Talk:Suggestions

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It seems that some people want to use this wiki to share their ideas and suggest new features for the CHDK firmware. I think it may be good to collect these posts on a dedicated page.
So, if you want to share an idea with us, click the post a new comment button at the top of this page and write away.

Please also have a look at the already Frequently Suggested Features.

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You might get a better response at the Feature Requests forum. -- Phyzome 16:59, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

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How about ... (moving mine from another area)

CHDK Wish-List

I've read some posts that had some good ideas, and found some things that I too would like to see CHDK have in the future. Even though CHDK is already a remarkable advancement/improvement, there's always room for more. :)

Suggestions / Wishes:

• Hacking the firmware of the G7 and or G9 to allow remote software control of the manual focus? This is potentially a PAID modification job for anybody who can do it!! * RyanJDI 21:49, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

What about to make codepage to be the topmost part of the .lng file and then set it automa[tg]ically when setting language?

A uBASIC script command to click the "Movie Record" button on the S3 IS. DONE! :-)

A uBASIC script command to trigger audio-only recordings.

A uBASIC script command for "zoom_to", where you could set it to quickly zoom to a numerical step. The "zoom_in" and "zoom_out" commands are very slow to run in steps. Done! (Build 119's set/set_rel/get_zoom command!)

The histogram having a small grid to show full f/stop regions.

How about an alternate rule-of-thirds grid for the golden ratio. Done! :-)

The time display to show AM or PM for us North Americans. :-) To save space it could be just a dot next to the 12-hour number for PM, it's how lots of clocks do it, we're used to that.

Focus distance and hyperfocal readings to reflect the feet/inches setting of the camera instead of just metric. (some of us still can't wrap our minds around metric estimates, we're old and gray. :) )

More colors to choose from for customizing features, so many are just repeats. And being able to use some of the transparent ones for special effect filters. How about a built-in transparent gray gradient for those over-exposed skies and under-exposed foregrounds?

An audio record-level meter during movie and audio recording modes that shows clipping. (now that would be so cool)

I like OwenJim's rebuilds of CHDK, where I'm able to keep the Blend Histogram showing at all times, as well as removing some redundant info, like the SCR and EXP alerts. The truncated Hyperfocal display option is nice too, but it's nice to have the fuller info displayed at times too.

I read somewhere of people wanting some preset frame overlays for some favorite printing dimensions. I thought that was a neat idea. Making transparent borders for composition assists. Done! :-)

What do you think? Are any of these worth considering for future projects?

And a bug that needs fixing for the S3 IS builds, the Focal-distance doesn't update in Manual Focus, MF, mode like it used to. You have to half-press the shutter to get it to refresh the F value each time you change manual focus.

Keoeeit 10:26, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

("Anon" added the following, I'd know better than to ask this. :-) Keoeeit 01:42, 20 June 2007 (UTC) )

A script to implement a kind of B-pose (I don't know if it's possible but till 5 minutes or so would be great) Maybe it would be realized by setting a long exposure time (say 5 minutes?) during which a second shot will stop the capture. (Just like b-pose mode for DSLR cameras: first shot starts capture, second shot stops it)

Is it possible to have the <ALT> function on an other button on the A710IS? I ask because I use it for underwater photo and the direct print button is not usable in the underwater case, which makes pretty sense because no one would like to print under water... :)

About dead/hot pixels on the ccd

I know that one can send their camera backed to Canon to have the bad pixels mapped out but what a hassle. Too bad, Canon does not provide an in camera mapping program similar to Olympus so that the mapping could be done by the owner.

I hope CHDK can provide an mapping program to re-map the dead/hot pixels. Thank you very much.

Email: doanythingcn@yahoo.com.cn

It's not the fix that you ask for, but there is a very nice freeware tool available at MediaChance's Digital Camera Tools page. Look at the one called "HotPixels Eliminator". Check out their other free tools there too (just the first 3 or 4 are shareware, the rest are freeware), some of them are very very nice. Keoeeit 00:40, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

There is a new option in Build #144 (and later), in the RAW Parameters menu, turn "Noise Reduction" to always ON. This will perform a dark-frame subtraction at every shutter speed, effectively removing any hot-pixel artifacts. This works for your JPG files whether you have RAW saving turned on or not. It adds a slight delay to every shot (you will see *busy* briefly flash in your EVF/LCD each time) but it's probably a small price to pay for completely clean images.

What about a script command to shoot only a dark frame? Would it make any sense for lightning photography? User could shoot a dark frame e.g. every 2 minutes to use for dark frame reduction afterwards to get good noise reduction and maximum open time for shutter.

Oooo, nice idea! If there was a shoot_df or dark_frame command or something like that. It could be incorporated into scripts that need this. I wonder if that could be done? I was testing my sensor noise tonight to see what I might be up against, and I found that even 15-second exposures are surprisingly quiet even after 5 minutes of shooting. And the few scattered lighter pixels all but disappear at shutter speeds of 2-seconds or faster. Just a few warm ones, even in the RAW images without any interpolation at all. (I lucked out big-time on the sensor that got dropped into my camera. A good batch of chips that day.) So for lightning photography I won't have any problem doing one dark-frame every 5-10 minutes or so, or even if I forget to. But for astrophotography an inserted dark-frame every now and then could be important. I don't want pixels acting like undiscovered stars and asteroids about to impact the earth and setting off a wave of hysteria and end-of-the-world rumors. :) In order to prevent camera movement it would literally have to be the "hat-trick" technique. Holding something over the lens but not touching it. A "dark_frame" command would eliminate that always-awkward solution.

This is done (at least in AllBest build 16).

To use it You have to put text file named "badpixel" (if You are Windows user remember to cut the ".txt" suffix) in chdk forder on Your flash card. File should contain one bad/hotpixel coordinates pair: x,y in each line.

The problem is the coordinates system used. I wasn't able to eliminate any hotpixel manually (please edit if You know how to do it) Instead of using photoshop or gimp to determinate coordinates You can use small program written by (as far as i understand babelfish translation of Russian forum) EWAVR. You can find it with the original post on this page [1]. File is hosted here: [2]. Program is very simple and distributed with source code so You can easely compile it on any platform. To generate hotpixel list take some dark photo (with covered lens), use long exposure time (65sec), save is in raw (crw) format and upload to Your computer. Then open terminal (console/commandline) and run EWAVR program with the dark photo file name as first parameter and exposure tolerance as the second. Try with different tolerance levels , so You don't map all pixels :) Good starting point is 128. Program should write out coordinates of all pixels brighter than the given tolerance level, each one followed by '=' mark and pixel value. Copy just the coordinates list (without '=XXX' tail in each line) to chdk/badpixel file on Your card. After that all the photos taken (crw and jpeg) should have the selected pixels mapped.

For the curious: As i have understood from AllBest source code the mapping mechanism is quite simple: In the post-shoot routine (where the raw file is eventually captured from memory and saved, just before camera software saves image to jpeg file) the bad pixel list is examined. For each pixel on the list its value is overwritten by arithmetic avg. of 4 pixels situated 2 pixels apart from the hot one.(Neighbors in the closest surrounding are not taken for some reason).

Remapping hot pixels in video Is there a way to remap hot pixels when filming video as well?

Tested on Canon S2 IS 1.00e

Thanks for the further testing and clarification in the use of this. There was also some discussion about this on the CHDK Forum in this thread. Including a small script that you can run using UltraEdit on the resulting "badpixel" file to clean up all the "=xxx" lines, and a simpler way to output the file. Eventually this will be covered in the Allbest Firmware Usage page once it's all sorted out. I didn't know about the extra tolerance perameter too, that will come in very handy, as I don't want it to remove warm pixels that can be dealt with in noise removal (I don't want to lose detail), but just the nasty ones. It sounds like, from what you say that this will also be applied to the JPG output as well as the RAW? Or is it just for the JPG output?

Yes, it works for raw files as well as for jpeg files (no matter if You save raw or not).

But capturing the dark frame without covering the lens is still not possible found.

Enable remote capture on an A610 A630?

Is it possible to modify the firmware so that an A610 A630 can use the remote capture feature (like the A620 A640)?

How can I change size OSD fonts ??

You can change the size of the OSD fonts by choosing a different Menu RBF font. No idea about remote shooting though. Maybe it even has nothing to do with the cam firmware, but with the remote shooting PC software which does not support certain cams. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I think it's not a limitation of the software, even a third party software like PSRemote is not able to use the A610.

This is weird due to the fact that A630 and A640 are practically the same camera,

the only difference is that the A640 has a 10Mpixels sensor instead of 8, probably

we should find a way to "advertise" on the PC the cam as a supported one. -- gabriele 14:33, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

See the new builds by Fingalo (on the main page) using features that MX3 and Ewavr designed, which now include Motion-Detection and even the use of a USB cable-release. With those two features included ANYTHING that you've ever wanted to do using remote-capture software with a computer or lap-top can now be done with JUST YOUR CAMERA! :-)

Any new information on this topic? I really would like to use the remote capture feature...

There is a bug. If you switch the screen of A630 of 180 degrees the lcd is all white. The only way you can watch your lcd is to put it back to the regular position.

It's not a bug, it's a feature. See Flash-light option. --GrAnd 15:47, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Better video codec

I mean, lower bitrate in 640x480 video recording.

I think this is not possible without changing the original firmware. And even if you would do this, I'm not sure if the Digic II chip is fast enough for this. --Harvester 12:25, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

There is now the new "HiCompressed movie" mode available in all newer builds. See the Firmware Usage, Misc section.

Hide Icons / Info during playback

Would it be possible to hide all OSD info when in basic playback mode (photo only)? Right now, my battery icon is on in that mode and is a little distracting.

Also, can anything be done to include ISO (in the normal field) in the EXIF data direct out of the camera?

Thank you!

Not quite your question, but there's a shortcut for turning the CHDK OSD off: half shutter press + right. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Show free card space on OSD

It would be very useful if the OSD could show the remaining space on the card, in units of MiB (since I think that's what the camera already uses, e.g. next to the format option). This would be especially useful when shooting in RAW mode, since RAW makes the remaining pictures count pretty useless. In fact, the position of the free space display could be on top of that counter by default.

Yes, that would be nice :) --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Custom text in image

Some caption, signature or date from textfile.

Regards

zyga

I think this would be complicated to implement. The CHDK perhaps must bring its own jpeg processing engine or one must find a way to make complete use of the original Canon engine. So, I think an implementation is unlikely. I think it would be easier if you would use a batch processing tool on your PC for this. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea. Placing a copyright on Images on-the-fly would be great.

Zoom during video recording

Can CHDK enable the optical zoom feature during a movie recording?

Thanks a lot...

No, at least not at the moment. Besides, the zoom motor would make terrible noises in the audio part, the zoom would be very fast with few steps in between (in most movies you see no zoom during scenes, or slow zoom) and zooming perhaps also would mean that the focus have to be re-adjusted (another thing which is not done during filming right now). So, I think an implementation is unlikely. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

(The comment about noise must be coming from someone who does not have children. / Anonymous)

This is however possible on the S-series cameras using a script, I just tested to see if this would work and it does:

rem Zoom Vid Test
@title Zoom Vid Test

click "video"
sleep 5000
press "zoom_in"
sleep 2000
release "zoom_in"
sleep 5000
click "video"

end

Keoeeit 12:29, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Since build #129 it is possible for A-series too. See Zoom-Video script. But it seems still useless due to noise sound during zooming. --GrAnd 06:49, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Fill Flash

Is it possible to have an automatic fill-in flash? I'm refering to something like a daylight ballance fill flash.

It really gets anoying when I attempt to use a fill in flash and need to constantly return to the FEC on my Canon Powershot S3-IS and manually change things until I finally get things set right.

Someone wrote a nice fill-flash bracketing script that I collected, but I don't remember where I got it and I don't have their permission to repost it. A fill-flash bracketing option might work in some instances where the subject is still enough while the script is running for multiple-shots. If that would help, you or someone could write one (and post it?). Otherwise, as with all other suggestions, you have to remember that CHDK cannot alter the built-in features of the camera's original firmware (other than the on-screen display features in the EVF or LCD). Or in the case of command-buttons, re-map them to alternate uses of the already available built-in features. Keoeeit 03:56, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I've written such a script, but it is rather clumsy with lots of clicks and sleeps and so on. It's also written for the A610 and I think one would have to adapt it for the S3. If somebody wants to repost it or write a better version or something like that: please, feel free! :) --Harvester 05:48, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

BULB (moved from another area)

Is it possible to put BULB exposure time feature into CHDK? It would be really a great improvement! For instance for catching thunderbolts or photographing in deep darkness (when you need times like 30" or even 1 min) If it's possible, please put BULB into the new version.

