Magic Lantern; innovative software or an expensive brick maker?

[Ryan708]

I had an older version of ML on my 60D that didnt do alot for still shooting, so I removed it, but it was quite a neat set-up. all menu's were normal, and there was a seperate menu system for the ML software. Im thinking about adding it again now that it has the advanced Av/Tv/M stuff.... that could be useful for me.

Side note: My 60d had the latest firmware version when I installed ML and I thought I bricked my 60D. A re-install of the latest canon firmware (same version I was already running from factory) fixed it. The M.L. website states this might happen. So I SUGGEST updating your camera to the latest firmware, even if you are already running that version.

Other than that my ML worked great, no issues.

[Frodosbigtoe]

Sorry guys but I haven't put out any wrong or disinformation about ML. All I've done is ask a question about software that I'm unfamiliar with(did you notice the question mark?)     

[Marsu42]

Sorry guys but I haven't put out any wrong or disinformation about ML. All I've done is ask a question about software that I'm unfamiliar with(did you notice the question mark?)   

Because the word combination "brick maker" shows up in searches and on the main CR site, you might want to read about psychological priming. It's just like asking "Is Obama the new Hitler?", such a question cannot be asked w/o an (intended or unintended) tendendcy. So you might want to change the thread title if so many people ask you for it.

I have tested the focus peaking feature, but it made my camera restart after 60 seconds or so.

Well, that's why it called "alpha" - the ml devs are nowadays very conscious when labeling releases.

I work as a software developer, and I have learned that "never" is a famous last word just before badness tends to happen...

The change from 2+ years ago is that now the main ml devs have access to the actual hardware because they get it sponsored, so 2-3 people use ml all day long and try to provoke bugs - so if there should be a serious bug hidden in a stable release it'd rather a freak accident to find it.

Last not least: Even if a camera is "bricked" it can be recovered most of the time, see the ml site on this - it's mostly because Canon variables in the nvram were set to bad values. The only possible hardware damage is overheating when ml goes into a tight loop, in this case just pull the battery in time and restart. But the possibility of this is extremely small since so many people use the unified release so the "early adopter's days" are over.

[Dukinald]

Have installed/used ML in my T2i with no issues.  The fact that the software just resides in the SD/CF card and the simple installation convinced me that bricking my camera is unlikely. It is not like jailbreaking a smartphone where you access and overlay the firmware in ROM.

More power to the ML community !

[scrappydog]

For me, the best feature is the expanded bracketing that ML offers over the default Canon OS.  When I tried to uninstall ML, I had a moment where I thought I bricked my 60D.  Luckily the default Canon OS booted fine after I removed and reinstalled the battery.

[cliffwang]

Agree!  If you have basic computer knowledge and know how ML works, you should know ML will never brick your camera.  We need to stop giving this kind wrong information.

I work as a software developer, and I have learned that "never" is a famous last word just before badness tends to happen... But I agree in spirit, the history of ML as well as the caution seemingly displayed by its devs seems to indicate that bricking is very unlikely. BTW, how many of those that fear ML bricking have ever brought their expensive DSLR aboard a boat, into humid/sandy conditions, or somewhere else where the camera could easily have been bricked? Life brings all kinds of risks, take those where the benefit outweighs the drawbacks.

I have installed the alpha 2 on my 7D. I am only interested in still-image features. I have tested the focus peaking feature, but it made my camera restart after 60 seconds or so.

-h

You are right.  I shouldn't use "NEVER".  As an IT guy, I can clearly say an application should not damage a system if the application is not going to deal with the firmware/hardware directly.  ML is just an application, not a real firmware.