There was a time when a digital camera was a surprisingly simple affair whose on-board processor didn’t have much in the way of smarts beyond what was needed to grab an image from the sensor and compress it onto some storage. But as they gained more features, over time cameras acquired all the trappings of a fully-fledged computer in their own right, including full-fat operating systems and the accompanying hackability opportunities.
Prominent among camera manufacturers are Fujifilm, whose cameras it turns out have plenty of hacking possibilities. There’s something of a community about them, with all their work appearing in a GitHub repository, and a cracking April Fool in which a Fujifilm camera appears able to be coaxed into running DOOM.
Correction: We’ve since heard from creator [Daniel] who assures us that not only was the DOOM hack very much real, but that he’s released the instructions on how to run the classic shooter on your own Fujfilm X-A2.
Fujifilm cameras past 2017 or so run the ThreadX real-time operating system on a variety of ARM SoCs, with an SQLite data store for camera settings and some custom software controlling the camera hardware. The hackability comes through patching firmware updates, and aside from manipulating the built-in scripting language and accessing the SQLite database, can include code execution.
Don’t have a Fujifilm? They’re not the only hackable camera to be found.
How can you make such a post without mentioning CHDK? SMH….
The company is still called Fujifilm
it needs to room Doot
ugh smdh , RUN doot
A HP PhotoSmart C618 or in other markets Pentax EI-200 could play Doom. Release date? 2000. I think a modern camera should play something modern. Roblox or Minecraft perhaps.
I forget the specifics however the firmware was hackable at the time and it was a fairly generic system used on other cameras.
I was just going to comment this. I was in college, and it must have been in 2000 or 2001 that someone showed me a hacked camera playing doom, or mario brothers or something and using the buttons for controls. Never seen it since. No clue how they did it
DOOM on a digital camera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gCZZkBATSc
So a first person shooter (a camera) is running a First Person Shooter (DOOM).
Got it!
Hi! Is there an ability to make a hack for x-serie DSLR cameras that will remove that stupid 29 minute record limit? Can the firmware be successfully decompiled to “switch” that off?
Playing Doom is fun… But when you want to record something long… Your sister’s wedding for example. Without a need to rent x-s20 (there is no limit but basically it’s the same camera with a quicker CPU) or rob a bank :)