be well-served to put some thought into just how you’re going to store and work with your RAW files. There are a number of great, low-cost RAID-enabled storage systems (from companies like G-Tech, CalDigit, and OtherWorldComputing) that are perfect for working with RAW files.

Media Management and Secure Backup

If it matters enough to you to shoot it in RAW, it should be important enough to be backed up securely and redundantly. At the very least, you’re going to want to back up your RAW media files to two locations, one of which should go somewhere that’s safe and climate-controlled. I recommend copying your media files to a “storage” drive, and copying them again to a dual-drive or RAID-enabled editing setup. This way, if something happens to my “storage” drive (like a deadly Sharknado), I’ll still have my “working” files on the RAID setup. And if one of my RAID drives fails, I can easily replace it and rebuild the RAID. That’s how I work, but you’re free to find a workflow that works for you.

There are also a number of tools that will copy and verify your files to multiple locations or drives. One of the ones we like in particular is ShotPut Pro, which does exactly this, but also provides highest-level data checksums and verification, so you always know that what’s on your drives is exactly what was on your memory cards.

It comes down to this: make sure your files are safely backed up somewhere, and you can avoid the heartache and near-death experience that comes with having a hard drive failure.

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STORAGE AND BACKUP SOLUTIONSWith the RAW ML firmware running, the Canon HDSLRs suddenly

become digital cinema beasts. Feel free to kit them out appropriately.

TOOLS FOR COLOR WORKIf you’re serious about your work as a colorist, look into the Resolve-

ready panels made to properly interface and control your color apps.

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…RAW files from Magic

Lantern need to be

“processed” just like RAW

stills, or even actual film.”

Preparing to Edit

The next thing you have to realize is that RAW files from Magic Lantern need to be “processed,” just like RAW stills, or even actual film. (You remember that stuff, right?

Now that your footage is backed up and safe, you have to prep your footage for editing. Depending on what environment you’re editing in, your choices may already be made for you. For example, if you edit in FCP X, you’ll have to transcode your RAW files to ProRes to make them edit-friendly. If you’re editing in Premiere, you might also want to transcode, but you can also work natively with the RAW files from ML by using a plug-in called GingerHDR. If you’re comfortable in AfterEffects, you can make adjustments to color, contrast, and even apply a basic grade before running your transcodes. Or you could work with the Cinema DNG files in Blackmagic Resolve, the industry-leading professional color-correction software that’s free to download. This is the workflow I prefer to use, starting and finishing in Resolve, and using XML to “round-trip” to and from the NLE program of choice.

A promising new tool that can automate a lot of this work for you is Red Giant’s software package called BulletProof. It automates a number of the copy and secure backup

functions in one single program, and it also enables you to apply LUTs (more on that shortly), generate proxies, and even apply some basic color grading. (BulletProof is brand new, and it’s yet to be seen how or if it will handle Cinema DNG files, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.)

What’s A LUT, and Why Should You Care?

If you (or more importantly, your client) don’t know what to expect when you look at RAW files, you might be in for an unpleasant experience. Why? Simply put, RAW files don’t generally look very

good, because, well…they’re RAW. There’s no “look” baked-in, so saturation, contrast, and color balance are likely to be off. If you’re using the ETTR (Expose To The Right) exposure method, then your footage is also going to look overexposed and just generally gross.

You can fix this by using a LUT (or Lookup Table).

A LUT applies a pre-set recipe of image adjustments to your clips, creating a look that can be easier on the eyes (and clients) during the editing process. The most common LUT you’ll want to apply uses the REC709 color space, which uses a standard color and contrast curve to “de-log” your RAW footage.

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THE WORKFLOWEvery person’s workflow should be their own. And how yours will “flow” is

likely going to be determined by what NLE you’re using, how you like to

finish or “master” your materials, and even who you’re working with.

RAW/LOG COLOR (NO LUT)The first thing you’ll notice with

RAW files is that they seem washed

out and dull. They’re supposed to,

because there’s no “baked-in” look

cooked into the footage.

