After trying out magic lantern on my 5d mark iii version 1.2.3 and properly uninstalling it, i noticed my battery life was terrible (i am using a 6 AA battery grip genuine canon) and i was getting less than 15 minutes with brand new alkaline aa batteries. No matter how many times i got new ones for it was now saying they were low. I used a battery tester and they were like new still full. And occasionally even though i fully uninstalled ml, my camera after believing it was too low battery it would not turn on and show the flashing battery icon. Has Magic Lantern damaged my camera? I really need help as this camera needs to be used for a shoot on Wednesday and it currently can not be used for more than 15 minutes vs originally 2 hours or so with fresh batteries, even though magic latern is supposedly uninstalled. I used the method mentioned in the F.A.Q for uninstalling.
Please provide the battery drain rate in some measurable units ("I used a battery tester" doesn't count).
With ML, the battery drain rate is shown in the Debug menu; just leave the camera for some minutes under the tested scenario before reading.
If you can modify an external power adapter, use an ammeter and write down the current while the camera is (1) in Canon menu, (2) in LiveView and (3) with the portable display test.
If you (or anyone else) can get the above figures (or only some of them) under the same conditions from a second camera (ideally same model, or any other model that uses LP-E6), that would be even better.
This is not a question of is it different from normal, it certainly is shorter than normal. With brand new batteries it would after less than 1 minute of being on with these new batteries and indicating on the lcd the full battery icon, after i turn it off and on again it would give the flashing battery icon and not turn on, then after restarting a few times and taking the battery out, it would rarely let me get it to start, and it would then tell me my battery was low and show on the rear lcd the flashing battery icon in red. It did this for 8 different sets of aa batteries that were new. And the batteries were still full charge and outputting 1.5 volts. They were not drained in the slightest. Occasionally when the camera actually started, it would run just fine but it would the entire time flash the low battery icon. the longest session was 15 minutes, but after i turned the camera off and 10 seconds later on again it would not start and show the low battery icon on the top and the led would flash and not turn on. And note never once was it even in liveview mode, and also this was all done after ml had been uninstalled.
As of today, i actually can no longer get my camera to turn on with any set of batteries. I even replaced the button cell and tried 3 new batteries for it. And cleaned both sets of contacts. It does not even show any battery indicator on the top lcd at this point nor does it flash the led.
For some reason when i used a slighty used set of aa batteries the camera powered on once albeit with the low battery light flashing, but after turning it off it would not turn on again and gave the led flash and battery icon. But then it let me use new batteries but gave the same issue and would not turn on for those but did show the flashing battery icon for them.
Has Magic Lantern damaged my camera?
Then how come it does not boot anymore, the F.A.Q. says that it can cause that even, i would say that is damage.
What you're describing sounds like a hardware failure. You keep talking about AA batteries. Are you using a grip? Have you tried removing the grip and using a real Canon rechargable battery instead? I have read about shorts in some of the cheap grips that burn through batteries.
it currently can not be used for more than 15 minutes vs originally 2 hours or so with fresh batteries, even though magic latern is supposedly uninstalled.
the only thing ML could do was modifying the flash so the firmware is either deleted or wont boot anymore.
thats why i am sure, its by no means ML-caused.
hardware dies, thats the way things go.
thats of course sad for you, but its not caused by magic lantern.
"With a (reasonably good) Canon battery..." but you always talk about a battery grip.