Magic Lantern wiki

You tried downgrading your firmware to an older version and got greeted by a message like this?

⇒ Jump to [tbd] for a quick solution or read the whole shebang:

According to Canon there is only one way for firmware versions: Up!
Firmware files should get updated. Installing lower firmware version? Simply not in the picture!

We beg to differ. We rely on having matching firmware versions on a camera in order to install and run Magic Lantern. This may in fact forcing us to use older firmware versions than actually installed.

The good news: If there is a firmware file designed for your cam it is possible to install it. No matter if version number goes up or down! After reading this wiki entry you will be able to understand how to do it and you will be able to do it by yourself.

Cam's mode should be in a “Creative Mode”: M, Av, Tv, …
Canon menu for firmware update is hidden in “Easy Shooting” modes. Same may go for video mode. Common issue for EOS M users!
Short: Start cam in photo mode and make it a “Creative” one!

Most cameras will accept any firmware file you have on a card und install it without any tricks. Esp. older cameras will act like this. Just extract Canon's zip or exe and copy FIR file to card and follow update instructions.

With 5D3 firmware 1.3.x to 1.3.5 installed you were not allowed to downgrade *in cam*. You get a message denying it! But using EOS Utility's firmware update option allowed it!

With 5D3 firmware 1.3.6 Canon introduced a new level: You couldn't do a downgrade using EOS Utility either! You got a message like this:

For some time we were in dispair. It looked like the only way to get a cam downgraded was Canon Support. They are able to do so if you ask/beg and - in most cases - pay a fee for service. Fast forward … ML user Apollo7 showed up. He found a way to overcome this lock by tricky handling the battery door during firmware update. (Sounds scary but behold! No cam treated that way got broken and reported to us! None!) Main dev at the time was a1ex and he found a flaw in Apollo7's handling routine which made it possible to get harmed under certain conditions. Very unlikely to happen but very unpleasant in case it did! He came up with an improved handling routine which we are promoting and endoring to be used: We call it Method B. Sorry about naming but it is how it is …

- Cam will teil you it cannot find the firmware file. First check and verify FIR file is in card's root directory. If it is actually there: This may happen with SDXC cards and older cams (Digic 4 generation). Explanation: Firmware update uses a very, very old software routine. It may have troubles dealing with SDXC cards. Use an SDHC or SD instead to run firmware update. - Downloaded file is for Windows but your PC is running macOS or Linux! Firmware file may have WIN in file name but you can use it anyway! If you can extract a zip you are good to go! - Downloaded file is an executable for Windows! It ends with EXE! This is a thing from the past. Before any PC could extract compressed ZIP without an additional program. It is a so called “Self-extracting archive”. Any unzip utility will just be happy to extract it for you!