WITH VIIEWING/EDITING LUTFor viewing on-set, or for editing,

you might find a LUT useful. It gives

the footage more normal-looking

contrast and saturation, making for

easier viewing and editing.

ShootInG|

proceSSInG/tranScodInG|

edItInG|

maSterInG

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If you’re working in a solo environment, and don’t have to worry about how your footage looks as you work with it, applying a LUT may not be something you want to mess with. But my feeling is that, if you’ve chosen a RAW workflow, you should understand and embrace the industry-standard practices used by professionals in post houses around the world. They’re using LUTs, so you should know how to do it too.

Soon, we’ll be sharing a few LUTs (in .CUBE format) that you can use in Resolve to quickly apply a look to your footage. To install, simply drag to the “LUT” folder tucked away in the Resolve Application Support folder. (Look for links to LUTS soon!)

Getting Your Files Ready To Edit

Before we go any further here, let’s start with a simple question: should you even bother shooting RAW? (Let’s be honest here…the answer is generally going to be “yes,” for many reasons.) Shooting RAW, whether with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, the RED Epic, or the Canon 5D Mark III running Magic Lantern, means you’re going to have to deal with a few things. One, you’ll generally need a lot of fast, high-capacity media. Two, you’ll need a computer with enough space to store all that media. And three, you’ll need the time (and skills) to take the RAW goodness and make post-production magic with it.

Now, you’re here, reading this Guide, so you probably already know these things, right? So let’s move along.

RAW2DNG (Mac and PC)

https://bitbucket.org/600dplus/magic-lantern-things/downloads/raw2dngOSX.zip

http://acoutts.com/a1ex/raw2dng.exe

One of the great advantages of RAW2DNG is its ability to create ProRes files during the conversion process. This means you can quickly sift through your footage

RAWMagic by Rarevision (Mac Only)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rawmagic/id658860973?mt=12

Rarevision’s RAWMagic is a clean and simple drag-and-drop app that takes your ML RAW files and quickly converts them to Cinema DNG format.

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BUILDING YOUR EDITING SYSTEM

As much as we’d like to devote an entire chap-ter to setting up an editing and post system, it’s just not a topic that we can cover in the Guide. So much of it depends on what your budget is, what platform you prefer to work on, and how much of the process you’ll be handling on your own.

But there are a few things that we think are as universal as you can get, regardless of your needs and budget.

At the moment, it’s not really practical to work with RAW files natively. Even with plug-ins that make it possible, it’s not the best way to work with RAW. So you don’t need a computer that is fast enough to playback and edit RAW files. If you’re working with R3D files, your needs might be different, of course.

I think the most important consideration in set-ting up your system is understanding HOW you like to work, and creating a system that is built around that paradigm. What I mean is that if you’re a solo-shooter who’s fiishing your own projects, a high-pow-ered Mac laptop might be your best bet. If you prefer a more traditional two-monitor setup, or if you’re uncomfortable with the smaller screen of a laptop, you might want to custom-build a Windows PC, with beastly graphics cards and plenty of internal stor-age.

But keep in mind many workflows are based around editing proxy files, which are less taxing on hardware. If you’ve got a system that works, but it’s a bit under-powered, just choose a workflow that allows you to edit with proxy files. You’ll save time, money, and headaches.

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Son Of Batch (Mac Only)

http://tshit.de/Son_of_Batch_OSX-68.zip

This Mac-only app is another great little tool for converting ML RAW files to Cinema DNG. Son of Batch will also allow you to preview your RAW files, create backups and proxies, and you can even set in and out points for your clips, which is a great way to save some space.

RAWanizer (PC Only)

https://bitbucket.org/bjurhulta/rawanizer-release/downloads/RAWanizerSetup.0.6.0.exe

Developed for Windows users, RAWanizer is a great little utility that offers RAW to DNG conversion, along with the ability to create proxy files in ProRes, DNxHD, and other formats.

