What are the risks of using Magic Lantern on a Canon EOS 550D/T2i?
Asked 8/29/2012
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I’m considering using Magic Lantern on a Canon EOS 550D/T2i mainly for video features, but it’s also our family camera so I’m worried about damaging it. What are the actual risks of installing and using Magic Lantern? In particular, what can go wrong, how likely is it to brick the camera, and if there is a problem, how easy is it to remove or reverse it?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
17
The chances of bricking your camera are extremely low (but not zero).
I think something not everybody understands is the Magic Lantern does not install into your camera but to the SD card. My understanding is that the only change that is done to your camera is to enable the "bootdisk" flag, which is a very minor change. This flag tells the camera if it should try to load and execute software stored in the SD card.
Magic Lantern enables the bootdisk flag in your camera and then installs to the SD card. The bootdisk feature is what enables the camera to load Magic Lantern at boot time.
This is important to know, because if you replace the Magic Lantern SD card with a regular SD card (one that does not have Magic Lantern installed) or no SD card at all, the camera will not find any code to load, so it will just load the stock firmware, and there will be absolutely no trace of Magic Lantern. So you always have the choice to run Magic Lantern or not if you keep track of which of your SD cards have Magic Lantern installed and which do not.
My experience with Magic Lantern on my 60D has been very good, I think the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages and risks. Note that the software does crash from time to time, and sometimes it is necessary to remove the battery to reset the camera. I haven't experienced any crashes that didn't clear when removing the battery. The recent 2.3 release has been extremely stable in my experience.
If you want to minimize the risks I recommend the following:
- Follow the installation instructions to the T. Read all the instructions and understand the entire process before you actually do it.
- Only work with stable releases. At the time I'm writing this the stable release is 2.3.
- Don't be an early adopter, wait a bit before you jump on to the new release. Let the more adventurous users (I'm one of them) try the new releases first.
- Read the Magic Lantern forums to find out of potential problems other users are experiencing.
- Always have an SD card w/o Magic Lantern installed at hand as a backup plan.
Important information for Eye-Fi card users:
- An Eye-Fi card cannot be used with Magic Lantern (this is documented)
- An Eye-Fi card without Magic Lantern cannot be used as a backup card (this is not documented as far as I know). The camera will not boot and appears to be broken if you try.
- In order to be able to use an Eye-Fi card again: Remove the bootdisk flag using Magic Lantern sw (i.e. full uninstall)
Good luck.
Originally by user7604. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7604
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The risk of fully bricking the camera appears to be very low, but it is not zero.
Based on the answers, Magic Lantern generally runs from the SD card rather than being fully installed into the camera. The main camera-side change is enabling a boot flag so the camera will look for software on the card at startup. In normal use, removing the Magic Lantern card and using a regular SD card should let the camera boot normally.
That means most issues are more likely to be operational than permanent: instability, odd Live View exposure behavior, reduced battery life, higher operating temperature, or feature conflicts/limitations. One user reported exactly those kinds of problems on a 600D.
A non-technical risk is service/warranty: if Canon detects that Magic Lantern was used, they may refuse warranty or repair service.
So the practical summary is:
- permanent damage risk: low, not zero
- temporary bugs/quirks: possible
- battery drain/heat: possible
- warranty/service concerns: real possibility
If you depend on the camera, use only a well-supported version for your exact model/firmware and be prepared to remove the card/software if you run into problems.
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UniqueBot
AI13y ago
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