There isn't any way to extend the camera's own built-in limitations for exposure lengths. But you can use CHDK to run one of the many intervalometer scripts. If you set your camera for 15 second exposures, and unlimited number of shots with an intervalometer script, the shutter will be open for 15 seconds for every ~30 seconds. Since lightning flashes are random anyway, you'll still have a 50/50 chance of capturing one during each exposure. Even with another digital camera that I have that allows for 30 second exposures, I've not found any greater chance of capturing a lightning bolt on that longer exposure. You could hold the shutter open for 5 minutes and not get a lightning flash. If you really want to do it right, then get an old film SLR for its Bulb setting. Then you can use very low 25 ISO (ASA) film-speeds and very small f/stops, far beyond what any digital camera can do, to ensure you can keep the shutter open for as long as possible without overexposing the scene, and still capturing lightning flashes. There are some things that digital cameras are not your best option. Another would be a meteor shower, for similar reasons.

Here's a lightning flash capturing tip for you though, watch the lightning flashes, start counting when you see a strong one until you see the next strong one. Now apply that to when to start your shutter. After you see a strong flash start counting, then press your shutter toward the end of the count. Since storms build up their charge just like any capacitor, and since the area in question, and discharge length to the ground are somewhat constant, there is a sort of random-regularity to the discharges. It's no guarantee, but it helps to try time your shutter release to capture the next strong flash. (If you aren't using a continuous intervalometer setting that is.)

Keoeeit 04:25, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Update - I saw it mentioned in the FAQ section of how to emulate a BULB mode using scripts, and I think that is a great idea. Especially for something like taking lightning shots. Where the actual lightning flash is of such short duration and you could miss it during a dark-frame subtraction routine. Using the new press and release commands I'll write a small "Lightning Photography" script and add it to the scripts section.

High angle LCD feature

Panasonic camera's have a high angle LCD feature to improve visibility when holding the camera high. This can simply be done by overlaying a light gray transparent colour over the whole display, colour 0xC0 from 'draw palette' works pretty well for instance (in picture taking mode). PTT 10:35, 7 June 2007

The S3 with an articulating display must be using a different LCD type than yours. There's no need for this on the S3, but I thought I'd try it anyway to see what effect it would have, it just made it worse. This is not to say it doesn't work better on other models though. I know from using different LCD displays in the past how a tint or contrast change can drastically alter the low-angle views. Just thought I'd mention that if this is a future feature, that the S3 (or other articulating LCD models) won't be needing it. :-) Neat idea though for those that could use it! (if it actually helps) Keoeeit 02:37, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I indeed own a A710 IS (and yes, I do mis the flip and tilt LCD screen very much), it also only works when looking from beneath, when looking from the upside it makes it only worse, so maybe the screen on the S3 is mounted 180 degrees. Also the colour palette is different in play mode (where this feature isn't useful). On the S* and A6*0 there is indeed no need for this feature, but for the A5*0 and A710 it is surely useful. PTT 14:01, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

More converter options

Make it possible to set the zoom factor of the converter manually, when using a third party converter or digiscoping it's not possible to set the right zoom factor because only there are only three canon options (0.7X, 1.75X and macro) in the menu. I think it's only important for image stabilisation.

White balance tuning

Make it possible to tune the manual white balance like many DSLR's.

Some really firmware changing features (a.k.a. impossible)

Better audio quality (than 8bit 11kHz) (+ hardware mod: external microphone)

You must have some other camera model than mine. It goes to 44.1kHz stereo

Refocus during film, maybe this one is even possible (yes, it will give audio noise)

That's what the ultrasonic motors are for in mine, it continually refocusses during video. You can zoom too.

Remote control, triggered by hand clap (wouldn't that be fancy?)

Ah, now this is something you might be able to add. Check out Fingalo's builds on the main CHDK page. Using the remote cable-release feature via USB cable, build a simple sound-sensitive electronic circuit to close a relay when it hears a loud noise.

Fast shooting mode: 2 or 3 frames right after each other, no direct raw conversion/compression (how big is the buffer?). Usable for bracketing, dual flash/no flash shot. Maybe it's even faster to use no shutter, like in movie mode?

Well, the S2 and S3 offer 2.4 frames per second. It sounds more like you need a camera upgrade than a firmware upgrade. :-)

m-p-bracketing for Canon A710 IS

Hello,

The user script for M-p-bracketing doesn't work on my A710. The two first lines :

REM click "erase" (Originally here, but removed because I can't see why it's necessary) REM click "erase" (same case. What purpose do these statements serve?)

must be changed to this:

click "erase" click "erase"

Now, it works on my A710

BUT

I would like to do exposure bracketing without focusing after every shot. Is that possible? All the bracketing scripts don't work on my A710, except the m-p-bracketing after the removing of the "rem".

Thank you in advance

Best regards

Eddy

Is this request still valid? You can either script it yourself (change to manual focus before shooting), use an existing script, or simplest of all use AllBest with continuous drive mode. Kalniel 14:27, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Non-CHDK Request - Video Input Device-Driver?

A program called Cam4you Remote has features to automatically take videos or still-frames when there's motion detected in the field of view of Canon cameras (remote-capture capable ones) hooked up to the USB port. In order to do this it uses the video-signal from the EVF display (no icons or anything showing in the display, all the zoom, white-balance, and other features are operable through PC control). I boot up this program, and then using the screen-capture options of WebCamMax I am able to use my S3 IS as a webcam. Using Cam4you Remote's advance video-processing and camera-option features I am able to use the zoom, white-balance, set brightness, contrast, even saturation and hue, or gray-scale the image as a video-input device (with WebCamMax's screen-capture overlay utility). Since Cam4you Remote is not using the CCD signal (just the EVF display) it doesn't seem to overheat the camera for extended use or anything.

What are the chances that you smart people that have made CHDK can write a video-capture driver to make the S-series and A-series cameras act as a video-input device? Granted the resolution will be limited to the EVF resolution, but it's still an exceptionally nice image. Considering that I can use the remote-zoom, white-balance, and exposure settings on it (as in Cam4you Remote) it could be nice added function to everyone who owns one of these cameras.

If you are looking for another project to do when you need a distraction from CHDK on occasion, this would be a nice one!! :-) Keoeeit 00:34, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

p.s. Part of the reason I ask, is that WebCamMax has a fun face-detection algorithm in it. It uses this to track a face and automatically resize and position an overlay of funny glasses, hats, wigs, and things on any face that it sees in the video signal. This feature in WebCamMax only works with an actual video-input device, it can't use it in the screen-capture overlay mode. I can play with this with a web-cam, but not my S3 IS. :-)

JPEG2000

Add support for JPEG2000 (Directly from the RAW data). In case there is a preformance problem with it, you can consider to do it in two step. 1. Copy the image to a raw file in a temporary direcory. 2. When the camera is not in use, convert the files in that direcory to JPEG2000

I think this is beyond the capabilities of the processor and/or free device space - I've heard the JPEG2000 en/decode algorithm is very complex. -Mark.

Improvement feature on CHDK

How about having a feature which allows the saving of all user parameters (for the OSD layout and the visual settings of CHDK) into an independent file? This file can then be copied into any additional SD cards for use on the same camera.

The benefit of this is the user will not need to manually program all the settings everytime he buys a new SD card. All he needs to do is to 'recall' the saved settings from that file. This extra menu option should be just after 'Restore Default settings' called 'Load User Settings'.

Hmm... I do not understand why you just do not copy CHDK/CHDK.CFG file or whole CHDK folder from an old SD-cart to the new one? --GrAnd 12:08, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

You're right, GrAnd! I didn't know you could copy & use that file on another SD. How about putting this info in our FAQ section? It would be useful for newbies.

Accelerating Script-Parameter Number Input

With some of the new features like set_focus, the input being in mm only, it will become rather difficult to set focal distances of something like 58 meters. When the user has to scroll through 58,000 numbers to get there.

I propose that when you hold down the left/right buttons that as soon as the number reaches 10 it starts to increment by 10's, then when it reaches 100 it starts to increment by 100's, and then again for 1000's.

Otherwise it's going to eat up 4 of the 10 user-available variables for scripts. With only 26 variables to work with in-total this is going to limit what can be done otherwise.

Or can you increase the number of @param variables and/or increase overall variables to 2-letters?

I was thinking about working on an OMNI-Bracketing script (mentioned on Scripts Page 02 discussion), but I can see it won't be very easy to do, or nearly impossible, with the allowed variables the way things are now.

(And ... thanks again for the great new features!)

Keoeeit 08:53, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Vertical Panorama?

What I really miss wrt to my small Pentax 43WR camera is the ability to select also vertical direction in stitch assist (landscape position). In the camera, only horizontal directions (left/right) can be selected. The ability to use vertical direction is most useful in taking a photograph (or panorama as you like) of eg a tower or within a gorge!

Any ideas whether this is possible?

Which camera doesn't support this? In my S3 IS I already have the option of sequencing up or down, and left or right, and then a 4-panel layout. But even so, I don't think it could be done, because I'm pretty sure the panorama stitching assist is an integral part of the original firmware. CHDK has never been able to touch that, it can only help to automate already existing functions. You really don't need this though, I've been taking panorama photos since my Fuji Finepix (1600x1200) days. It's pretty easy to remember where you left off on the last frame, just make sure they overlap by about 1/3rd to 1/5th each time. Come to think of it, it's so much easier to just do a panorama by eye-sight instead of using stitch-assist that the last 3 times I made a panorama I totally forgot my camera had that feature and I never even used it. I guess I could try it sometime. But all that futzing around with a mode-dial to get to something I can do freehand seems like a waste of time. Plus, when I did test stitch-assist when I first got the camera, the overlap was so great from one frame to the next I felt like it was wasting valuable image real-estate. I like my panorama panels to contain more image than the camera's stitch-assist overlap takes away. They really should allow a person to set how much overlap they need and want. But I digress. Keoeeit 01:57, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, in my A640 I only got the option of moving left or right. I just read the (advanced) manual again and there also only left or right as a moving direction is stated... Perhaps I need to get out op P mode or something? Too bad it is not something that can be made possible using CHDK. Thanks for your comments and ideas though!

Well, did you tried to turn your camera and head 90* left or right and horizontal becomes vertical and vv...

help offering, for a canon A550 port

hi, I own a new canon A550... I offer my help in porting the code to this camera... I mean, I don't know where to start, but I would willingly follow any instructions/suggestions (I have knowledge about programming/*nix/binary editing/"not too hard" reverse-engeneering)... I haven't found the dumper that seems to be once available in the past (http://vitalyb.mail333.com/hdk/dumper/)

Even just the "raw" feature would be great...

for any contact: idleloop*at*hotmail.com

bye

A550 Kalniel 14:49, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

help offering, for a canon SD950 IS port

Similarly I own an SD950-IS and I have similar experience capabilities and would like to help port to the SD950 IS camera (similar to the A650)

for any contact: jeffw*at*csun.edu

Named parameter values

It would be nice to have named parameter values.

Example:

@param a Macro mode
@default a list "normal" "normal","macro","super"

would let the user decide between three named values, with "normal" as the default. The variable would actually be set to 1, 2, or 3 based on the position of the parameter selected.

This would allow people to script past things like manually entering a focal range of 12.8m in mm, instead a series of preset positions could be made available. HighInBC 16:25, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Another neat idea, but I think this could be done in a script with the new wait_click and is_key x commands. I was going to implement something similar in my OMNI-bracketing script (which I've since stopped working on until the gurus work out the focusing steps and what they mean). You could have them select an option right in the viewfinder while the script is running. If you just want to scroll through some options then have it wait for a "right" key, and every time they press it it increments a variable like a=a+1, if a=2 (for example) then a subroutine or setting for a=2 would be used in the script. Cycle the option numbers by just using a script line of, if a=4 then a=0, to start it over again. Each time they click the right key it would print to the viewfinder console what selection they made. This method also circumvents the 10 param variable limit for user-input. Just another way to go about it. I almost like this better than setting it beforehand when you first run a script, because the option selections are right in the viewfinder while you are taking photos, rather than having to remember what you set before running a script. Just my 2-cents on the issue. Keoeeit 01:39, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Zebra mode superimposed on existing OSD and battery icon

It would be nice if the zebra mode did not cause the existing camera OSD (shutter speed, aperture, etc.) to disappear when uder/over exposed areas are indicated. At least in the A610 zebra mode and camera parameters cannot appear at the same time.

Also nice would be if the battery icon is not shown during playback mode. It is distracting. Speaking of battery icon, when the screen display is mirrored (such as when turning the screen towards the front for self-shooting, the battery icon is also mirrored. It shouldn't.

