Adding more options to Canon PowerShot cameras
This is probably only interesting to experienced photographers and/or open-source geeks.
I recently came across CHDK (Canon Hacker’s Development Kit), an open-source firmware project for Canon’s PowerShot line of cameras that adds a bunch of additional functionality to the cameras. You basically copy the CHDK firmware to your flash card and then while the camera is on instruct it to upgrade the firmware (which takes about 5 seconds on my SD400). The firmware upgrade to CHDK only lasts for the given power-cycle, so once you turn the camera off, it will revert to the standard Canon firmware.
Here are some of the main features:
- RAW – CHDK can record raw files, giving you access to every bit of data the sensor saw, without compression or processing. Raw files can be manipulated on the camera, or processed on your PC. CHDK also has experimental support for the open DNG raw standard.
- Override Camera parameters – Exposures from 64s to 1/60.000s with flash sync. Full manual or priority control over exposure, aperture, ISO and focus.
- Bracketing – Bracketing is supported for exposure, aperture, ISO, and even focus.
- Video Overrides – Control the quality or bitrate of video, or change it on the fly.
- Scripting – Control CHDK and camera features using ubasic and Lua scripts. Enables time lapse, motion detection, advanced bracketing, and much more. Many user-written scripts are available on the forum and wiki.
- Motion detection – Trigger exposure in response to motion, fast enough to catch lightning.
- Edge overlay – Detect the edges in a scene, and display them later. Ideal for timelapses, stop-motion, stereography and much more.
- Live Histogram – CHDK includes a customizable, live histogram display, like those typically found on more expensive cameras.
- Zebra-Mode – Displays under and overexposure areas live on the screen.
- GRIDS – Create custom grids and display whichever one suits your shooting conditions.
- Multi-Lingual Interface – CHDK supports about 13 languages, and adding more languages is simple.
- DOF Calculator – Display detailed DOF information on the screen.
- Customizable OSD – Improved display of battery status, free space, camera parameters, and much more. Fully customizable with an on-screen editor.
There are a number of other features ranging from the ability to hook two cameras together to take stereo pictures all the way to playing games on the camera’s LCD screens.