I was under the impression that canon firmware hacking had fallen by the wayside a bit. [random guy] pointed out that Canon firmware hacking is still alive and well, but it’s the smaller consumer models that are getting the attention. Several cameras, like the A610 happen to share the same digic II image processor as my Rebel XT. By uploaded some modified firmware, you can shoot RAW format pics, and get quite a few other features as well. There’s even a HDK (Hack Developer Kit) for rolling your own firmware. Most of the work appears to have been written up in Russian, but there’s an english wiki and guide page to get you going.
26 thoughts on “Powershot Firmware Hacking”
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Thats awesome.
i just got a canon a570is but its based on digicIII technology which is not yet supported.
oh well, guess ill bookmark and check back in a couple of months :-)
hey, I just got an A630… SICK! HDR here I come…
Is it possible to get shutter speeds of less than 15 seconds with HDK firmware?
oops I mean is it possible to get shutter speeds of more than 15 seconds.
A530… too bad
why are you guys buying the A series? they suck. At the very least, spend the extra 50 – 75 dollars and get one of the SD series.
Now if only we could get these hacks applied to the SD series. They hint that it is possible, but the page on how to do it doesn’t exist yet….
I’ve had this for a couple of months now, on my a620. Love the ability to take the RAW shots.
Wow! Even better then the first hack I ran into! I’m using a PowerShot A620 and this hacked BIOS is going onto all my memory cards.
Who wants this for sd series. This hack for a DSLR like 350D (aka Rebel XT) would be really cool :) They have a Digic II processor as well. I want the scripting possibility.
Guess live histogram won’t work ;)
SD series suck with their crappy bateries. They don’t hold a lot of charge and you have to hunt for power.
People are buying A series because they use regular AA batteries. It is a lot easier to get two AA batteries than to look for power outlets and charger all the time. You can get AA battery anywhere. You simply don’t have to think about charging your camera. Also, for that extra 50-75$ I can buy a lot of batteries or rechargables with charger and extra space on SD card. And check how much you have to spend on another battery for your SD. I will get another set of rechargables.
Size? Well… I have 20D with bg-e2, 24-70 and 580ex. Axxx is tiny compared to this, so it is not a case :D And rechargables that I use with Axxx can be put into my flash, mp3 player or even 20D. I`m a gadget man. Having one type of batteries for almost everything and chargers that work with many different devices that I have makes my life much easier.
PS. Sorry for my bad english. I think that you’ll understand what I’m trying to say.
“Guess live histogram won’t work ;)”
It could if the firmware could make the light meter work all the time and interpret the results as a histogram.
I wish I could modify the firmware on my Nikon D80, I have a few nice old manual lenses that I would like to use, but metering is disabled on them. (It would have to work via stop down metering since there isn’t an AI ring, but I don’t have a problem with that)
I have so got to try this on my A710iS :)
Warranty, what warranty? :P
Will this allow someone to connect the camera to a computer over usb and control the shutter and such that way? I’d kill to have that so I could have it automatically take pictures of my documents. Be a hell of a lot faster than my old ass scanner!
“Will this allow someone to connect the camera to a computer over usb”
reply.
A 620 camera comes with remote capture software which will allow you manual control over the camera. But not focus pulling, the auto-focus can only be locked remotly. Witch is just enough to make it usable for time lapse.
This Remote Capture ablity is randomly distributed through A and SD camera models.
Could those models that don’t have remote capture have this abilty turned “on” by new firmware?
5: “oops I mean is it possible to get shutter speeds of more than 15 seconds.”
not yet. the hack is a program what tweaks camera’s own firmware while it’s running. they can control buttons, screen, leds, etc. but not the whole camera.
13: “Warranty, what warranty? :P”
the hack won’t leave any sign of use to a camera. unless you forget to format the memory card… ;)
15: “SD series suck with their crappy bateries. They don’t hold a lot of charge and you have to hunt for power.”
…and vacation will be ruined when you find out the charger’s plug won’t fit to a socket on the wall. :)
anyway, i shot over 1000 pictures with my a610 using a good set of rechargeable batteries, 550 of them was shot within an hour. beat that, sd-series. ;)
and you won’t see flip-twist screens on them.
16: “Could those models that don’t have remote capture have this abilty turned “on” by new firmware?”
i’ve been told it’s a hardware thing but there’s no good proof of it. nobody has examined, for example a610 and a620, so carefully for different circuitry. i do think it’s software thing, it got to be.
but we’ll see if those russian guys will make it possible. the development is still going on! \o/
I am also mainly interested in a reliable way to use a camera while it is controlled from a computer.
The application I am interested in is security cameras. Most security cameras have very poor resolution compared to normal handheld cameras such as the Cannon Powershots. Motion detection devices or software such as zoneminder could trigger the hi-res camera.
I have one camera that supposedly is remotely controllable by gphoto, the Nikon Coolpix 4500. However, when I issue the command to snap a picture, it “re-initializes” for up to 30 seconds before taking the picture.
Anyone who has looked into this sort of thing and has any suggestions can email me at rgr@sdf.lonestar.org
16. “Will this allow someone to connect the camera to a computer over usb”
You can control everything (and even shoot video) over USB using Canon’s PTP extensions. See http://www.jalkapallo.org/superkolik/canon.html
Just tried this on my S3-IS. Thanks for posting this! Shooting in RAW is awesome.
Using a Digital stills camera, for security is a great Idea. you kill fluid motion for high detail. very cheap and posible. I declair digital still cameras will take over as video cameras in security.
re: 20. I am also mainly interested in a reliable way to use a camera while it is controlled from a computer.
The application I am interested in is security cameras. Most security cameras have very poor resolution compared to normal handheld cameras such as the Cannon Powershots. Motion detection devices or software such as zoneminder could trigger the hi-res camera.
I have one camera that supposedly is remotely controllable by gphoto, the Nikon Coolpix 4500. However, when I issue the command to snap a picture, it “re-initializes” for up to 30 seconds before taking the picture.
Anyone who has looked into this sort of thing and has any suggestions can email me at rgr@sdf.lonestar.org
reply (sorry, I don’t do email):
While you can use CHDK to remotely operate your camera, it can only be done through automated scripts with timed events. For your needs check into a program called PSRemote from http://www.breezesys.com/ and their add-on utility called WebCam Zone Trigger from http://www.zonetrigger.com/ which has a special edition to work explicitly with Canon cameras and PSRemote. This allows you to set hot-zones in the Canon camera’s FOV to detect motion and snap off pictures when it detects motion. The link for the special edition (for Canon cameras and PSRemote) is available through PSRemote’s pages if I recall. It’ll do exactly what you want (but at a cost, unfortunately).
I’ve since found some better software than those by breezysys.com + zonetrigger.com, or granitebaysoftware.com. It’s called “Cam4you Remote” from http://alkenius.no-ip.org/Cam4you_remote/index.html
Not only can you do all the other programs can already do, but it also has built-in motion-detection among dozens of other great features. Works with all the Canon cameras that support remote operation (except newer EOS cameras will not be supported). They offer some free Cam4you Utilities, but I’ve not checked to see what those are for. (free ones at http://alkenius.no-ip.org/Cam4you/index.htm )
anyone know of anything for the SD700is?
Hi, is it possible to hack a Canon Powershot A550 nowadays? I’m very interested in doing it.
hucht94@gmail.com
hi guys!
would you know if chdk supports canon powershot sx10 nowadays? i have one and i would need RAW support and other enhancements.