> Magic Lantern is a free software add-on that runs from the SD/CF card and adds a host of new features to Canon EOS cameras that weren't included from the factory by Canon.
It also backports new features to old Canon cameras that aren't supported anymore, and is generally just a really impressive feat of both (1) reverse engineering and (2) keeping old hardware relevant and useful.
The photography world is mired in proprietary software/ formats, and locked down hardware; and while it has always been true that a digital camera is “just” a computer, now more than ever it is painful just how limited and archaic on-board camera software is when compared to what we’ve grown accustomed to in the mobile phone era.
If I compare photography to another creative discipline I am somewhat familiar with, music production - the latter has way more open software/hardware initiatives, and freedom of not having to tether yourself to large, slow, user-abusing companies when choosing gear to work with.
Long live Magic Lantern!
Very impressive! Thankless work. A reminder to myself to chase down some warnings in projects I am a part of...
Around 2020, our old lead dev, a1ex, after years of hard work, left the project. The documentation was fragmentary. Nobody understood the build system. A very small number of volunteers kept things alive, but nothing worked well. Nobody had deep knowledge of Magic Lantern code.
> git clone https://github.com/reticulatedpines/magiclantern_simplified
In fact make this all devices with firmware, printers, streamers etc.
I'm the current lead dev, so please ask questions.
Got a Canon DSLR or mirrorless and like a bit of software reverse engineering? Consider joining in; it's quite an approachable hardware target. No code obfuscation, just classic reversing. You can pick up a well supported cam for a little less than $100. Cams range from ARMv5te up to AArch64.
Because a lot of features that cost a lot of money are only software limitations. With many of the cheaper cameras the max shutter speed and video capabilities are limited by software to make the distinction with the more expensive cameras bigger. So they do sell hardware - but opening up the software will make their higher-end offerings less compelling.
Camera manufacturers live and die on their reputation for making tools that deliver for the professional users of those tools. On a modern camera, the firmware and software needs to 100% Just Work and completely get out of the photographer's way, and a photographer needs to be able to grab a (camera) body out of the locker and know exactly what it's going to do for given settings.
The more cameras out there running customized firmware, the more likely someone misses a shot because "shutter priority is different on this specific 5d4" or similar.
I'm sure Canon is quietly pleased that Magic Lantern has kept up the resale value of their older bodies. I'm happy that Magic Lantern exists-- I no longer need an external intervalometer! It does make sense, though, that camera manufacturers don't deliberately ship cameras as openly-programmable computational photography tools.
Also another thing, Magic Lantern adds optional features which are arbitrarily(?) not present on some models. Perhaps Canon doesn't think you're "pro enough" (e.g. spent enough money) so they don't switch on focus peeking or whatever on your model.
*No judgement, maintaining a niche and complex reverse-engineering project must be a thankless task
One of those projects I wanted to take on but always back logged. Wild that they've been on a 5 year hiatus -- https://www.newsshooter.com/2025/06/21/the-genie-is-out-of-t... -- that's the not-so-happy side of cool free wares.
It's not firmware, which is a nice bonus, no risk of a bad rom flash damaging your camera (only our software!).
We load as normal software from the SD card. The cam is running a variant of uITRON: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITRON_project
We're a normal program, running on their OS, DryOS, a variant of uITRON.
This has the benefit that we never flash the OS, removing a source of risk.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out this was something very different.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Leap
> As of December 2024, the Magic Leap One is no longer supported or working, becoming end of life and abruptly losing functionality when cloud access was ended. This happened whilst encouraging users to buy a newer model.
Ah, that’s about how I thought that would end up.
Magic Lantern is a free software add-on that runs from the SD/CF card and adds a host of new features to Canon EOS cameras that weren't included from the factory by Canon.
https://github.com/reticulatedpines/magiclantern_simplified/...
Magic Lantern
=============
Magic Lantern (ML) is a software enhancement that offers increased
functionality to the excellent Canon DSLR cameras.
It's an open framework, licensed under GPL, for developing extensions to the
official firmware.
Magic Lantern is not a *hack*, or a modified firmware, **it is an
independent program that runs alongside Canon's own software**.
Each time you start your camera, Magic Lantern is loaded from your memory
card. Our only modification was to enable the ability to run software
from the memory card.
ML is being developed by photo and video enthusiasts, adding
functionality such as: HDR images and video, timelapse, motion
detection, focus assist tools, manual audio controls much more.
For more details on Magic Lantern please see [http://www.magiclantern.fm/](http://www.magiclantern.fm/)
There is a sibling repo for our patched version of Qemu that adds support
for emulating camera ROMs. This allows testing without access to a physical
camera, and automating tests across a suite of cameras.
https://github.com/reticulatedpines/qemu-eos
https://github.com/reticulatedpines/qemu-eos/tree/qemu-eos-v4.2.1 (current ML team supported branch)