When in playback mode, just enter <ALT> mode, half-press the shutter button and press the right key, you can toggle the OSD icons off and on this way. I've seen others suggest that reversing text and display thing in the LCD, but I don't quite understand this request. You can enable or disable reversing display in your camera's option setups. And since the ONLY time that's even used is when you are using it to compose a self-shot, usually from so far away from the camera that you can't even read the text let alone see the itty-icon info ... what's the point? Do you need to read it while you are taking a photograph of your eye? :-) If that's the only time, then ... I'd tell GrAnd to not waste his time on this. Keoeeit 02:09, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Not exactly what I was asking. I was not referring to the CHDK OSD in zebra mode but to the parameters and info the camera normally displays such as WB, ISO, flash mode, focus points, aperture, shutter speed, picture count... you get the point. When zebra mode is enabled it causes the camera display (as opposed to OSD in your usage) to disappear whenever over/under exposed areas are indicated. It would be nice if this could coexist with what's already there. About the mirrored display, the image is reversed when the screen is flipped out and to the front to show a mirror image and make self-shooting easier. The camera info (same as I was referring to before) is not mirrored. However the entire CHDK OSD is mirrored (not just the battery icon). It just happens that for me the most convenient location for the battery icon is on the lower right corner just above the pictures remaining counter. When the screen is flipped the icon appears on top of the information shown in the left side. Self-shooting can also be made at arm's length too... and a reversed histogram is confusing.

recording movie in WS mode, possible ? using script

Just a thought, is it possible to record movie in wide-screen mode?. I guess its just add black bars on top and bottom, and could be possible using script.

Any thoughts ?

Neat idea! My first thought was, "Nah, I don't think this would be possible. That's a firmware issue." Then I started to think ... the video recording gets its signal off of the EVF/LCD display data! The same thing that GrAnd is tweaking for all the OSD elements displayed. So? ... Maybe this would be possible? Then I started thinking all kinds of effects might be applied to the video feed if this is true. Otherwise, best bet is to use any post-processing editor to crop and convert your images to other video ratios. I use Virtual Dub (amazing freeware from VirtualDub.org) for all my video editing needs. With all the dozens and dozens of plugins that users have written for it, you can make a video do darn near anything. Not all of the plugins are at the main site, you have to google to find them, hundreds of links show up. Keoeeit 16:47, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Nope. The EVF/LCD display gets the data from sensor. Video recording also works with senser data directly. So, any changes on the screen have no effect in video data. --GrAnd 16:56, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, i know virtual-dub past 5yrs, hv been using it for dvd-xvid conversion! with GK. fisrt i thought of same to post process it in VD, but my corping may screw up the image, means i may cut of somebodies head, if i hd the black bars right on LCD while recoding, then i could frame it so i dont cut somebodies head :)

Just record using the new graphic overlay feature, you can put white lines that show you where the black bar will be and you can just shoot with that in mind. Or even black bars I guess. They will not show up in the recording but will provide an aide to you when shooting. HighInBC 13:41, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Has anyone Googled for CHDK lately? Wow!

I was curious to see if there were any other sites online posting scripts, so I input chdk scripts canon into Google to see what would show up. Word sure has spread far and wide. Some interesting comments out there, lots of people hoping that Canon would make things like scripting as a basic feature in all their advanced cameras, or to at least keep their firmware open to 3rd-party add-ons like CHDK, with documentation freely available to developers. (I sure hope some Canon rep passes on the Tele-Macro bug that I found to their firmware authors. Whatever lens element that script-bug is moving turns their 12x zoom into a phenomenal new macro lens! Far surpassing anything that Canon has done with that optics design. I just want to be able to implement it safely!) Keoeeit 16:46, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

640 x 480 at 60 fps?

I have the Canon S3 IS. I was wondering if it would be possible to extend the movie/video mode to include a 640 x 480 60 frame per second option?

Thanks!

I would also suggest 640 x 480 at 25 fps. This is a very common frame rate: the rate of PAL TV and video.

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. It's a bit annoying that no one Canon camera doesn't support PAL frame rate.

Btw, if CPU is not capable of producing 60fps, 50fps still will be great.

Thanx

Longer voicecomment?

I have Canon A710IS. Would it be possible to make longer than 60 seconds voicecomment? Or movie without any picture, just voice? Just to use it like taperecorder.

I don't know, but alternatively you could set the video quality to 1... -Mark

Variable Speed Zoom

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have the Canon S3 IS. I was wondering if it would be possible to extend the zoom feature from two speeds (fast and slow) to include more increments? For example, Super Slow, Slow, Medium, and Fast.

Thanks Again!

Translation

Hi! I've translated english.lng to Polish. Where can I send the language file? --Gophi 15:27, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Polish version already exists in this wiki. If you have a modification (e.g., new lines was added by new CHDK build), just edit the current one. --GrAnd 18:27, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I'd like to konw if this Wikia is alredy translated to spanish. Or if is any other site offering some info in spanish. I tried googling, but i couldnt find any. If it is not alredy done I could do it. Maybe to french or italian if i have the time. Just let me know if u interested: diegho_at_argentina_com The problem would be the updates....this wiki way is a bit difficult to follow..

After dark frame subtract

Hello and thank you a lot for all your work and efforts with CHDK. I'm a happy user of CHDK. I'm currently using the latest version (test1-pre12 #129) on my Canon Powershot A710 IS. Yesterday I tried some long-exposure evening/night shots, ranging from 1 sec up to 15 sec in manual mode. CHDK was correctly loaded and "after dark frame subtract" was enabled. Other enabled features in the RAW menu where: "save RAW" (of course), "only first RAW in series", and "RAW file in dir with JPEG". I got no E16 error on my camera. After uploading the shots in my PC and converting the .CRW files to .DNG with "DNG for Powershot 1.1.4", I used Raw Therapee 2.1.1 to "develop" the .DNG files. The results were quite noisy (bright white/red pixels scattered over all the pictures) just as if there had been no dark frame subtraction at all. On the contrary, the corresponding JPG pictures had no such bright pixels. It seems that dark frame subtraction worked for the JPG files but not for the RAW files. Could you please fix this? Thank you in advance. Regards, Enrico - Italy.

I am also curious as to how dark frames work with this add-on. HighInBC 12:55, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

== Support for DIGIC III ==

Is anybody out there working on DIII support for CHDK? With DIII getting more and more popular, why not?

The new "Grids" feature is GREAT!! But ...

Thanks so much for that grids option. And even better that anyone can design any composition aids they want!

But ... I think it needs ONE final touch ... a shortcut button to toggle the grid on and off. Since half-press + left, up, and right are already used. How about half-press down? :-) (I'd add something to the usage page about how to write your own, but I'm not too sure how the elps (ellipse?) works. We might need a separate grids tutorial page, like the nice one Harvester made for fonts. With some samples and images.) Keoeeit 15:28, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

The shortcut half-press + down is already used by original firmware on A-series (MFLock).

'elps' is ellipse, right. x0, y0 - center; rx, ry - two radiuses (See Ellipse; a&b on the picture). If rx equals ry, it will be a circle. --GrAnd 18:19, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification. I started a page already for Grids, hoping someone can write a nice tutorial for it. As for a shortcut, how about ... Each press of one of the other shortcut buttons could cycle through some options? Like Half-Press + Right = OSD + Grid Off. Press again, OSD On, Grid Off. Press again, OSD Off, Grid On. Press again, OSD On, Grid On. Would something like that work? But that could get really annoying I guess if you just wanted to quickly turn the grid on or off. Hmmm.... Or is thare another button that's still free somewhere between A & S series? Then too, now that I made my own grid in milder line-colors (the golden3.grd one), I might just leave it on all the time, so toggling a grid on and off might not be that important. Thanks again for adding such an amazing feature! It'll be neat to see what other grids people come up with. Keoeeit 19:05, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

File Number Set/Reset

Somehow my file numbering got reset back to zero (or rolled around back to zero) I'd like to be able to set the number manually back to a number that I can define. Really, after reviewing the situation, I bet it wrapped? Is there anyway to alter the counter to support more than 9999...say 5, 6, 7 digits (Canon 610)? Or perhaps change the prefix (like you can with RAW)? --76.210.119.60 02:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

The easiest way to reset your file-numbering to any number that you want is to put an image back into the most recently used image folder (i.e. /DCIM/112CANON/IMG_XXXX.JPG) and changing the file-name number to the last number used. The XXXX should be the last number you want to start it to count from. The camera will detect this file and starting incrementing up from this last-used number. This works on most any digital camera, even my very first 1600x1200 Fuji that I own. Just be sure you have your file-numbering set to "Continuous" and not "Auto Reset" so it will pick up where the last one left off instead of creating a new folder and starting at IMG_0000.JPG again. I use this method if I ever have to do a full-reset or forget to change something and the numbering gets screwed up. I don't think there's much that can be done about allowing the file-number to be higher than the 9999 limit built into the firmware. I just keep track of how many 10,000 photos I've taken by my backups. Though I can see how the high-speed burst mode of these cameras is going to make my numbers roll-over more often than in the past. :-) Keoeeit 18:50, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Prior to my current Canon A610 I had a Kodak Easyshare camera that used a numbering scheme that didn't roll over completely. It started at 100_0001.JPG and when it rolled over after 9999 it continued with 101_0001.JPG so you never had two pictures having the same number. Could something like that be worked out?

Auto-Cancel Review Wait Period on Zoom

One of the only annoyances remaining (thanks to the efforts of this group) in my Canon610 is when "Review" mode is on. It prevents the user from preparing/zooming for the next shot until the review wait period is over. That would be great to adhere to the review wait period, but if the user begins to zoom, simply cancel out of the period. --76.210.119.60 02:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

You can disable the review, and keep the shutter release button pressed as long as you want to review, or pres 'Set' to lock the review. It works very good. PTT

Support for smaller Powershots?

I have a SD550 and SD630. Any chance these may be supported in the future? They are all DIGIC II based.

Thanks!

I just want to second this request for the SD630 specifically. Thanks!

SD630 is apparently supported Kalniel 14:51, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Fonts Display Tweak?

When making some of the grid masks for cropping areas, I wanted to make a universal cropping mask by defining the areas with different colored lines instead of grayed-out borders. For example: blue lines would be for 5:3.5 ratio, green lines for 16:9 ratio, etc. One grid file that could define all possible crop ratios. Then I wanted to create an itty-bitty label by each one so I could remind myself what each color stood for. A small "16:9" in the same color as, and displayed near, one of those particular pair of lines. I thought about using the @line commands to draw each character, but .... tedious to say the least, and moving a small snippet of text to a better location could take even more tedious coordinate editing. Would it be possible to have a font display option in the grid commands? With a user selectable size? I know that that "MS Reference" font that I've been using for my text-reader can be displayed in very very small sizes and still be legible. I'm just not sure something like this would be worth if for all the programming you might have to do. In lieu of that I suppose I could write an accompanying script that would just print what each color means, that could be run to remind myself before use. A clunky work-around but also do-able.

Also, would it be possible to have colored fonts in the script print "text here" command? Something perhaps along the lines of how mIRC does it for IRC? A simple CTRL-KEY code for various colors? That could save on lots of script space. Maybe ones for bold or reverse too? It would be nice to have important instructions or values highlighted for quicker recognition of them.

These aren't really important. And as for fonts in the Grids, they could be drawn with the line commands if I really need them, I just thought they'd be nice little touches to some already amazing programming. Keoeeit 19:11, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Some stupid ideas

- What about a in-camera raw development? First shoot raw, at the end of the day convert to JPEG (or other compressed format) with optional parameters.

Exists with control over noise reduction applied Kalniel 14:52, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

- What about MJPEG to DIVX/XVID/H.264 conversion? It probably won't be possible to do this in real-time, but would be useful to reduce memory card usage at the end of the day (e.g. long trip with no laptop).

- Is there any information how the DIGIC-II is organized. Are there co-processors (e.g. DSP for JPEG-Compression)? What is the performance of the ARM-Core? I guess if most of the computational intensive work is done by coprocessors, the implementation of computational intensive tasks that i have suggested will be either very complicated or very ineffective. Btw. were is the firmware dumper code? I can't find it anymore. -- Insane 16:51, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

okay...all this looks good but is there going to be a port for the S80??

Port for S80?

Great little camera but needs RAW...what chance???

I would like to add my support for a port to the S80. I think the porting may be too involved for me but I would gladly help in testing if that would help. try david(dot)wilde(at)tetrapak(dot)com if you could use some help. Dave

Save all pictures as raw in stitch assist mode

Hello,

I think that even if the option "Only first RAW in series" is set, it has to be ignored when composing a panorama with the "stitch assist" mode. I suppose it cannot be difficult to implement, because we can know the selected mode in the dial, am I wrong?

What do you think?

[update] though I have not had the time to set up the compiling environment, I think that something like

   m = mode_get();
   if(m&MODE_SHOOTING_MASK)!=MODE_STITCH){
   // got here second time in a row. Skip second RAW saving.
   if (conf.raw_save_first_only && state_shooting_progress == SHOOTING_PROGRESS_PROCESSING) {
       return 0;
   }
   }

added add the beginin of raw_savefile() in raw.c might do the trick.

Light Meter

Hi, I'm a large format photographer, (and a computer scientist, and sick C programmer). Anyways, since I'm an intern, I'm po'. I also wanted a p&s camera because I was sick of haulin' my d70 around. So here's what I am doing. I am going to mod the software so it can be an advanced light meter. This is practical, right? I mean we already have access to the histogram.

I mean I'd rather pay ~220 for a camera that has camera capabilities than 400 for a spot meter. I got an A710 IS by the way. Hope it's good.

Has this been done already, is there any work being done on it. Would anybody else be interested in this work?

