How can I get 5 bracketed exposures with my 5D Mk II?

[FBurr]

I have the 5D MkII (would love a MkIII but can't justify the expense just yet).  I do a fair amount of work with HDR post-capture processing with three bracketed exposures 2 stops apart.  I've heard, in the past, of someone setting their camera to get 5 bracketed exposures.  Any guidance/suggestions appreciated.  Thanks.

[FBurr]

Thanks!  I use both Photomatrix Pro and Lightroom Creative Cloud (and find the LR CC HDR quite satisfactory for the most part), and unless I'm shooting a fast moving sporting event, everything is in Large Raw and manual.  I have used the three-bracketed shots and, by changing my f/stop been able to generate a reasonable spread of 6 bracketed shots (with, of course, one duplicate).  I just wondered if there was some way to avoid having to change the f/stop.

[lly3988]

Yes, you can. Magic Lantern gives you the flexibility to shoot auto bracketing or to choose the number of shots you desire.

If you have no experience at all and are afraid to try it out like most people do, do it manuallly.

[ebiggs1]

"Yes, you can. Magic Lantern ..."

Neither Canon nor I recommend anybody use Magic Lantern.  Too much bad can happen to chance it, IMHO, of course.

"do it manuallly."

I do recommend you do it manually!

[lly3988]

Canon will not recommend using ML. That I can understand. Just stick to Canon products and services. I hope all Canon users will follow and hopefully my CAJ stock will go up to $100 in a few years. hahaha

I like experimenting new things. When there are things that Canon cannot offer and there are features out there with a lot of enthusiasts playing with, I jumped in. I used ML on my T3i, T4i, 60D 7D and 5D3 and never encountered major problems. Only a few times I have to re-sert the battery or find an improved version of ML. That's it. However, I wouldn't recommend people doing it unless they know the risk and have done enough research to know if they can handle it.

For some. "Too much bad can happen"   Speculations, personal experience or just rumors ?

What are the "bad" exactly ? Turn the camera to a brick ? May be but only a few cases (but not verified)  at its early stage of development years ago. But base on the posts in this forum, I saw a lot of complaints about Canon camera of different models dead or became defective even shortly after purchase. There has not been any (or many) complaints about use of ML on Canon cameras which became damaged and not reversible. Complaints are mostly about user errors or a dead/malfunctioning Canon camera.

Will ML turn some Canon cameras to  super cameras ? No. it will not due to physical limitation of cameras. But it will provide users with choices of a lot of very amazing features that one cannot image out of one's bare mind. If you haven't heard of it before and don't want to take the risk. It's perfectly fine and understandable but just go to the ML forum and read the posts and find out what it can do. It's however just for advance users.

But if you never scrolled the menu in your camera and do not know what is ISO, white balance etc, forget it. Learn your own camera first. Don't worry about it, ML is not for you.

I enjoyed playing with ML but I still recommend to do it manually coz it's so much easier for most and again, for your peace of mind.

Thank you.

[RobertTheFat]

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@lly3988 wrote:

What are the "bad" [of using Magic Lantern] exactly ? Turn the camera to a brick ? May be but only a few cases (but not verified)  at its early stage of development years ago. But base on the posts in this forum, I saw a lot of complaints about Canon camera of different models dead or became defective even shortly after purchase. There has not been any (or many) complaints about use of ML on Canon cameras which became damaged and not reversible. Complaints are mostly about user errors or a dead/malfunctioning Canon camera.

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My guess is that serious problems are more likely to be caused by incorrectly installing Magic Lantern than by the operation of ML itself. I've never tried to use ML, so consider the source; but I have bricked a camera by incorrectly installing a firmware update. It is (or at least was then) annoyingly easy to do. At the time I didn't yet have a card reader, so I was doing it the hard way, by direct download. The instructions were long and complex, and I apparently misconstrued one of them, leaving the camera effectively dead. I don't doubt that the same could happen in a ML installation if one isn't very careful.

My story had a happy ending, because Canon fixed the camera under warranty, no questions asked. And since my wife needed it for a family wedding in Philadelphia a week later, I couldn't risk waiting for it to be shipped back to Boston. So they held it at the Canon shop in NJ so we could pick it up on the way. This was before I became a CPS member, so I don't think I was getting any special treatment.

[ebiggs1]

Bob from Boston,

Beside the bad things happening with ML, I've known a couple friends that had it happen, I wouldn't care if my 1 series cameras were totally manual.  The guys that rely on all the automation probably do like ML when it works as it should.

I admit I have gotten used to AE and especially AF but I could manage very nicely in full manual control.

I guess it all depends on your past experience and the requirements you think you need.

BTW, I am somewhat surprised that a real deal Canon Moderator hasn't stepped in and explained Canon does not recommend ML at all.  If you screw it up, Canon is the only place that can fix it.  Maybe that's why?

[Peter]

9 pictures, 5D classic and Magic Lantern. These days I often use Dual ISO instead to expand the dynamic range of my camera. Not often I need the dynamic range of 9 pictures.

[lly3988]

ML won't support 5D classic. Must be another model.

[Peter]

Check again.

[lly3988]

Hey, Peter. You are right. It's just not available for DL now. There are links elsewhere. Thanks for your correction.