CHDK firmware hack discussion (16)

This is a sequel to the old threads discussing the CHDK firmware.
The CHDK fw is a hacked firmware for DIGIC II cameras. Currently
supported cams are A610, A620, A630, A640, A710 IS, S2 IS and S3 IS
(see the FAQ for a complete list).
The CHDK fw implements new features like RAW, battery indicator,
live histogram (RGB/luminance), zebra mode (blinking areas of
over- underexposure), DOF calculator, scripts (intervalometer,
exposure/focus ... bracketing etc.), text reader, file browser,
calendar, games and much more. New features get implemented
frequently, so check the timeline for the latest changes, or the
FAQ for a complete list.
The CHDK firmware does not touch the original firmware of your
camera. It is an additional program which gets loaded into the
memory of the cam. If you have a problem, just turn your cam off or
remove the batteries, and the CHDK fw is gone.

For further information, a guide, download links and FAQ see the
english WIKI:
http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

Timeline:
http://tools.assembla.com/chdk/timeline
Dear Vitalyb, GrAnd and all the others: Thank you so much for
creating this wonderful piece of software!
Some screenshots:

Main menu

Histogram (Blended) and Zebra overexposure indicator

Script menu

Link to the previous thread:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1010&thread=24662492&page=1

Really interesting stuff .. unfortunately I don't own a supported camera.

I have some questions/suggestions :

1) The wiki and the previous thread mentions that a DIGIC 3 version is possible and coming at some point in the future - Is it also possible to port CHDK to DIGIC 1 camera ? (I'm guessing it's not but I don't see it mentioned anywhere , so I thought I'd ask)

2) Is it possible that we might see CHDK support for DSLR's in the future ?

The DIGITAL EOS series use DIGIC 2 and 3, so I guess the chip is there, many of the models also have available firmware, but most don't have live view which I reckon is needed for some of the more interesting features, like motion detection.

3) How about Light/Sound triggering ?

If the camera could detect a sudden change in overall brightness it could snap a picture and/or shoot it's flash.

This would be great for shooting images of lightning or fireworks (if the camera can react fast enough) or for using the camera as a slave-flash unit.

It would also be a great way for the photographer to shoot from several angles at once - Simply set up several camera and then shoot a flash .. all the cameras should then be triggered and take a picture.

I'm thinking that this could be achieved with a slightly modified version of the motion detection script that mx3 have been working on.

Sound triggering would work the same way , only with a set dB level triggering the camera. You could set the camera up on a tripod and then have it take the familypicture when people said cheese.

Would work nicely as a remote control that you didn't have to trigger in view of the cameras IR sensor.

I have the firmware for the G7 and have loaded it but can't figure out how to get in the ALT mode to get to the menu where I can shoot RAW.

HELP!

John

CeeJaydk wrote:

3) How about Light/Sound triggering ?
If the camera could detect a sudden change in overall brightness it
could snap a picture and/or shoot it's flash.
This would be great for shooting images of lightning or fireworks (if
the camera can react fast enough) or for using the camera as a
slave-flash unit.
It would also be a great way for the photographer to shoot from
several angles at once - Simply set up several camera and then shoot
a flash .. all the cameras should then be triggered and take a
picture.
I'm thinking that this could be achieved with a slightly modified
version of the motion detection script that mx3 have been working on.

I would think the current version if mx3's version already supports this. It simply reacts to changes in lightness, which fireworks and flashes certainly create, and you have great control over the detection sensitivity and spatial partitioning of the detection grid.

The motion detected fireworks shooting idea seems like a really great idea. Probably you would have to put the camera in manual mode and manual focus so as to minimize the delay from detection to triggering the shot.

Other ideas for creative use of motion detection anyone?

1) The wiki and the previous thread mentions that a DIGIC 3 version
is possible and coming at some point in the future - Is it also
possible to port CHDK to DIGIC 1 camera ? (I'm guessing it's not but
I don't see it mentioned anywhere , so I thought I'd ask)

DIGIC III, as I understand from recent posts here, is essentially the same as DIGIC II (ARM core running VxWorks). DIGIC I, if I remember correctly, has an entirely different hardware and software base (x86 running some form of DOS). So a DIGIC I version would have to be a substantially different project, and the current CHDK people may have no interest in it; on the other hand, there are a lot more people out there familiar with x86 and DOS than there are familiar with ARM and VxWorks, so someone might take on the challenge one day.

In addition to what lowimpact posted, you will be happy to know that by popular demand, Grand implemented an automatic loading of CHDK so that if you wish it will load every time you turn your camera on.

alvevind wrote:

Other ideas for creative use of motion detection anyone?

Using the R, G, and B, detection options use different colored LEDs to remotely trigger different camera functions. Blue LED for zoom in, green LED for zoom out, red LED for shoot, yellow LED for time-delay, etc. Combos for triggering a script function. A script could even be written so that unique flash sequences could be used the same way. This way you could use a laser pointer from great distances to trigger different functions. Send Morse signals if you wanted to tell the camera what to do.

I read a post elsewhere of someone thinking it could be used to detect different colored bird species at a bird-feeder. Ignoring all the plain ones and setting the camera to take pictures of only the blue or red or yellow ones. By using the option to know how many cells are triggered it could detect animal size, set it to ignore the squirrels.