Thanks, Mike

I'm not entirely sure what you intend to do, but I was thinking about an advanced HDR script which pulls the histogram and then decides whether another darker/lighter image should be taken, so at the end of the exposure-bracketed sequence, the entire dynamic range is covered. Not exactly 'light metering', but the basic principle might be the same or similar.

Blumpsy

What about adding 12.5 , 25 or 50 fps video modes for the european folks?

Currently all nearly digital still cameras only provide 15, 30 (and/or) 60fps video modes.

This isn't compatible to any video standard at all. (NTSC is 59.94 fps and PAL is 50fps).

(At least it is more compatible to NTSC than to PAL)

A conversion of these videos to PAL will result in a great drop in motion quality (jerkyness)

Would it be possible to add 12.5, 25 and 50 fps modes to the CHDK?

This also could reduce processing time within the DIGIC-II while filming... (and reduce file size, or improve image quality keeping bit rate)

ZOOM POSITION WITH LENS CONVERTER

display the zoom value when using a converter (tele or wide). multiply the value by the converter factor (0.5, 0.8, 1.5, 2, 3, etc)

Canon HV20 firmware hack

Is there also a firmware hack for the Canon HV20 camcorder? We need manual controls for iris and shutter. Also if the image could be flipped & mirrored would be fine to use with depth of field adapters.

S80 Raw Plea

Is there anyone working on RAW for th

Even without the other wonderful features of CHDK, the addition of RAW alone could turn this camera into perhaps the best and most flexible pocketable IQ available. I own and enjoy the G7 and A640 with CHDK, but Canon went one step too far in pixel density with these cameras, and they lack true WA.

MANY THANKS !!

Duplicate Kalniel 14:53, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Draw zebra with Color Swap feature

When using the zebra in record mode it lags behind quit a bit, it would be great to use a direct function such as the color swap function for it. There are property cases for the colors and tolerances, I don't know wether the MyColors Property Case enables it directly if you set it to Color Swap. PTT 01:07, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

A710IS : Add a focus step (or two or three) between 5ft and infinity?

The A710IS' focus, at the most distant end, jumps from 5 feet to infinity.

The camera can't focus sharply enough on anything in between to take advantage of the quality of RAW files. Even with JPEG files of any reasonable quality, the blurring that results from misfocus in this range is evident from a casual glance at the pictures, even at low enlargement.

Is it possible to add another focus step between 5 feet and infinity, in CHDK? More than one added step would be preferable. If it can't be done in CHDK, then Canon should revise the firmware for the camera.

R. Clark Seattle, WA

---

Yes, every possible focus step is available (addressable) via CHDK. Read the usage docs for the "set_focus" command. ~Russ

---

After some further use, I think it's better for the moment to to stop using manual focus, because even though that prevents the focus from shifting around somewhat from shot to shot, the tiny low res LCD display and the coarse built-in focus steps make it much less usable than a typical SLR with split image focusing.

A new manual focus function with continuously variable focusing and a much magnified whole-screen focusing image would help considerably. Using the whole screen for precise manual focusing would be an improvement, even though it would take a button push to toggle between the focusing screen and seeing the entire image. The present method of magnifying a small center square by about 2x is very much less effective than that would be. I don't know what the optimum magnification would be, but ideally that would be user settable.

S3 IS settings tip: <ALT> toggle on ISO button

When we were given the wonderful option to choose which button to use to toggle <ALT> mode on and off I chose the [FLASH] button. Just out of habit because I was using that so much in the beginning to enter and exit <ALT> mode safely with earlier builds of CHDK.

Today I was testing out some of the new features that were recently added and ran across that Misc Stuff > ALT Mode Button option again and .... it dawned on me ... how many freakin' times do I accidentally press that ISO button and accidentally change the ISO? Then I have to press it 7 MORE TIMES to put it back like I hat it! GRRRRR!!! Well, with the ALT mode enter/exit feature where you have to hold down your chosen button slightly longer to use its original purpose ...

Putting ALT toggle on the ISO button solves, what I found to be, a REALLY annoying problem on my S3. Now if I accidentally hit the ISO button it only enters and exits <ALT> mode. If I really want to change the ISO then I hold it down a bit longer. What a relief! :-)

Accidentally changing ISO sucks, you think you have this wonderful picture and it is all noise when you get it home. HighInBC 12:27, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Ooops, there's one huge drawback. On the S3 IS the camera has a built-in shortcut using half-press + ISO button to engage AE-Lock. This allows you to alter the automatic exposure setting by toggling through equivalent shutter-speeds and f/stops (with left/right buttons) so the exposure remains the same but for various needs. (DOF changes, or motion blur priorities, etc.) When the <ALT> toggle is set to the ISO button this no longer works. Even if you hold in the ISO button longer to bypass the <ALT> toggle. Ah well. :-( I wonder if there's a way for CHDK to remedy this? Where the <ALT> toggle would become disabled during a half-shutter press? I guess its not a big issue, but now I've had to remap my <ALT> toggle to another button yet again (using "timer" for now to see if that is free and clear of other crossed conflicts).

The clock display

The S3is supports a 'World' time as well as the 'Home time'. Each of these can in turn be set to 'summer' (daylight saving) or 'winter' time. These time values get written to the EXIF metafile for each image.

Unfortunately CHDK's clock isn't aware of this feature and always displays the 'winter' Home time regardless of the settings.

CKDK's clock would be more useful for those of us who travel frequently if it could be forced somehow to display the same time value that the camera uses.

Thanks

---

Adding a related problem.

When shooting in RAW using an S3 IS, the CRW file and the corresponding JPG file got different file creation times. The JPG is created using daylight saving time (currently active in this time zone), whilst the CRW is created using the standard time.

Thanks ~Cactus

Switching of Display while executing script

hi! it would be cool if there was a way to completely switch of the display of the Canon IS3 while executing a script (for example intervalometer..) for saving battery power not just the external display, but the one inside the camera also (when you look trough the seeker).

---

This ability is already present as an option. Read the docs for the "click" command: CHDK uBasic tutorial Your script will execute a line containing the instruction click "display" by simulating a keypress on that button.

Bear in mind that the DISPLAY button cycles through various states (vs just toggling on/off). Before starting your script, you will need to assure that the next click (a single click of the Display button) will have the desired result. Also, at the tail-end of your script, you may want to include command lines (2 additional clicks?) to return the display to the "state" in effect when the script started. ~Russ

Automatic Subject-Size Scale?

Okay, here's one that I wish a camera had, and it's quite possible to do on any digital camera, BUT ... I doubt it can be done with CHDK. What a boon to the macro-photography world it would be if it could though.

Often, very often, when taking macro-photos of insects, plants, wild-flowers, small reptiles, etc. it is almost a necessity to know their size (sometimes to within a millimeter) for later identification purposes. Sometimes their size will even be the ONLY determining factor of which of two look-alike species they might be. (I ran into this once with some small beetles, luckily I was able to photograph them again with a ruler to find out they were the extremely rare "compact" size ones. The common ones being 9-11mm, the rare ones being 6-7mm.) I always carry some disposable rules in inches and centimeters in my camera bag. IF I remember I'll put one in the FOV in one of the shots so that I can document the subject's size. Or if I forget to bring a rule along I'll throw down a coin, bic-lighter, some paper currency, anything that I can photograph along with the subject that has a known size so I can later measure the subject from the known item for reference. This of course all depends on the subject staying still long enough to accomplish this. Guess how many times the subject is never still enough? And guess how many times I forget to include some size reference? A LOT!

How wonderful it would be if I could just toggle on a button to automatically insert a small scale in the corner of the image, determined by the lens' focal-length, zoom-factor, and in-focus distance of the subject.

If you could make something like that? You'd be forever in the debt of every macro-photographer and research scientist on the planet!

Sayyyyy...... I just thought of something ... maybe this is already possible with CHDK as is? Is it possible to write a script where when a photo is taken, a text file is written with the corresponding image-file number, and in that text file the focus distance, zoom-factor, etc. could be recorded, or even have the size scale all figured out for you? The text file could simply be something like "img_0065.txt" with a line of 200 pixels = 12.3mm, or whatever would be a good equivalent for that subject. Is this possible???

Shutter speed and EV meter

First of all I would like to say that CHDK is great! I use it only my A640 :)

Is it possible to increase the shutter speed above 1250 with F2.8 ? This would allow for fast action shots with a reasonably high amount of light. There is not much use for a 1/2500 shutter speed if all of your pictures come out dark due to little light  :)

Is it possible to get Av mode to take pictures longer than 1 second? Often I want to take pictures in the dark, and would like to have this done automatically instead of playing with the shutter speed all the time.

Is it possible to change the EV meter to show values higher/lower than +2/-2 ? Sometimes for exposure bracketing, I would like to manually select an EV of +3/-3 for example.

That's it for now  :)

Intervalometer extensions + indicated light

It would be great if there is an indicated light for each shot.

Auto shooting / Motion-Detection

I mean a camera can take pictures by itself when object is in focus range (like some DSLR) or when degree of light change (like people walk through the frame, someone turn on the light, or lightning?) Can we get some retrieve information from histogram?

Motion-detection might be beyond the scope of what CHDK can be made to do. (Or is it?? If not, this would be a fantastic addition!) In the meantime, check out this section of the FAQ. The program Cam4You Remote has motion-detection built-in. But it requires that your camera is hooked up to a computer to run it.

If CHDK can be made to do motion-detection, I would LOVE to see this! If it can detect over and under-exposure areas with the Zebra feature, I wonder why it couldn't be made to detect changes in the scene too. I foresee a little script command like "wait_change x" where you set a level of change in the EVF, setting it's sensitivity with the variable x. Think of the remote-triggering possibilities with this too! You could shine a little light or something from the edge of the FOV to make it act like a cable release. All sorts of possibilities with something like this.

I tried making a motion-detection script using the available script commands. My try is on the scripts discussion page here. But it's not working. Perhaps if someone sees this and can offer their input it could be made to work? I can get it to auto-trip the shutter if I put the script on pause by exiting <ALT> mode, then switching to a mode on the mode dial where I manually change the Tv and Av values, then reenter <ALT> mode to resume the script. As soon as the script resumes it takes an image, just as it should when either Tv or Av changes values. It just won't do it on its own using the camera's automatic exposure settings.

Higher quality JPG processing

I have noticed that A710's firmware JPG images have more artifacts and lower quality than the same or smaller file size JPGs created with Photoshop or ImageMagick from RAW originals. There isn't much quality loss from RAW to JPG if a high enough quality is specified in ImageMagick. This is a very visible improvement compared to the in-camera generated JPGs.

It's undoubtedly because of the need for very fast saving of the JPG images. Could anyone estimate how many seconds a higher quality JPG processing routine would require when run on the Digic II?

Adding an option for very high quality JPGs, of near-RAW quality, in addition to the modest-quality native JPGs, often might be a worthwhile choice as an alternative to RAW files. This is especially true of taking pictures of events where post-processing time is very limited or almost unavailable before the pictures must be ready.

S3 IS: possible bug

I was just trying out some self portraits on my S3 IS and noticed that with CHDK enabled, the LCD just turns white when you flip it around. ie. when it's supposed to invert the screen, it doesn't and just shows a white screen. I turned of CHDK and everything worked again. Thanks

Like Bill Gates would say, "That's not a bug, that's a feature!" :-) Seriously, it is a feature of CHDK. Look in your MISC menu for "Flashlight" and turn that off. When it's enabled the LCD turns all white when flipped forward so you can better focus and compose your subject for macro shots in dim lights or light your way in the dark when you're being chased by bears. :-)

Sweet! That's really fun... the problem is, with the screen like that, there's no way to frame a picture, since the EVF is still turned off. Also, when taking a picture with the screen flipped, the screen goes black during the exposure anyway, so there isn't actually any extra lighting for the picture. Maybe some things to consider for the next version :)

Yes, I failed to mention this little catch-22. :) The original idea was nice though. I still think it's a fun little novelty. If you ever want a flashlight in colors (say, red to preserve night-vision when looking at your star-charts), just use the color palette browser in CHDK. In any case, it still might save you from being eaten by a bear!

Using the S3 IS sound-recorder

How about making use of the S3 IS brilliant audio recorder fx. record audio when a shot is fired, or even better: record sound when first shot is fired, and continue until termination of the script.

For some reason I don't think they can enable the sound-record feature, it's been asked in the past. But what you can do is write a small script to take your shot then to enable video-recording at the lowest possible resolution. Yes, it'll take up extra space, with the video stream, but not as much as you'd think compared to audio-only at its highest sampling rate. And with SD cards being so cheap there's lots of room to play with. Record the sound that way and strip it out of the low resolution video later with all manner of video-editing programs. Some are even written just to rip sound-tracks out of videos. It still records 44kHz sampled sound (if you have it set to that) even at 320x240 and 15 fps. ... Doesn't it? I think it does. I'm almost sure it does. I was planning to use this method when and if I need to enable sound recording by CHDK script. Test it and let us know how it works. :-) (Then share the script!) If you put your lens-cap back on while the video is recording every frame will be solid black. This will cause an extremely high compression ratio, greatly lowering the already small 320x240x15fps video file-size.

