I'm sure most of you know about Magic Lantern. And also, that they have a forum. But I consider that it could be useful to launch a discution here about this program and our experience with it. For now, I don't know is this is a good section for this, so, I will wait for some feedback.
I strongly believe that the Magic Lantern is NOT for your first DSLR ever, which happens to be a Canon DSLR. The risk is too big. But yes, I've tried it on my first and only Canon DSLR (I even played the game). It is of beta quality, but adds some features not officially available as time lapse photography and focus peaking - I was not interested in film features and rarely use my Canon in liveview mode. I discarded the ML after a while, considering that for me is not worth the risk - if focus peaking would have been much better than it is, maybe...
About the risk involved. I have used ML for about 4 month, but not very intensively. In two occasions, when I have pushed it to hard, with very slow frame rate, and other changes combined, my camera has stoped working, but it has recovered after I have taken out the batteries. So, not a big problem. but I have learn that I have to go in small steps, to not cross the limits. It deserve for a still photographer, not interested in video? So and so. Apart from focus peaking, which is not very good, but can be useful, I only observed two small improvements. First, the battery level is always on the info display, and is in percents. So no need to go in the meniu to check it. The second is when I download the pictures. Before ML, when I download with a cable, only jpg files was moved to computer, using EOS Utility. To download RAW files, I must take the card out, and inserted in the computer. Now, I can download both type of files with the cable. Things are a lot different for video. But I'm still new in this field, and I have a lot to test, So, I will come back with my impresions while I would gain more experience. But there is a first usefull thing I can say now. Internal temperature in camera, which is displayed while filming. Colored in green, yellow, or red, while it grows. And it grows when you're making movies. I don't know if is available for shoting stills, but I think that in most situations, is no need for this.
There are many other things about Magic Lantern that I like for still photography:: 1) 1/3 stop ISO with my SL1 2) 5D3 Auto DOT Tune 3) Focus information display on the rear LCD: Focus Distance, DOF Near, DOF Far, and Hyperfocal Distance. The values change with any changes to aperture, focus distance or focal length. Here is a video I made that shows how the values change as you change focus distance or focal length. 4) One feature I REALLY like is "Auto adjust Kelvin". It is only available in Liveview but it makes for perfect WB in difficult Tungsten or Fluorescent lighting. I do a quick "Auto adjust Kelvin" in Liveview and then switch back to normal viewfinder shooting and it nails the WB for the rest of the shots. This is very useful when shooting JPEGs where you have to get it right the first time. 5) There is a built-in shutter count in the Magic Lantern "Debug" Menu 6) With the 5D3 there is also an option to always default to the CF card. (avoids accidentally switching to the SD card when you pull the CF card)
I am VERY tempted to experiment with it. I am currently using a T3i and have not done that much video but it looks so very interesting. From what I gather, one can reinstall Canon firmware and delete ML altogether if ML is not much liked. But, I see the advantages too. I am still deciding but think that it might be fun to experiment with.
