So far all of Magic Lantern meter’s seem to be pretty accurate so I guess I can trust them.
In this tutorial I am testing out Magic Lantern’s meters.
- Histogram for white balance and exposure,
- Waveform monitor for exposure,
- Zebras for checking if my blacks are totally black.
All of them seem to be working pretty accurate from what I can tell.
I just got in the Tokina 11-16mm zoom which I am reviewing right now, I should have a video on that pretty soon, and the door bell just rang and the Konova Slider just got here so keep an eye out for that one as well.
Dave, going back is as simple as hitting the play or DISP button. Everything is explained in the PDF manual that comes with each ML update (the online one on Wikia is a bit out of date).
Thanks for your great learning website Dave.
Please help me – I want to shoot on my 550D for longer than 10-20 minute bursts. Preferably for an hour of non-stop filming.
However I understand there is a file size limit of 4GB.
How do I get around this?
Sincerely,
Ande,
New Zealand
Dave, The SET button raises the value and the DISP button lowers the value.
Ande, I have been able to record as long as the batteries last. When I did this, my recording lasted over 2 hours without touching the camera.
Some things I did:
1. in the Magic lantern menu, Movie > QScale : off , Movie > Movie Restart : on
2. Used a battery grip. (this removes the battery from the camera reducing the heat)
3. Used an external monitor. (this turns off the display reducing the heat in the camera) I used the $24.00 monitor recommended by http://cheesycam.com/
hi dave
i dont have the 2 histogramms on my 550D livescreen.
i have the newest version of ML.
tell me please how you enable it.
thanks torsten
@torsten, there is only 1 Histogram, the other is the waveform. It is in the menu.
sorry for not understanding at all.
english is not my homelanguage.
could you please explain the settings?
i didnt found the “waveform” in ML.
thanks
Hi Dave, to go back on any setting, hit disp. So set to go up, disp to go back.
hope it helps.
Thanks for your great learning website Dave!
I bought a 550D and I’m very happy about it.
You have a good site.
Thank you.
Philip, Russia.
ML is great… only issue I’ve had is the audio meters not reacting/functioning properly when using an external mic…
Love the site btw… Thanks.
Great video as usual, Dave. On the zebras, 255 is not the black level but the white level. So RGB levels are 0 – 255 (black to white), like on a computer screen. Broadcast levels are 16 – 235, which is equivalent to 7.5 – 100 IRE. On page 13 of the ML user guide, there is a discussion on the spotmeter with levels proposed by Piers to map RGB levels to broadcast levels, i.e., 16 – 235 to the 7.5 – 100 IRE standard. This means your zebras should be set at 16 (black) and 235 (white).
A simple test is to use a white level of 250. Adjust exposure so the white are on the verge of clipping, but not quite. Then look at the file on the waveform in Premiere Pro. You’ll see that your whites are in fact clipping. Then set the white level to 235. Adjust exposure again so the white are almost clipping. Then check the waveform in Prem Pro. You’ll see the whites are not clipping. This shows the levels in the Canon .mov files are being mapped to broadcast 7.5 – 100 IRE, and should be set at 16 and 235. This will guarantee correct exposure.
Just some info for you from my extensive testing of this. Hope it helps.
@Randy thanks that is great info, thanks for sharing!
Hi Dave, loving your site as usual. I want to shoot a music video with a 550 D, however, I don’t quite get sharp images like the ones I see in your videos, I know you have probably covered this elsewhere in your site, please link me to the relevant article, or let me know the settings you use, I’ve tried the Philip Bloom and Hurlbut settings, but my videos aren’t yet there, especially the sharpness. I use a canon 18-135 and 50mm 1.8 for most of my work.
i don’t have all those menus in my Magic Lantern. How do i get that..??
Please help !!
ur follower
@Andy what version do you have?
my firmware on my T2i is now 1.0.9-ml-2010D.
I think version is 0.2.0
how can i upgrade to a latest version of Magic Lantern? Can you post a link for the download?
I am dying to get that manual white balance menu.
Thanking you in advance.
Hi Dave, do magic lantern was the software and how I can get that magic latern, because on my camera menu, Canon 550D, no magic lantern menu. thank you
i m still waiting for your reply.
Please help !
Dave…
I’m presuming you’re now using the Magic Lantern firmware…
I’m kind of afraid to tamper with my 550D, so I’d like your input on this.
About the ML software in particular: The custom ISO settings sounds interesting, as well as the custom settings for the H264 compression. Can you actually get more quality from the H264 codec at the expense of more MB’s on the SD card?
Thanks – kind regards,
Mike
@daniel
Can you send the link form Cheesycam about the monitor? I try to find on the search, but no sucess.
Thank you!
Hi Dave,
I was doing a sample interview with my T2i this afternoon, and used some of your tips for audio, Thanks!
Had a question regarding custom white balance. After switching over to still mode and manually setting a custom balance, still mode looks great, however, when I switch to video mode; it seems way off! I can’t seem to figure out where to set ML for custom white balance.
Any tips?