Shooting Mode Dial

Idea about using SHOOTING MODE DIAL ( C, M Av, Tv, P ... modes) : Add the possibility of choosing the position of the dial to enable or disable RAW. By example : enable RAW with C mode and enable with others, or disable RAW with C mode and enable with others...

Please please please disable the AF-lock beep!

Most all of the Powershot cameras allow you to adjust the volume of all sounds or turn them off, EXCEPT that damned annoying, distracting, photographer-in-the-room-alert, auto-focus-lock beep! I would love to turn that off and still be able to hear audio from movies and sound recordings in playback or hear my other chosen sound events at the volume I set them at. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, find a way to make that a CHDK option "Mute AF Beep" [ ]. Thanks!

• On the A620 it is Menu \ Tools \ Mute = On

RAW+JPEG

Don't know if it's possible, but I would find this very useful. I'd be able to do a very quick run through the JPEG files to sort out which ones would be worth post-processing from the RAW captures. Maybe make it an option when RAW is selected. As a note, if this is possible, I would suggest making sure the RAW and JPEG file name numbers matched.

Duh, I should have tried it first. Does it already! Sorry about that.

Live histogram showing all the time

I would love to have live histogram showing all the time as in Owen Marshall's version and maybe also the more compact DoF display.

The patch no longer applies to the SVN head so it will require some effort to forward port it. The problem with Owen Marshall's version is that for longer exposures, it doesn't subtract black image from the RAW file, thus exposing all the hot pixels.

Boot-up delay

Is there a way to reduce the delay when booting up with CHDK? If I modify the source code to remove the things that I don't use, would that help? Thanks.

I was just thinking that I don't need the games, calendar, histogram, or zebra options. Would they really have much effect on the boot up time?

Nope. All these things does not affect boot time.

There is one line of code in core/main.c which is "responsible" for boot-up delay:

msleep(2000); // sleep 2 sec

--GrAnd 20:07, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Is there any reason that line is there, and would it be harmful if I remove it? Thanks!

Possible feature for A710is

Currently, the A710is (not sure about other models) connect via USB with WinXP as a "camera". I wonder if it is possible (with the help of CHDK running) to connect via USB to WinXP as a USB mass storage device (if not limited by the H/W or the real firmware). This would make it possible to update / copy content on the SD card without taking it out from the DC.

Thanks.

wklo

ISO reading in the EXIF field

My canon camera, the a710, dosen't write the used ISO value for the image in its EXIF field.I think its true for other model's too, as I've been reading on the internet. To view it, you have to use Canon's own Zoom Browser software, which I don't like. Also if AUTO ISO was used, then it just shows AUTO instead of the actual ISO used by the camera for the image.

It would be wonderful if CHDK can be made to write the used ISO value for the image, in its EXIF field, so any normal EXIF viewer can be used and also if it can show what ISO was being used by camera when AUTO ISO was used.

---

I need this too. Now I use program ExifAuto from http://home.wi.rr.com/dick/ExifAuto.htm to read and write ISO (even if I use AutoIso) to Exif my photos.

---

Hi, i get ISO info by shooting RAW and converting to DNG. The converter extract the ISO field, and then it can be read everywhere. But, yes, this is an "expensive" way, you have to shoot RAW, convert to DNG and then to JPG.

---

The ISO info is actually stored in the EXIF header, but in the proprietary extension, not in the standard part. You may use Phil Harvey's ExifTool from http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ to fix this.

Simply run ($ is the prompt):

$ exiftool -ISO photo.jpg

ISO : 100

$ exiftool -ISO=100 photo.jpg

The original is kept as photo.jpg_original, and you may safely remove it.

If you like to test before installing the software, feel free to upload one image to this page: http://luminance.londonmet.ac.uk/webhdr/cameras.shtml.

Axel

a shortcut for switching on/off raw saving would be very good

The switching between raw/ non raw mode takes too long for me, especially when I'm travelling. So my idea was a shortcut to toggle between.

See this.

In my Canon 710Is I can turn on Raw press PRINT button (you see on screen "Default script" <ALT> ) and then press EXPOSURE CONTROL button +/- and press PRINT button again ("Default script" <ALT> dissapere). If you want turn off Raw mode press buttons again. (PRINT-EXPOSURE-PRINT).

File manipulation in uBasic

I would like to program a script file for infinit time video recordings. Therefor I need to realize a video ring buffer and to delete older recordings from inside a script. Guess two files recorded, delete the older one to preserve sufficient free space on the SDCard.

This appers not to be possible since:

1. file deletion with click erase does not work for videos

2. there is no click button command to simulate a switch from recording to playback mode where file deletion would be possible

3. no access is given to the alt mode file browsers delete funtion, since alt mode functions are not accessible by click print

My proposed workaround:

Add a simple file handling extension to ubasic.c with intelligent file handling functions fdel(n) where 0 = actual file -1 = previous image ... or add ubasic commands to simply access the file browser

Optionally add fread(n) to read (raw) files into a buffer (if mem is available) and some builtin commands to add, weight, manipulate and save manipulated raw images.

Best regards ms

Choice of deleting RAW / JPG / RAW+JPG

Currently, when shooting with RAW on, only the JPG get removed if the shot photo is deleted in the [PLAY] mode using the [DELETE] button.

It would be nice to have addition choice in the config menu to choose among 3 options for deletion

1) both RAW + JPG; [for bad shot and want to take it all again]

2) RAW only; [when a better shot is got later and want to save some space]

3) JPG only; [have not got a good reason for this yet, :) ]

Thanks

---

wklo

---

Use the File Browser to do this. Not very easy and fast, but still useful.

---

How about a clean-up script that looks for "orphaned" RAWs that don't have a corresponding JPG and deletes them (after prompting)?

I delete a lot of photos in the field (out of focus, blurred etc.); being able to delete the RAW files as well to avoid filling up the memory card would be very useful. -- Jaeger

Auto-Exposure Bracketing (AEB)

Is it possible to have AEB? This would be really useful for HDR photography. I.e. instead of having to change the exposure control manually between shots the camera could be primed to take three continuos shots with an exposure increment of +/-2. This would enable HDR imagery containing clouds (whose slow movement still is too quick for manual exposure change). The benefit of this system is the camera could be primed on a tripod and pictures taken as quickly as possible to each other without having to touch the camera again (which can also cause slight movements to the frame making HDR more difficult).

Thanks very much for you great work so far!

Nick

R: Hi, in my S2 IS that already exists. If you want i can write the steps to do that in the main menu (you have to use the camera in P mode).

Send an email to jrpcosta at gmail dot com

--76.210.116.226 01:46, 6 August 2007 (UTC) This can be done using uBASIC scripts.

Exists in AllBest now as well.Kalniel 14:35, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Binning mode for dynamic enhancement

It is well known, that smaller sensors come along with higher noise and lower optical dynamic. Adding a software BINNING option to the raw mode option will reduce the resolution but increase the effictive pixel area by a factor 4 which reduces at least photon noise by the factor 2 and finally increases the dynamic also by a factor 2. Even ISO speed dependent amplification of kTC noise can be reduced when choosing lower ISO speed also possible because of the larger effective pixel size.

Binning should be very easy to implement from the raw image and needs almost no memory for the code. The stored binned raw image have higer dynamic and need 1/4 of memory. If it is possible to use the cameras build in jpeg compression, images should be optionally stored as jpeg o n l y , so no further external processing is required and no additional memory is consumed.

Please add your comments. Best regard ms

Lots of suggestions for both Professionals and Casual users! :)

My favorite thing about my S2IS is that it can be used by (semi) professionals and people that just want to have fun with it. I love how CHDK can add features for both types of users. Here are some suggestions for both:

Professionals:

• Either change the colors of the focusing box, or make it a pixel wider. I’m slightly color blind, and if it’s really bright I have trouble telling the difference between the green (focused) and the orange (not focused). If you could implement something similar to the Grid feature that would change it to green and red (or green and flashing red!), that would be awesome.
• As said above, deleting RAWs with their JPEGs would be very cool!
• A meter for how much space is used/left on the memory card.

Doesn't such a meter exist now?Kalniel 14:39, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

• AM/PM, ft/meters, MB/Mb choices would be very useful for some.
• Would 100% uncompressed JPEGs be possible?

No such thing surely? JPEG is always lossyKalniel 14:39, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

• The ability to delete unrecognized files via the File Browser.
• Customizing Half-Shoot+Up/Down/Left/Right shortcuts (and the addition of toggling RAW mode would be much appreciated!)
• For those who like to do before/after shots (like with filters) but don’t have a tripod with them, it’s hard to get them to match up perfectly. If you could add the ability to bring up a picture (either directly from Review Mode or using the built-in File Browser) and display an overlay of a previously taken picture (let’s say) at 30%, that would greatly help reframing pictures. -- that would be great indeed -Dennis G.
• The only thing that I’m annoyed with my S2 over my S1 is that the focus isn’t locked after you take a picture and review it. What I mean is, if I zoom in all the way, focus, and take a picture, then immediately press SET to have the ability to zoom in on it and such, when I half-press the shutter again, the camera automatically goes back into a default (and 99% of the time, wrong) focusing distance, which forces you to refocus. The only way to avoid this is to not do a quick-review or use Manual Focus before the shot, but I don’t do this for many of my shots, so forcing the focus to lock during/after the quick-review (via hitting SET) would be great!

Casual/Just-for-fun Users:

• If you could make an Applications folder, that could open up thousands of possibilities. I’m currently addicted to Sokoban and Reversi, and if you could put them up as files to put in and Applications folder, people who don’t want to waste memory card space with them won’t have to, and those who love to play games will have the opportunity. If you could set up a download page for user-contributed applications, that would be awesome. People could make things like calculators, notepads, and games (Pong and Tetris, anyone?), making the 320x240 screen that we always have with us fun and useful (and we can laugh at the people who don’t have Canon cameras and don’t have games on their cameras!). Note: this Applications folder would be different than the Scripts folder because the Scritps folder is just for shooting-specific enhancements that the Applications folder would be for program/fun/tool based applications.
• I’m guessing this is impossible, but a media player would make DIGIC II cameras truly the best. The ability to see any JPEG, play MP3s (it can already play WAVEs converted from MP3s, but they’re HUGE files), and video clips that aren’t rendered with the M-JPEG codec would be sweet, especially if the camera was hooked up to a TV.
• The ability to have slideshows with fades between images (I know this is already available for the S3, but not some others) and WAVEs playing in the background (this would be a great feature for the applications folder!).

-- these would be all great, making the Camera a Multimedia Device :-) -Dennis G.

in-camera correction and Panoramic purposes...

I use the A620 in shooting panoramas with a nikon FC-E8 adapted fisheye and a long pole. GREAT to have a good intervalometer... Would be possible to script intervallometer + an enhanced bracketing? something capable of 3shots+1 (-1.3/0/+1.3/+3) this would allow an HDR+ the 4steps method to completely eliminate noise in dark areas... THANX!!!

Than, would be wonderful to implement a self CA correction and a geometric aberration correction see panotools wiki for details

It would be also a TREMENDOUS thing if we could use the analogic video output to fully remote a serrvocontrolled panoramic head!!!!

-PPPPPPPP

Porting it on DSLR

To add scriptability at least!!! Just as in the "scripta" OS Kodak and Minolta built around their cameras...

printing the date time on the image in JPEG

in S3IS i am not able to identify when the photo is taken. can we have a script which will do the same on all images taken.

WHAT FOR?? INPRINTED DATE ON THE PICTURE IS USELESS AND PHOTO LOOKS REALY SHITY AND IT BECOMES UNEDITABLE IN MANY CASES. IF YOU WANT TO CHECK THE DATE USE SIMPLY EXIF READER! :) GREETS

Nobody needs this!!! There are lots of free programs in the internet which extract time and date from the photo's exif data and watermark the photos with timestamps. Simply search for free watermarking programs in the internet (e.g. google for "Jpeg Exif Stamper") ...

Zebra always on

It'd be nice to have this on-screen aid always visible so you can adjust exposure compensation without having to do the half shutter press and then back again (same goes for the histogram already mentioned). For that matter, hiding the standard OSD (not CHDK displays) when Zebra is activated is also frustrating since I can't see my camera settings (I know I can flash the Zebra overlay but that's distracting for me).

More precise info when Over or Under exposure is detected

More precise info when Over or Under exposure is detected - not only EXP but also which channels are clipped, are they over/under exposed. Something like: R-Over, G-Over&Under, B-ok ;) etc.

Video compression options

Since now we have the high compression option in movies, I am curious if it's tweakable: is it possible to choose how much to compress the video?

Grand said, it's not possible, because:

"Regarding customizing the compression level...

Right now it is impossible. As have been discovered, Canon's firmware have two : compression modes: Normal(0) and Hi(1). There is no variable, like : bitrate, to set. Only 0 or 1.

"

GPS Location Tagging

Edit Exif data of image in camera. Specially to add GPS location to image data or series of pictures. Set up data once and apply to picture as you take them.