There's thousands of ways that motion-detection can be put to good use.

Marty Too wrote:

In addition to what lowimpact posted, you will be happy to know that
by popular demand, Grand implemented an automatic loading of CHDK so
that if you wish it will load every time you turn your camera on.

Exactly. Read this: http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK/FAQ#Q._How_can_I_make_the_CHDK_firmware_load_automatically_at_startup.3F

Other ideas for creative use of motion detection anyone?

Using the R, G, and B, detection options use different colored LEDs
to remotely trigger different camera functions

Couldn't the IR sensor normally used for remote control be reprogrammed to accept other IR sequences, like those that an ordinary remote control can emit ?

You could then get support for excuting hundreds of different function or script using a cheap universal remote and you wouldn't have to buy a special remote control for the camera, if you could just reuse the remote for your TV , VCR or Stereo.

As for other creative uses of motion detection, you could use the camera to measure the speed of objects moving horizontally or vertically in the frame.

I believe that CHDK can already measure the distance to the focus point .. you could use that information to calculate the speed of a moving object by using motion detection to calculate how many pixels it moved and how fast and then convert that to a KM/s or M/s measurement.

You can even have the script only snap pictures of fast moving objects (or only slow objects) and overlay the speed measurement onto the final picture - Your very own speed trap.

It could also be altered to only react to large objects so it would ignore cats and birds but take photos of people.

You could also use motion detection to snap pictures of moving targets only when they entered the center of the frame, to more easily take picture of races or to use it to take photo finish shoots once the moving object crossed the centerline of the image.

I wonder also if face detection could be coded in for cameras that didn't already have this feature.

Another use could be to motion/sound triggered high speed photography where you either used a strobe light or had a script open the shutter at the cameras fastest setting (maybe 1/2000) and then after some of that time had passed it would trigger the flash so the sensor didn't catch the light in the entire time period the shutter was open.

It could also work the other way around , so the flash is triggered first and then the shutter is opened when the flash is about to die out , but I suspect that the flash may light up faster than it would fade out, so the former would usually be the best method.

I want to download the firmware of my digic III camera.
I have a A570IS.

Follow instructions read in this forum I was able to find the information of my camera fimware:
P-ID 314C PAL V
Vers: GM1.00E

I got the files at http://grandag.nm.ru/hdk/blinker/ and want to set the right values for my A570.

Where have I to put the ID VALUE and memory led location ?

What is the procedure to create a valid firmware .FIR file ?

anyone knows if they're going to implement a Pixel Mapping feature in next releases?

both my digic2 based cams (s2is, ixus55) have dead pixels, and i wish to have more choices other than sending the cams back to Canon (and the ixus is out of warranty).

yeray wrote:

anyone knows if they're going to implement a Pixel Mapping feature in
next releases?

It's already been implemented. See the RAW menu. Noise Reduction [Auto] = camera default, [Off] = dark-frame noise reduction turned off for ALL speeds, [On] = dark-frame noise reduction turned on for ALL speeds.

This feature effects JPG files whether you save RAW or not.

When it is always on it removes any hot-pixels at all speeds. With the sacrifice of a small time-delay, shutter-speed dependent, because it has to take 2 frames at the same shutter speed, subtracting the black one from the exposed one.

CeeJaydk wrote:

Couldn't the IR sensor normally used for remote control be
reprogrammed to accept other IR sequences, like those that an
ordinary remote control can emit ?
You could then get support for excuting hundreds of different
function or script using a cheap universal remote and you wouldn't
have to buy a special remote control for the camera, if you could
just reuse the remote for your TV , VCR or Stereo.

Cool idea! Just replace the IR emitting LED for an ultra-bright red or something so it has more working distance. But I doubt the speed of the motion-detection routine could be used to decipher such fast codes being sent. Who knows, maybe you can program them to send longer slower codes sequences. I've never played with one. Then too, it would be shutter-speed dependent on how fast of a code it could accept. I think.

Neat thinking, nonetheless! The others are good too.

Why don't you people just read this?

http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK/FAQ

It answers all those questions.

lowimpact wrote:
I'm running the CHDK firmware on my A620 right now and I can explain
the temporary-ness. This 'firmware' does not replace your existing
firmware, but exists over top of it - it has to be loaded every time
you boot the camera up (only a few button presses). This sounds like
a disadvantage, but in actuality it's kind of nice - you don't risk
frying your camera after a bad firmware flash.

PC Wheeler wrote:

zdravko wrote:

The CHDK firmware does not touch the original firmware of your
camera. It is an additional program which gets loaded into the
memory of the cam. If you have a problem, just turn your cam off or
remove the batteries, and the CHDK fw is gone.

Puzzled: The above sentence suggests that merely turning off the
camera (like between shooting sessions) or changing batteries removes
the CHDK firmware -- meaning you would have to reload it continually.

Surely this cannot be true. Please clarify. I'm interesting in
trying it in my S3 IS but not if it is so temporary.

Hi vit40, i take some sample images as you asked me.
Where can i send images? have you mail address?
Do you want Raw .cr2 or I convert it to jpeg?