Cineform Studio

http://cineform.com/products/gopro-cineform-studio-premium

This one is a different animal altogether. Cineform Studio is more than just a tool to transcode or prepare your clips. Cineform is also a cross-platform compression format, providing 12-bit, 4:4:4 color space in a file that is ready-to-edit, but still allows you to adjust and manipluate many of the RAW image characteristics. Basically, if you go to Cineform, you’ve got as good a file as you could ever want for editing and post-production.

It’s not free, but the ability to transcode to Cineform RAW, with all the benefits that brings, is certainly worth paying for, if you need what it offers.

Adobe Lightroom

With the rise of HDSLRs, quite a few photographers have embraced the filmmaking world, using their cameras to deliver both still and motion images. And many of them are much more familiar with tools based in the world of photography, including the leading image library and development application, Adobe Lightroom 5. The great news for them is that RAW shooters can actually use Lightroom to process their files.

Cineform Studio is

more than just a tool to

transcode or prepare

your clips.”

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Here’s how you can use Lightroom to “develop” clips, with help from QuickTime Pro 7:1. Load your DNG files into Lightroom 5. 2. Verify that the correct number of files have been loaded, matching the number of DNG files in the folder you converted the RAW files into.3. Create a new library, and import the files.4. Develop your grade for a single frame, and use Lightroom to copy the grade/look to each frame in the clip sequence.(NOTE: When developing and grading your images, remember you can make automatic lens adjustments to correct for distortion, vignetting, and aberrations.)5. Export TIFF files from Lightroom.6. Open QuickTime 7, and open your TIFF files as an image sequence. 7. Export your image sequence in the ProRes flavor of your choice.

ADOBE LIGHTROOM

Anyone coming from a still photography background is likely familiar with Adobe’s killer photo

library and processing app, Lightroom. If you’re more comfortable making your initial (and

even final) color work in a photo-focused application, this is the one to use. (Nice fish, eh?)

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Adobe PremierePro and AfterEffectsAdobe’s PremierePro and AfterEffects have always been known for their ability to work with all sorts of different footage formats. And now, with the addition of a plug-in called GingerHDR, you can work with Magic Lantern RAW footage natively in both of these applications.

At $149, it’s not cheap, but if you’re more comfortable staying in Premiere for your editing and finishing, this plug-in can help make that possible. Below is a link to the GingerHDR site, and some information on how to use it.

GingerHDR Plug-Inhttp://19lights.com/wp/

Once installed, you’ll want to verify that it’s working properly. If you go to File -> Import you can check supported file types, and GNR files should show up in the menu.

Resolve, and Why You Should Know ItWhen Blackmagic Design purchased Davinci Resolve in 2009, there was some scratching of heads. Blackmagic was a hardware company, making interface I/O products for video pros. The video community was curious to see what would happen to one of the industry-leading color correction programs, a workhorse in post-production houses around the world.

What did Blackmagic do? They took a tool that previously cost in the six-figure range, and decided to sell a software-only version for $995. Oh, and they came up with Resolve Lite, which packaged up almost all of the features of the full version, and gave it away for free.

If you don’t have a copy of Resolve Lite, go to the Blackmagic website and get it now.

Resolve is a beast. There’s a reason professional colorists are paid a lot of money to sit in a darkened suite all day, color-correcting films and commercials with Resolve. The sheer number of controls, options, and adjustments you can make with it are overwhelming. And to get the most out of it, you really need to have a good grasp on color theory and the basics of digital color-correction.

That said, it’s way, way beyond the scope of this Guide to teach you how to use Resolve. But there are a number of resources on the web that can help, and many of them are free, like Resolve Lite itself. And remember, if you’ve backed up your footage properly, you can play around with Resolve all you want without fear.

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BLACKMAGIC RESOLVE LITE

The name says “lite,” but there’s nothing light about this application. Resolve is the perfect

starting and finishing point for working with RAW files. The workflow takes some practice,

and the app itself is a beast, but knowing it will make your work better. Period.

PROJECT SETTINGS

See that little gear icon down

there in the lower left corner of the

screen? Clicking that little button

will bring up the Project Settings

panel, where you can customize

most of your Resolve settings.