This sounds really interesting, it could be done saving text files in a folder named locations

the GPS coordinates, it would be also nice to implement some input method so that the name

of the place and the coordinates could be modified directly from the cam. --Gabriele

It's not an in-camera real-time solution, but you might like this little bit of freeware http://geotag.sourceforge.net It also allows you to use Google Earth to plot your photo taking positions.

This is also not an in-camera solution but does result in extremely accurate placement. Using (free) GPicSync you can match the pictures to the GPS track data using timestamps (ie. match point timestamp in track data and jpg EXIF data). The key then become syncing time on the GPS and camera before shooting and keeping the camera in UTC time for best results. See http://code.google.com/p/gpicsync/wiki/GettingStarted

Auto power down on S3

Hi, and thanks for your masterwork on CHDK.

Would it be possible to change the delay of the "auto power down" feature of my S3. Currently, it is 3 minutes or nothing. I find this very annoying and do not use this feature on my camera. I would prefer a delay of 3 to 60 minutes. It would be useful if I forgot to turn off my S3.

Thanks again!

setting focus (& shooting a dark frame)

set_focus_rel could be useful for DOF stacking scripts. The command would move focus a step (or n) to the next(/prev) valid focus. Not every focus value is valid. For instance set_focus 2000 sets focus to 21-hundred-something. Or less or more. Now, to get acceptable speed in changing focus at higher focus values fast & accurate enough, click "left"/"right" (Axx0) while in MF has to be used at least to some extent. I guess. See my yet another DOF stacker -script. So something essentially similar to clicking left/right while in MF.

Also: could shooting just a dark frame be possible? :) (As wondered far above...)

--Jucifer

A dark-frame-only script command has been requested a few times, I too hope it is possible some day. Vitaly is the main RAW guru and has done the dark-frame ON/OFF/Auto functions to get the RAW to work in all modes with dark-frames. Maybe he'll stumble on how it might be done one day. Keeping fingers crossed. On the plus side (though unrelated), Fingalo just added a script command to turn RAW on and off. A very nice uBASIC addition.

Problem using Libsans20b.rbf on my A630

If I have chosen Libsans20b.rbf as my font, when press ALT + SET the Scripts menu does not work properly... I need to open the battery door for recovering the control I apologize if this is not a suggestion...

Word wrap in the Text Reader

I'm hoping this would be an easy feature to add.

This feature was implemented long time ago. --GrAnd 11:25, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Apologies GrAnd - I had overlooked the option. Found it now. Perhaps enable it by default?

Customizable shortcuts?

I would like half shoot+left for Grid on/off instead zebra mode. Perhaps customizable shortcuts for a future version...

Shoot RAW only?

Is there any way to turn off JPG entirely? If shooting RAW then JPG is a waste of space.

JPG a waste of space? Not really. RAW doesn't record any EXIF info. That is only recorded in the accompanying JPG file. And under unique lighting situations it's sometimes handy to have the original JPG to refer to to see what the camera used for color-balance. Using utilities it's possible to copy the EXIF data from the corresponding JPG file to the resulting image that you create from the RAW file. So, while having RAW-only might be useful for some reason I'm not sure you thought this through completely. If it's only to save SD card space you might want to get larger cards. They are really inexpensive these days.

Maybe an option could be added that when RAW is enable, JPG files are not disabled, but saved with minimum quality and size?

What about writing additional plain-text files with informations like exposure etc. while shooting RAW-Images?

Problem setting White balance our RAW Images

I think RAW is a great function for my A710 IS but I've always the same problem: White Balance. My Raw images have strange colors. Did anyone solve it?

I am not an expert, but isn't that what the camera's RAW-to-JPEG conversion compinsates for?

Zoom position memory/lock

Hello, first off I must say that CHDK is wonderful, thank you so much for taking the time to develop it.

One small feature that I think would be nice is some sort of zoom position memory/lock. Here's my issue. I've got a Powershot S3 IS and when I have my lens hood attached as well as a filter, I get a bit of a vignetting effect in max wide angle.To work around this I just zoom the lens a tiny bit and it goes away. Well the problem is if I turn my camera off and then back on, sometimes I forget to rezoom and get the vignetting effect again.

It would be nice to have an option in CHDK to rezoom the lens to the last position on power on. Hopefully thats possible and apologies if that's already been suggested!

Mike

Check out the scripting features. You could write a little script like:

@title Zoom Pre-set
set_zoom 10
end

Where the set_zoom value is whatever zoom-step you'd like to have it jump to (see the scripting tutorial on available zoom steps for your model of camera). Then all you'd have to do is run the script once after turning on your camera, or any time you need to return to that precise zoom value. A simple sequence of toggling on <ALT> mode, press the shutter button, exit <ALT> mode, to set the zoom position. If you have that script loaded as your default script that is. CHDK remembers what script you used last and will reload it when you turn the camera back on.

Absolutely brilliant. Solved my problem and I learned something along the way. Thanks for the response and again thanks so much for keeping this project so well documented, developed, and supported!!!

Insert and edit IPTC meta data in images

I currently thought how cool it would be to add IPTC meta data directly after the shot. Could work like this: - You have a txt-File with predefined keywords on your SD-Card - define standard keywords every pic gets (example: if you're in berlin for sightseeing every pic should have the keywords germany and berlin) - Take a picture - A dialog comes to the screen and you choose some more keywords that are specific for the picture - everything is stored in IPTC-Data of the JPG-file

Before thinking about use cases for other IPTC fields, the question is if it's possible to read/write/manipulate meta data (IPTC, EXIF, JPG-Comment) in general.

Raw function only?

My A640 camera seems to be slow/sluggish when the CHDK is running. I think that some of us are only interested in the RAW function. Do I understand correctly that RAW is simply disabled in these cameras? If so, is it possible to load/boot the CHDK, enable RAW and then exit? i.e could you terminate CHDK and leave RAW output enabled until the camera is turned off?

BTW, color on the RAW files is a little too warm on the A640. I assume somebody has already told David Coffin about this? Does the CHDK attempt to set the white balance or is it up to DCRAW to tweak? I noticed DCRAW says, ". . . Scaling with black 31, multipliers 1.838080 1.000000 1.556674 1.000000". Does the camera set these multipliers? Maximum resolution on the A640 is 3648 x 2736. Did anybody notice that RAW files are 3672 x 2760, that's an extra 153,792 pixels. :)

And lastly, what does CHDK do to "Make Card Bootable"?

canon a630

turn off pre-flash in all (auto) exposure modes?

would be a great help when dealing with slave strobes.

thanks

I think that would require modifying the original firmware. Use something like this instead Speedotron DS-1 Slave Trigger They compensate for any and all pre-flash modes.

Select multiple pictures for deleting or change their resolution

My previous camera let me select multiple pictures to delete them with one click. Is it possible to implement a feature like this in the hack? And furthermore is it possible to change the resolution of a previously shot picture to a lower one? My previous camera also had let me do that. This would be useful if your storage is to small and you notice it too late.

You can't do this while seeing a preview of the image, but multiple file deletion is possible using CHDK's File Browser option (see the firmware usage page). Using the right control to select/deselect files. If in playback mode you make a mental note or jot down the file numbers you can then batch delete them this way. I too noticed this feature missing on the Canon cameras, so sometimes when I have huge ranges of photos that I need to delete (having forgotten to clean off the ones I previously dumped to hard-drive) I'll use the "protect" feature to protect those new ones that I want to keep, then use the camera's "Delete All" menu option. It leaves behind the ones I protected. Then I go back and unprotect the ones I wanted to save. It's only helpful if there are fewer photos to keep than you want to delete or it could be just as tedious as deleting them one by one. A few less button presses than having to confirm a deletion on each image. I doubt CHDK could be made to resave them in lower resolution. That's something that is handled by firmware. There are the cut, copy, and paste features in CHDK's File Browser but that won't help with downsizing them, only if you want to move them to a new directory. Something I haven't tried but might be possible: Set your camera to save to a new size and compression, then in playback apply a custom color option to resave an image with a new custom-color setting. Some of the custom-color settings are subtle enough to make little difference, depending on subject. See if it saves them in the smaller size or lower compression. You can use the file-browser to check for file-size to see if they are smaller. If it works you'll have to go back and delete the originals. A small difference in size means it doesn't work. It's just recompressing the same image size with additional JPG artifacts. I have a feeling this won't work, but there's a slight chance it might. Quite frankly if you find you are running out of space often it's time to invest in some more SD cards.They're really inexpensive these days, at about 10$ per GIG. That's cheaper than hard-drives not too many years ago. When they become as cheap as DVD storage space then I'll just use those instead. Fill one up and set it aside for safe-keeping.

I know the workaround with the filebrowser, but as you said, I have to remember the filenumber. Not really easy to use. I thought it must be possible in some way because you can select pictures to print. And select pictures to delete could be done in a similar way.

Dual LCDs

i'm not sure if this is set hard in the firmware or if this is possible at all, but i've wanted to be able to flip my S3IS LCD to show the subjects the picture to be taken and be able to see for myself taking the picture, so if it's possible to turn the EVF on once the screen has been flipped forward it would be nice.

24 fps or 24P / Film-like frame rate movie mode

    A 24 progressive frame-per-second movie mode 

which matches film's actual speed would be nice. Understanding that many consumers would not like the judder introduced while playing back on their NTSC monitors prevents most manufacturers from offering it out of fear of support calls/returns, this feature would be useful for would-be film makers who can utilize today's excellent editing software that is readily available but lack the funds to acquire expensive 24P equipment which can emulate film's cadence or frame rate. The closest 24 fps cameras with any decent quality in the DV world can cost anywhere from $900 for the Hi-Definition Canon HV20 to $2300 for the Panasonic DVX-100B. Making this option available would open up 24P shooting for everyone. Canon's movie mode in their a6xx series and Sx IS line are renown to produce excellent quality Motion JPEG AVI's. They'd be much more useful to a film-maker if only they'd slow the 30fps/NTSC frame rate to the film standard 24fps. This feature may not be of much or any importance to 99% of the general public, but to a budget minded film maker a modified consumer camera with good image quality would certainly make for a cult/avant garde tool truly capable of producing ART such as the PXL-2000 of yore, transforming the very medium of its "limited" properties by offering what everyone else has ignored. This feature would be a great addition to the already expanding list of cool hacks in the firmware and would be personally and uniquely welcomed by a bourgeoning independent film making and video blogging community.

There are a property_case value for frames per second and another for video resolution, see List of known Property Cases. No testing has been done yet to see if those can be changed to higher or intermediate values. See Fingaol's special builds which include a set_prop and get_prop commands. Be the first on your block to find the right values and report back, we're all anxious to hear if it works. :-) Please let us know what numbers are needed so we don't have to recreate your experiments.

Update: Do not bother trying to change the camera to non-standard frame-rates that aren't already in the camera's menus. See the following link to a section of the scripting tutorial discussion concerning experiments using the set_prop command. Property-Case Explorations

Is there a way to dump firmware from a Canon Mark III?

Wondering if there is a way I could save out the firmware of a Mark III. ANy ideas?

ND Filter

...as the G series? thnaks in advance

I believe that is a hardware feature, a glass filter that is flipped into and out of the light-path. (Not unlike how the IR filter is flipped out of the way for IR shooting modes in Sony cameras.) The best you could do would be using an actual ND filter, or using 2 polarizing filters. When using 2 crossed-polarizers you can adjust how much light they filter out, creating a variable ND filter. Otherwise just use the lowest ISO and highest f/stops that your camera has to get the longest shutter speeds possible.

Movie modes

I know some similar ideas have been mentioned, but it would be amazing to push the movie abilities of these cameras. Perhaps with higher resolutions or higher framerates or less compression or raw video. HD resolutions and/or 24/30/60fps shooting would be revolutionary for cameras in this price range.

To anyone that has been requesting video mode tweaks, PLEASE read over all the previous replies to this. CHDK CANNOT MODIFY THE CAMERA'S ORIGINAL FIRMWARE. Write or call Canon if you'd like to see these features or purchase a camera that already has them.

This is true, however, the more I thought about this, and by using the get_prop and set_prop commands from Fingalo's builds (see Special Builds) ... is it possible? Or could it harm the camera from pushing the circuitry too far? There are property-values for the FPS and video resolutions. My guess is that using any non-standard settings will just lock up the camera. Luckily they did find one unused command in the original firmware for HiCompression video mode to at least get longer (though more artifact filled) videos. This is available on the MISC settings menu (see the Firmware Usage page).

Update: Read the warnings on the scripting-tutorial discussion page about the set/get_prop command research. Setting non-standard frame-rates could be hazardous to your pocket book or at least your peace of mind. Don't use frame rates that are not already supported.

Canon A460

Maybe it is possible to support A460?

A460 Kalniel 14:45, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Canon A420

Canon A420 support would also be great.

changing the shortcuts or remembering metering

I remember when one of the shortcuts was metering on the older powershot/ixy cameras. It has now been switched to iso consistently on the newer models. It is annoying to me as I happen to mostly use the spot metering mode. That takes me an extra 5 seconds at least every time I turn the camera on because it is one of the few settings that is not remembered when turning the camera off. Would it be possible to either reassign the iso shortcut to metering, or more simply to make it so the camera remembers the metering setting when switched off?

