GPL Firmware For Canon 5D Mk II Adds Features For Filmmakers 117
tramm writes "I've released an extension for the Canon 5D Mark II DSLR's video mode to enable functions that are useful for independent film makers. While the camera produces a great movie out of the box, the audio is a severely limited. My code adds features that should have been in the software, like on-screen stereo audio meters, live audio monitoring, reduced audio noise and crop marks for different formats. An introductory video shows the new features in use and an audio evaluation compares it to the stock firmware with very good results. It's similar to the incredibly flexible CHDK software for Canon's point-and-shoot cameras, but targeted at the film makers using the 5D. The Magic Lantern firmware is GPLed and new features will be written to make the camera even more useful on set. There is a wiki for documentation and development."
Not a video camera, so why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not a video camera, so why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why not? Plus - it's 'better' than HD (Score:3, Insightful)
> The 5D Mark 2 is 5616x3744.
Maybe for stills, but the video output is 'only' 1080 lines - and it seems to achieve this by skipping 2 out of every 3 lines of sensor data leading to aliasing problems. But there are ways around this and it's certainly becoming an extremely popular camera for amateur (and some pro) filmmaking.
Re:Now, if companies made products like they shoul (Score:3, Insightful)