BMD FILM COLOR SPACE

Magic Lantern’s histogram is an

amazing tool that can really help

you expose correctly when shoot-

ing RAW. (The standard Canon

histogram is pretty useless by com-

parison.)

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THE CONFORM TAB

When working with XML and EDL

files, you’ll want to get to know this

window well. Here is where you

confirm that your timeline has im-

ported correctly, and that the clips

you need are loaded and ready.

THE DELIVERY TAB

This is where you tell Resolve what

you want exported, where it should

go, and how it should get there.

Remember, if you’re doing initial

exporting for round-tripping, proxy

files will be plenty good enough.

THE COLOR ROOM

Yes, there are a lot of controls. There are so many tabs and buttons that it’s easy to get over-

whelmed in the Color Room. That’s why we recommend you learn the basics of digital color

correction first, grasping key concepts before moving full-bore into Resolve.

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What follows is our recommended workflow for getting the most out of RAW files. Why? Well, if you’re shooting RAW, you want the absolute best image quality you can get, with the maximum amount of range and “gradability” in post. Blackmagic Resolve is one of the leading color-correction tools available to video professionals, and knowing how to use it will no doubt make your work better.

This workflow is also NLE-independent. What that means is that if your NLE supports XML import and export, it will work with Resolve. Avid Media Composer 7. Final Cut Pro X. Adobe Premiere Creative Cloud. All of these (and more) are ready to go with the following workflow.

Recommended Round-Trip Resolve Workflow1. Launch Resolve and create a New Project.

2. Import DNG files by dragging them to your Media Pool.

3. Go to the Color Tab, where your clips should show up in your Timeline.

4. In the Camera Raw window, select Decode Using -> Clip -> BMD Film.

5. In the same window, click the “Highlight Recovery” box.

6. Shift-click in the Timeline to select ALL of your clips.

7. Click the “Apply Settings To All Selected Clips” button (bottom center window).

(NOTE: All clips should now be in “Log Gamma,” thanks to the BMD Film setting.)

8. Shift-click to select ALL of your clips in the Timeline, and mouse down to the 3D LUT selection.

9. Choose the REC709 LUT you want to apply.

10. In the Conform Tab, click the Project Settings (the gear icon) button at the bottom left of the screen.

11. From the Master Project Settings Tab, select the “Assist Using Reel Names…” radio button and click Apply.

12. Go to the Deliver Tab.

13. Export your clips for editing in the format of your choice. (If you’re going to “round-trip” back to Resolve, select a proxy format for easy editing. If not, choose a Master-quality format to preserve as much information in each clip as possible.)

(NOTE: Be sure to select “Render Clips with Unique File Name” from the Output Options menu before exporting your clips.)

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DECODE WITH CLIP SETTINGS

When you’re adjusting the master

settings for your clips in Resolve,

you want to be sure to select “de-

code using clip settings.” This will

allow you to adjust the color space

and gamma independently.

HIGHLIGHT RECOVERY

Check this box to have Resolve

recover your highlights where nec-

essary. Just remember to uncheck

it if you don’t want your highlights

recovered for some reason.

14. When the clips are finished exporting, go to the File menu and select “Export AAF/XML,” setting it to export into the same folder as your media.

15. Import your .XML file into the NLE of your choice, and edit to your heart’s content.

16. Export an .XML file from your NLE.

17. Launch Resolve, open your previous project, and from the File menu, select “Import XML,” and select the XML file from your NLE.

18. In the dialog box that opens, be sure to DE-select the “Automatically import source clips into Media Pool” checkbox.

19. When the XML imports, all of your edited clips should show up in the Conform Tab.

20. In the Color Tab, make any corrections and perform any grading you want.

21. When you’re ready to export a colored master (which we call the “submaster”), go to the Deliver Tab. Choose your export format, and select the “Single Clip” box so that it exports as one long, master-quality clip.

22. In your NLE, import your “submaster,” apply your finishing elements and audio mix, and export your final master.

23. Drink copious amounts of alcohol, preferably of the grain variety. You’ve earned it.

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