"Custom Settings" button

Now that CHDK has added so many extra features to my A710, there is one thing that would complete the upgrade. Other Digic II cameras (S3, A640, etc.) have a custom button that can set a number of shooting parameters with the push of a single button. Is it possible with CHDK to assign a combination of settings to a single button push? For instance, one button that will set spot metering, ISO 80, and "flexizone" focus all with a single press? Or alternatively, a way to simply switch from evaluative metering to spot metering without surfing through the menu system? The menu system isn't all that bad, but it would be nicer to have one-push access to toggle between a few frequently used setting combinations. In my case, it would really speed up my shooting if a button could be assigned to set the 2 second shooting delay, because I use it so often if the light isn't very bright. Every time I turn on the camera, I need to play with the menu system to make the same settings for those settings that are lost when the camera is turned off. It seems that CHDK was designed to do this type of thing, but my programming skills are weak-to-non-existent.

Handshakes at dpreview (Freddo)

Wow! Either I didn't see it, or that previous post ("changing the shortcuts") came in while I was writing my request. Same question...

Anything you can do manually in your menu systems while in record (shooting) mode can be done with scripts. (Scripts can't be used for playback/viewing mode menus.) Why don't you write a simple script to just set all those things for you. You can have as many custom shooting modes as you want to write scripts for them. See the Scripting Tutorial section. Keep a favorite script loaded with your custom settings, then enter <ALT> mode, press the shutter button, let the script make all your needed changes, then exit <ALT> mode to shoot with all the changes the script made for you. Anyone can write scripts if you take the time to read and learn how it is done. Use the dozens of samples that others have already made for reference in how it all works.

G7 1.00J firmware

Thanks for all your work! Any chance we'll see a a version for G7 1.00J?

As soon as someone provide us with a dump of original firmware. --GrAnd 20:28, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This has been done, as reported by some people at dpreview.com. You'll have to hunt through all the threads there to find the download links, as it appears that none of the G7 users care to share any information about their CHDK builds and camera's functions on theses Wiki pages.

CHDK on Canon A530? Please

Hello. My english is really poor, so please, understand me..

When we can see a CHDK firmware for Canon A530? Why we can't see now it? I've please, really very pleease create it for this Canon.

Any contact dreamsbrain(at)gmail(dot)com

A530Kalniel 14:44, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Encryption

Do you kow if it realistic to encrypt (with an asymmetric encryption like RSA-2048, or maybe a symmetric encryption where you create a pseurandom germ that you encrypt asymmetrically) pictures on the fly, in case the camera is stolen? Is the processor powerful enough to do it in few seconds? Can such a feature be easily be included in CHDK?

How about a real 3:2 ratio

Unlike the original 3:2 ratio guide which records full definition files, would it be possible to actually record these files with the equivalent ratio to a slr (3:2 or 24x36 films) and not have to cut them afterwards. Thanks so much for what you've done so far. Tony

Ability to get system time?

As I posted elsewhere, for the best intervalometer timing, it would be nice to be able to read the system time/clock value, so that the shot interval can be precise. currently intervalometer scripts use a sleep time, which doesn't account for the processing time for focusing, setting exposure, the exposure time, dark frame subtraction, etc., all of which can change from shot to shot (and at least in an S3 in P mode, is on the order of 1.5 secs under optimum contditions).

So, a function that would allow a script to read the current time would be great, because then shot spacing can be fixed regardless of processing overhead. I presume that this system variable is available, since it likely is used by the sleep function.

Something like get_time x (where upon return x contains the time).

Thanks,

Divalent

Nice idea! I've written a couple of those intervalometer scripts. Having something like this would have simplified so many things, and allowed for even more options. I hope something like that could be added. The camera clock will still have some margin of error, but nothing like those approximate sleep times, since they even change from build to build of CHDK, or camera model to camera model.

Settings for Sharpness, Saturation and Contrast on A610/620

Is it possible to change the Parameters for Sharpness, Saturation and Contrast on A610/620 from -2 to +2 like in the Custom Color-Menu from the A630/640?

Thanks

Manfred

Check out Fingalo's special builds (on the main CHDK page), using the set_prop command this is possible. There is a property value for setting the sub-menu options for My Colors custom colors. See this section at the Scripting Tutorial Discussion page here. The information to change these parameters is there.

Wrong file numbering on S3

Thanks everyone who contributed to CHDK, it's a wonderful upgrade for my S3! Here is my little problem (CHDK pre14 #148): After cleaning every image on the memory card (camera set to number autoreset) the first shot (recording both raw and jpg) get a wrong file number: IMG_001.JPG + IMG_0035.CRW (0034 was the last shot sequence mumber). Anyway may be there is something in file numbering i don't understand, could someone please suggest me the right way to get autoreset file numbering for jpg+raw? Thanks in advance, Marco.

Boot up; 2 sec delay

Why is there a 2 second delay when booting up when CHDK is set to start with the camera? It would be so much better if there was no delay and the camera could have the same startup time as without the hack.

This is my hint: loading something takes more time than loading nothing. I think that disabling splash (Misc settings) will save some time. Marco

What if I am using a Mac?

The instructions are given for PC. If I am using a Mac will this work and how do I do it?

First off, let me say I don't own a Mac, never used a Mac, but I have read quite a few posts with people having some difficulties understanding how to do some things. I agree that more information should be added for Mac users. The biggest problem I've seen is people having a difficult time getting the scripts to work just by copying them as simple text files. I vaguely recall that after they copy the scripts they have to set the script file's properties to some standard file-type. Otherwise the Mac adds some header bytes to the file that causes CHDK to error out when running them as a script. The proper way to use scripts and copying files to the SD card for Mac users would be valuable to add to the Wiki. Having said all that, yes, it does work for Mac users, but there are some differences that you'll have to be aware of. I hope someone that's successfully loaded it using a Mac and used the scripts will add some detailed entries to the Wiki. You'll just have to wait until they step forward and do so.

I believe this is due to the new line terminator of the Mac. In Windows it is CR-LF combo, in Linux it is LF, in Mac it is CR only.

a630 image stabilizer

Is it possible to make the a630 have an image stabilizer? Maybe just a digital image stabilizer not the optical one. I think it would be very great.

This, of course, would be IMPOSSIBLE! :) IS is not only a function of firmware but of hardware. It would be like asking CHDK to put a new lens or camera strap on your camera. But there are some utilities that can help you. There's the freeware UnShake which runs as a Java program, slow but functional on ALL computers. It works very well to help recover some images. I've used it often in the past. And then there's the popular but pricey Focus Magic stand-alone and plugin application that also includes a module to help remove image shake. Both are excellent, and can help recover a photo that you thought was lost for good. (This is why I have been saving even my totally rotten photos for the last 5 years (not just to learn from), you never know when some software might come along some day to recover a usable image out of them.)

Shutter/Aperture control for compact P&S (SDxxx series)

One of the biggest limitations (imo) of the smaller Canon cameras is their lack of manual controls. It would be great if the SDxxx (also called ixus) cameras could have shutter and aperture priority control modes (and dare I suggest full manual?). That would make my SD700 an even better camera than it already is!

Locking the control Dial

If I'm shooting in Scene Mode or in Movie Mode (With a G7). It happens that I touch this wheel (canon calls it control dial) to change the scene or the movie resolution accidentalliy. So it would be nice to lock this dial. So if I turn the Mode Dial to Scene or Movie Mode the last selected Scene or Movie resolution becomes effective but cannot be changed with the control dial unless I deactivated the lock.

I don't know if this will help, or if it is even possible, but check into Fingalo's special builds (on the main CHDK page). His versions have a set_prop and get_prop commands that allow you to read the mode dial position, as well as set the flag for that mode dial. I've not used that option in any scripts, and it would only be available for script shooting modes. However, if you don't mind some major shutter lag, you could always shoot in script mode, having it set the mode-dial posiition for you before each shot. The set_prop and get_prop commands also will let you change the movie and photo resolutions. But again, I've not tested this -- yet, it's been a busy summer. You could also use scripts to change all those settings for you, load up your favorite default settings by script name, run the script to set them all. An infinite number of Custom modes.

G7 Contributions

I find it interesting, in that the perhaps hundreds if not thousands of people using all the new G7 builds, that not ONE of them can take the time to even add in the G7's unique shortcut button press information to the Wiki, let alone any information about download links or any other G7 specific information. It looks like G7 owners are quite different in personality. They only care about themselves. After witnessing this I would stop helping them completely (and have).

Save "Last 5 shots"

If you have seen the making of video of Sharks in Planet Earth, they used a camera that would record continuously to their memory system, and when the action they are trying to capture occurs (shark eating seal in mid-air at 1000 fps, for 47 sec), they press the shutter button which then saves the PAST X minutes/seconds. This way the memory is not overloaded with non-action scenes. My Fujifilm s5000 had this feature associated with its high speed capture where it takes continuous high speed shots until I let go and saves the last five. This could even be further extended by capturing both past shots and a few more that would 'surround' the button press. Can it be done with the Canons, both with still-frame and video mode?

I imagine having the deletion of the images/video done "live" in the act of recording requires a firmware change, but having it done post capture could be as simple as a script that records the initial image number and the last image number and deletes everything between the initial and last minus 5. Editing of the video can possibly also be done this way using the in-camera editing ability of S2 and S3. With options to set how many past images or how much past video to keep.

With this I could save a lot of time spent editing my wildlife video where I wanted just one shot and also save memory space in the field where it's at a premium.

Feature Tweak Request - the 1's, 10's, 100's, 1000's toggle.

You know that way cool feature to use the zoom toggle to switch between which digit you are changing in script-variable setting options? Depressing the zoom switch to change the 1's, 10's, 100's, or 1000's. Well. I always found that SO touchy, it's hard to get it to land on which digit you want to change. Trying to get it to change the 10's or 100's seems impossible sometimes. Could there be a small lag added to that? Or where it steps to which one with each depress, hit it once it changes to 10's, hit it again changes to 100's, etc. Would be MUCH appreciated!!

Autoload from 8GB SD card?

Is it possible to have CHDK be autoloaded from FAT32 formated card or card over 8GB?

Anything over 4GB has to be FAT32, if you read the FAQ you'd see you need FAT16 to make autoloading work. Your answer to your question is NO. If needing the extra storage of 8GB or more just take an extra 2 seconds to load it manually. It's really not that big of a deal. Before the autoloading feature was discovered that's how all of us were using CHDK for many months. If you must use autoloading then just use cards 4GB (formatted in FAT16), or smaller. Some people think it's better to use smaller cards anyway. Reasoning, it's better to lose only half of your vacation photos on one card that goes bad then all of them on one card that goes bad.

Remote shutter release for A640?

Hope I'm in the right place!

Since the A640 can be operated via PC through USB connection, is it possible, using CHDK, to trigger the shutter (only) with any small, hand-held device connected to the camera by USB cord?

CHDK has given me all I need on my A640; seems kind of miraculous to me - like waving a magic wand! Now I have only to find a remote release of some kind and I'll be fully provided!

Grateful thanks to all researchers and developers of CHDK!

Uh, did you miss the "NEWS" section on the front page? See the Special Builds section, and read the info in the Scripting Tutorial section on how to use it.

Thanks for pointing the way!

EV Bracketing in manual mode for HDRs in the dark

The current EV Bracketing script is fine as long there is enough light for the camera, to take the several pictures. But when it is to dark, the camera automatically only takes pictures with shutter opened for 1 sec. The shutter time of 1 sec is displayed in red. To write a script, which adjusts the shutter time and sometimes also the aperture setting, it is necessary, that the CHDK can differ between red and white displayed values. Because it is not possible to adjust the EV setting in the manual mode, the camera has to try, which shutter and aperture setting is the correct one for -2, -1 etc. I don't know, if this is already possible, however, I didn't find something how to do it. Thanks.

It sounds like you need a script that can be used in Manual Mode. Or ... you could check into the set_prop commands in the Special Builds, their use and values are just now being researched by Divalent (many hours/days of testing goes into these things, feel free to help if you can). Check out the Scripting Tutorial page and this get/set_prop discussion section. The EV can be set at 96 steps per 1-stop, and have been tested to -/+ 4-stops so far. I don't know how they will behave at the 1-sec limit or if they will override that.

It makes sense that you can't do automatic EV bracketing in manual mode, because the camera doesn't control the light exposure (you do, manually). So an EV bracket has to be done by either an aperture or shutter exposure bracket (or a combo) in a script. [Nonetheless, I tried in manaual mode to "force" a EV bracket by using set_props and it didn't work, as I suspected]. Unfortunately, a script sequence will be slower than the native rapid continuous mode of the camera. An alternative is to use Tv or Av mode, and use the exposure compensation to get the basic exposure you want, then use the exposure bracket feature to shoot the sequence.

"Event" scripts? (Startup, shutdown, zoom, etc...)

