Doom is now playable on Canon DSLR cameras and you can try it

Forget taking photos of hellish landscapes. One Canon DSLR can now send you straight into Hell itself after a developer successfully ported Doom to the camera.

Since its release in 1993, Doom has become synonymous with being playable on almost anything with a screen and enough processing power. Developers have previously managed to run the iconic shooter on Microsoft Paint, ChatGPT, gut bacteria, and even a rather questionable device.

Now, we may have one of the strangest examples yet, as Doom is fully playable on a Canon EOS 550D DSLR camera, also known as the Rebel T2i in North America and the EOS Kiss X4 in Japan.

Doom port turns Canon camera into handheld console

The unofficial port was created by developer Bas Lichtjaar, known as lauris-nl, using Magic Lantern, an open-source firmware add-on for Canon cameras.

Sharing footage of the project on X, Yoshino wrote: “Canon’s DSLR digital camera ‘EOS Kiss X4’ (EOS 550D) has been unofficially ported with that classic Doom.”

“This version lets you control Doom using the camera’s buttons and dials. It even supports save & load, multiple WAD files, BGM & sound effects, and makes full use of the 720×480 LCD screen.”

Bas Lichtjaar

The D-pad on the back of the camera controls movement and turning, while pressing the Set button fires the equipped weapon. Players can also use the rear wheel to switch weapons, the Play button to open doors, and the Menu button to access Doom’s menus.

The port even uses the EOS 550D’s built-in speaker to play Doom’s music, in-game audio and sound effects. It also supports multiple WAD files, with separate save slots available for each one.

However, anyone looking to turn their camera into a Doom machine needs the exact model and firmware. According to the project’s GitHub page, the experimental port only supports the Canon EOS 550D running firmware version 1.0.9.

“Do not install this binary on another camera model or firmware version,” the developer warned.

How to install Doom onto your Camera

If you happen to have a Canon EOS 550D, you can also install Doom.

First, you need to install a matching Magic Lantern 550D.109 build onto an SD card. The released module then needs to be copied into ML/MODULES/doom.mo while a separate ML/DOOM/ folder must be created for legally obtained Doom-compatible IWAD files.

After inserting the card into the camera, users can select Doom > WAD from the Magic Lantern Games menu, choose their file, restart the camera, and dive in. As the software remains experimental, the developer also recommends backing up the SD card first.

It might be one of the strangest ways to fight Doom’s demons, but at least players can capture some holiday photos once they are done.