Formatting an SD Card for Magic Lantern Use

I recently bought a new SD card and had to prepare the card.  Here’s a run-through of the steps for formatting an SD Card for Magic Lantern. I’ve also prepared all the files you’ll need…

Here is the process using a Mac running MacOS:

  1. Low level format your new SD card in-camera, then remove the SD card and pop it into your Mac
  2. Unzip the MacBoot folder. First time use: double click macboot.command and enter your Mac’s password. The MacBoot app will open*
  3. Choose your card size in the drop down (top right)
  4. Check ‘Make DSLR-bootable’
  5. Click ‘Prepare Card’
  6. Copy your Magic Lantern files onto the SD card. Nb. there is no need to try unzipping the autoexec.bin file, leave that as it is, ML will know how to use it.
  7. Eject the SD card and pop back in your camera, test ML is working.

* For future use you can simply open MacBoot.class each time.

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4 Responses

  1. I am not seeing how to unzip his exe.bin file that was in the ML folder when I downloaded it. So I cannot proceed past step 2.

    Reply
    • The file is “autoexec.bin”and apparently needs to be unzipped before I can add the magic lantern files to my SD card. I tried all the extractor apps I could find to “unpack” this file and most recognize the file as unusable for a variety of reasons (error messages). I am using iMAC OS X Sierra.

    • The autoexec.bin zip file just lives on your SD as it is, it doesn’t need unzipping. ML will work out what to do with it.