Canon announces free 24p / 25p update for EOS 5D Mk. II

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Martin Koch

To bring back some seriousness :) Is anybody else concerned that the frame rate update could mess up Magic Lantern? I mean the conversion obviously will be done in software and will need extra processing power. Just a thought.

I must say I'm generally concerned when I see that ML gets bigger and bigger with each release. Are the processors in the 5D really that underemployed? All I really need from ML is the AGC deactivation and maybe the histogram. Therefore a "light" version with autoboot added that safely works on a future 24/25/30 fps 5D would be sufficient for me.

I've raised this as a concern before myself. It could be possible that Canon would include in the update, code that would preclude the use of ML in its current form. Trammel's work with the 7D is proving that it is tough to get into it with ML, and one wonders whether an update from Canon of the 5D would also throw up additional roadblocks to the 5D.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

I've raised this as a concern before myself. It could be possible that Canon would include in the update, code that would preclude the use of ML in its current form.

I've been thinking about this myself, i.e., that Canon might go the same route as Apple with its iPhone updates -- wipe out & make it very hard for unauthorized software.

-- peer

[Andy Batt]

Fresh from my canon rep: the firmware update will most likely be in January, and it will permanently convert the 30p to broadcast 29.97

-andy batt
vimeo.com/andybattstudio
andybatt.com

[Bill Binder]

Originally Posted by Peer Landa

I've been thinking about this myself, i.e., that Canon might go the same route as Apple with its iPhone updates -- wipe out & make it very hard for unauthorized software.

-- peer

First of all, Apple has never succeeded on that front. Within short order, jailbreaking and unlocking have always come back. So, good luck with that one Canon. But more seriously, just make sure you keep a copy of the older firmware I guess. Although then you might have to choose between framerates and ML, oh well...

[Andy Batt]

just make sure you keep a copy of the older firmware

Hey all - as far as I know, and my canon rep was pretty specific about this, once you commit to the new 24p firmware (ie the one that isn't out yet) you cannot go backwards.

-a

[Jon Fairhurst]

Hi Andy,

I attended the Intermediate photo session earlier in the day. It was great. I learned a lot of little details on the still side of things.

Sorry I missed the video session in the evening. I saw your name on the billing.

And, yeah, I'd tend to trust the rep. He wasn't just some marketing guy. He was technically very competent - at least as a user, rather than a developer.

The "you can't go back" thing scares me a bit. I wonder if it will kill Magic Lantern and locks out the old firmware to keep the "hackers" out...

We will see...

[Christopher Lovenguth]

ugh 24p or cropmarks, histogram and zebras.....hope this doesn't prove to be the case.

[Matthew Roddy]

I can live without zebras. I can even live without crop marks. But if they take away Tramm's controllable audio levels, the camera will once again be worth much less.

Audio is a high priority, in my book. I don't often have the budget for a sound guy, so being able to pipe straight to the camera is just too convenient - and AGC means that's not an option.

If they (Canon) are smart, they'll implement ALL of Tramm's hard work (it would be nice if they gave him a royalty - buy him out, as it were - but, unfortunately, I don't see that happening) as well as give us their much anticipated variable frame rates.

But I'd guess I'm being uncharacteristically optimistic here...

[Chris Barcellos]

I for one am hoping that Canon is taking its time on this upgrade, maybe to include some or all of those things. I think they have to understand how important that is by now and what it means to continuing sales. Since they appear now want to exploit the camera as a video camera too, maybe they will.

[Martin Koch]

I'm not so optimistic about the audio but it doesn't hurt to remind Canon about this:
Here's what I wrote to my local Canon support.

"Please forward this to Japan. thank you:
Thanks a lot for preparing a 24/25p upgrade! There's just one thing missing from the announcement and that is manual audio gain control. Since the automatic gain control (AGC) is only usable with loud constant sound sources I currently record very good quality audio by using Magic Lantern together with an external audio amp. Without switching off AGC it's like listening to a waterfall anytime the AGC pumps up the volume in silent periods.
So please also include the option of e.g. four fixed dB steps just like on the Nikon D300s. This plus 24/25p would make me very happy and I'd promise to not use Magic Lantern again :-)"

[Tramm Hudson]

Originally Posted by Andy Batt

Hey all - as far as I know, and my canon rep was pretty specific about this, once you commit to the new 24p firmware (ie the one that isn't out yet) you cannot go backwards.

If they change the layout of the NVRAM when the new features are added, I can see why this would be an issue. It is possible to check the version number in the structure and adapt to older releases, but doing the same thing in a forward manner would be difficult.

I am certainly excited to see Canon being responsive to customer requirements and adding the 24p/25p/29.97p frame rates to the 5D Mark 2-- it is a great camera and their additions will make it even better. Ideally they would merge in all of the features from Magic Lantern, although I suspect they will be much more conservative and we will need to port my code to the new firmware version to retain the audio control, waveforms, etc.

Canon might change the new 5D firmware boot loader to do all of the checks that the 7D firmware does when loading a new firmware image, including using SHA1 as an HMAC signature, but I'm confident that we'll be able to figure it out and sign our own firmware images. Progress is being made on loading new firmware onto the 7D and it is only a matter of development time now before we have a Magic Lantern port to it.

[Chris Barcellos]

Very nice update Tramm. Looking like the future of these Canon DSLRs still looks bright
because of the Magic Lantern !

[Jon Fairhurst]

Best of luck with the 7D - and 24/25p 5D Mark II ports!

[Bryan Plaunt]

I have owned my 5D for about a month now (after going through SR-12, HF200, and an HV40 with Letus Flip) and have to say that I have been very pleased with it so far. I went and played with a 7D today and found many things that I really liked about it, one being the $1000 savings, the other was the frame rate options. But now with the firmware upgrade on the way and learning about Magic Lantern it makes my decision to return it for the 7D VERY hard.

[George Chinn]

Hello all,

I went to the launch of the 1D Mk IV at Park Cameras in Burgess Hill, UK. Whilst there I chatted to the guys from canon about the 5D MkII. I managed to glean the following.

1) The update should be available in Jan/Feb

2) It should include 50p 60p (although he sounded a little sketchy about this)

3) The AGC will remain in place

I had a little play with the 1D Mk IV but no memory cards were allowed as the cameras where pre production, so I couldn't really tell much from the LCD on the camera with regards to image quality, although saying that the LCD itself is very nice, and an improvement over the 5D MkII.

I hope this is of interest to people.


All the best,

George