I think it would be really cool if there were event scripts that execute when certain things happen on the camera. Like having a script that automatically zooms to 50mm equiv. right after starting up.

They could be done through a menu to set what script executes on what action, or through specially-named files on the card.

The events I'm thinking of are:

• Startup
• Shutdown
• Zoom in start
• Zoom in stop
• Zoom out start
• Zoom out stop
• Half-press shutter
• Full-press shutter
• Flash raised
• Flash lowered

Feel free to add more if you have any ideas.

All except for start-up (automatic) and shut-down conditions, I believe if you study this section uBASIC tutorial you will find that everything else you have listed can already be done, just by having your script wait for certain conditions to occur. Scripts are already saved by unique filenames on your SD card, it even remembers the last one ran and its last variables user-input settings, so when you start your camera again you need only put it in <ALT> mode and press the shutter button to activate it. There's your start-up event. Next you'll be wanting your camera to go out into the world and compose your shots for you just by turning it on. I believe there might be a career for you at NASA for remote imaging on distant planets in your future. Suggest they use CHDK on their next mission. :-)

The problem with the suggestion that a script do this monitoring is that when a script is running, the normal user interface is not. Thus, as things currently stand, you'd have to have a script running all the time, and it would also have to emulate the normal user interface. So it would be a very complicated script. Would it fit in 8k? Would the user tolerate the slow operational speed, given that it would have to continually be monitoring a number of properties *plus* sorting through all possible button-push states, with one uBasic command every 10 msec? Further, it would require a lot more information about how things work than we currently have. (To note one big problem, at least on an S3: CHDK doesn't know where the FUNC menu cursor position is, and so can't reliably change things that can only be changed by button-push access to that menu.) I don't think CHDK is currently set up to monitor all button pushes when it's "in background" (but rather, just its own hot-key), which means to impliment this suggestion outside of a script would require additional key_press decision-making (and the ability to call a script and then reclaim control when it is over). It certainly is possible, but who would spend the time to code it?

Custom menus through scripts

I'd like to see the ability to add custom menus through scripts. And possibly other controls, like sliders and numeric inputs.

A command could be like:

show_menu "title", return value, "menu item", "menu item", "menu item"

show_slider "title", return value, minimum value, maximum value, default choice

show_numeric "title", return value, minimum value, maximum value, default choice

a630 into webcam

what about adding a feature to a630 so it can be functioned as a webcam? i ask that because cheap webcams usually has fps lower than 30 so the motion would be unsmooth. on the other side, a630 has 30 fps. so if it possible, i dont have to buy an expensive webcam. thanks before.

A video driver is already available in many of the remote-capture programs, like Canon's, Granite Bay Remote Capture, and Cam4You Remote. If you use a video desktop capture program like WebCamMax then you can use any of those programs in conjunction with it as a webcam, capturing the video preview display on your desktop and retransmitting it as a web-cam stream. It's a clunky work-around but it works. I've tested it. It has already been hoped that someone would strip out that routine from the remote-capture programs and turn it into an easy-to-use webcam driver (see a post WAY above), but all we can do is wait until someone who has the smarts and the desire to do such a thing. I've seen this requested many times in many forums for all Canon's cameras that have the USB tether capability, so ... maybe someone will use this for a fun winter project, if for no other reason than to shut everyone up that keeps asking for one. People like me. :-)

Download File / Source Problem

Is there any way that more sense could be made out of the various camera, firmware, and build download information? The way it is now the files from each person's build are being hosted on either their own sites, as in the "Special Builds" section on the main page. But in other situations they are scattered all over the net, being put on some file-sharing servers out there.

1) Could there be a special Wiki section just for download links?

2) Is there an option in Wikia to host such files? Since most are small, smaller than many graphic images, I don't see why a a few dozen camera and build variations kept right in Wikia's domain would be bad.

3) If a build is found somewhere, would it be a violation to share it in a more localized source like this without the author's permission? Or is that considered part of what CHDK is all about, files once posted are free to share and post everywhere (especially here on the Wikia dedicated just for that purpose). Would authors take exception to this use of their files being posted in a more localized repository? (speak up authors, if this would bother you)

I propose a page or pages hierarchy (in chronological order) something like:

See this Downloads page to see if this is okay, and if it should be added to the main index page as a resource.

more games...

please add more games.. such as mario bross or prehistoric like (3d games would be better).. but.. is it possible??

Screw games - of all sort! (I can't trough Sokoban level 1 :/ )

(reply) BUY YERSELF A SANDISK SANSA MP3 PLAYER (CURRENTLY $29 REFURBISHED FROM BUY.COM) AND LOAD "ROCKBOX" (FIRMWARE REPLACEMENT, SEE ROCKBOX.ORG) ONTO THE PLAYER. ROCKBOX HAS A VARIETY OF GAME ADD-ONS AVAILABLE! (Yes, my SHOUTING typing is intentional here.)

(reply) DITTOS ON SCREW GAMES! IT'S A CAMERA FOR CRISSAKE.

Start scripts on boot

Now I must start camera,press PRINT button,press Shoot button to execute script. Is it possible make the last used scripts execute automatically at startup?

Script window

position, size ,turn on/off , font size --->"script window"

I want sometimes move this window from default left-down position

Grid + Cropping Utility Coordination/System

I would like to see a Grid file feature where you could define a letter in it for use in a filename. So that:

The Grid file would have a command like

@title 7 x 5 Crop
@grid_def k
@rectf 0, 0, 359, 4, 0x03, 0x03
@rectf 0, 234, 359, 239, 0x03, 0x03

In the filename menus there would be an option to have the Grid_Def letter used in the filename. "Use Grid_Def in Filename? [*]" (Or Crop_Def for cropping definition? Whatever would be clearer to the end-user.)

Now any photo that you took when using that Grid "K" file, it would write the filename as "IMGK0132.JPG". The Grid_Def letter taking the place of the usual _ underscore in the filename.

Now. All we'd need is a simple lossless cropping utility (open-source ones already exist, but it would have to be incorporated into a CHDK related routine that would call up the cropping dimensions from a corresponding grid/crop file). It would go through a whole folder or folders of images with names like:

IMGJ1234.JPG

IMGK1235.JPG

IMGX1236.JPG

IMGB1237.JPG

IMGK1238.JPG

The cropping utility would have a corresponging (user written) list of what cropping formats that those GridDef letters refer to. Automatically cropping them according to the cropping Grids that you use to compose your shots.

Did that make sense? I realize this would have to be a concerted effort. Not only would the Grid files have to have the command, but a CHDK menu to add that grid/crop-definition letter to a filename, and a cropping utility that would make use of a unique filename (the 4th letter being what Grid cropping dimensions were used).

BUT ... it would simplify a rather common, and often requested feature needed by ANYONE that uses a digicam. I don't think there's any digital camera today that will automatically crop all your images to a required printing format. Not even the new $12,000 ones. This would give the end user an unlimited number of IN-CAMERA cropping abilities (with a post-processing utility). You could have a whole list of Grids that you wanted to load. Then later you'd need to only run a cropping utility on a whole folder of them. The cropping utility automatically cropping them to match the Grid file you used.

(reply) Re-read your camera manual. Most Powershot models have native DPOF functionality. You can move cropping frames and set choices on a picture-by-picture basis, with the result that they are (cropped and) printed per your instructions. More importantly (IMO), the original image is not disturbed/altered ~~ you can print 10 differently-cropped versions and still have the full-sized original copied to your hard drive archive when you later download the memory card contents to your PC. PLEASE, for permanent cropping/resizing/retouching operations -- use a dedicated PC graphics application. It will produce a much superior (permanent) result. Thank you -- please drive thru.

no limit "param x"

@param x (label)

The "x" in that line will be one of any lower-case latin letter from a to j. The (label) is >the text string that will appear in your "----Script Parameters----" list, to let the end >user know which of the variables they are changing (i.e. number of shots, how many >steps, etc.). Up to 10 @param statments, user-controllable variables, may be used in any one script.

I want the ability to use any variable here (a-z,A-Z) not just 'a' thru 'j', and more than 10 total variables.

Wifi remote control

Firstly thanks everybody to increase our powershots and for that fantastic work.

My idea is to take aerial pictures in a scale-down helicopter, plane or boat (why not a basical submarine with the water canon case). I will command the camera's control & get video on a wifi pda. I think to plug a wifi usb key in the camera to dial with the pda. Same stuff with an usb cable and my computer. This solving could be use in other conditions. I know there is an aussie company selling a remote controler with now a video transmitter and receiver but their little toys are expensive. It need to develop, in java or more easily perhaps in vb.net to fit on windows mobile, an interface software for the pda to command the controls camera. I suppose that with chdk it's possible, what do you think?

There is also the Eye-Fi Wireless SD Memory Card (2GB) used to upload pictures on computer and on internet like flickr. It could replace the wifi usb key. Perhaps open new perspectives.

In the same idea's range, can I control the trigger by infrared or light cell ? When cut by an animal the picture is taken. The idea is to replace the trigger of the camera by an external signal through the usb plug and have mode in a chdk's menu.

what about iso locking in movie mode?

this will defenitely reduce the noise issues in the videos! the indoor videos seems very grainy in s3is.So iso setting for video will do! this will be a great great great improvemnt! i am wondering if its possible to lock the iso to atleast iso 200 or 400 during video mode! so no more grains in video for s3is!!!!! well atleast is there a script to change iso in video mode?

or atleaset a script for video iso setting? the set iso script is not working!!

...and locking the aperture/ISO/Shutter speed on all cameras?

(The S3 is the only camera you can enable AE when shooting movie mode)

The movie mode has been vastly improved thanks to the jpeg compression ratio setting. Complete control over ISO/aperture/shutter speed would be the next "big thing" for enhanced movie mode.

Also, a 16:9 Wide screen movie mode would be cool! 640x360 would also require less data per/sec.

I agree, we need more control over the video. In fact, I'd like to be able to unlock all the manual settings and disable the auto-adjustment...

fraction 1/3 on LCD screen

If I have in script

for a=1 to 9 print a/3 next a

I see now on LCD screen: 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 2 3

now I must define if a=1 then print "1/3" if a=2 then print "2/3" .....etc

I want see fractions on LCD screen: 1/3 2/3 1 (no 3/3) 1 1/3 1 2/3 2 (no 6/2) 2 1/3 2 2/3 3 (no 9/3)

(reply) Check the tutorial pages regarding "uBasic syntax". I think you'll find that you must "escape" the slash or enclose the intended print output between quotations marks in order to achieve the desired result.

Bracketing and remote button scripts (with fingalo 119) A640

First, many thanks to fingalo and all others who contribute to the amazing CHDK.

Am I correct in the assumption that the remote button script can only be used for single shots (and "bursts")? It would be most useful if the remote could be used in conjunction with, e.g., bracketing.bas ... possible? I've assembled a 3v. momentary button USB switch and, while it is great to have, it is really missed when exposure bracketing.

Thanks for any replies; positive or negative.

There is a remote button/bracketing script, combined by Woodsman, in the new CHDK Forum: http://chdk.setepontos.com/index.php/topic,25.0.html

(Scroll down to the last script).

Turn off microphone in script.

I like to turn of the microphone when doing optical zoom with the zoom script.

Artificial horizon.

I would be great if the grid could adjust itself to the orientation of the camera. If you have 2 grids one for horizontal and one for vertical and CHCK would use the right one depending on the orientation of the camera. (or if the sensor gives a value in degrees, an artificial horizon like on air planes would be great)

Better shutter speed control

I have a canon powershot A560 and I would like a feature that will allow more control over the shutter speed. Generally when taking pictures, the camera will take at most 1/60 or 1/100 when the flash is on but the max shutter speed of the camera is much higher ( 1/2000) It would be good if there was a manual control over this speed.

Save RAW only

(powershot a560) It would be a good feature to have. when the camera does both raw and jpeg, there is a longer delay between shots because instead of writing around 6mb, it has to do 10 because of the added jpeg, this puts more work on the camera and adds a longer delay when taking pictures

Manual focus or locked focus

many times when taking HDR images with the powershot a560, as the exposure changes, the auto focus will lock onto different objects causing uneven focus which can ruin some HDR shots

(reply)Yeah, so... frame your shot, focus, and change to ManualFocus mode PRIOR TO STARTING YOUR SCRIPT. If you fail to do this (*and* preselect the aperture value, etc) how can you possibly expect the unattended camera, or the script, to meet your expectations?

More than one custom mode

My old A80 has 2 custom modes C1 and C2. Newer cameras often have only one custom mode. I would like to switch by button between several custom settings if I select the camera's custom mode.

(reply)Hello? Hellooooooooo? You apparently haven't read the wiki pages here regarding "uBasic scripting". By pre-selecting the camera's Manual shooting mode (not Custom) you can run 5 (or 50!) scripts that setup different "custom" combinations of settings. On the A80? Have you even checked to see whether there's a CHDK build for that model???

There are some important differences between Custom Mode and Scripting. For writing scripts you need a text editor, programming knowledge and some time. Imagine that you are somewhere where you want to take several photos and you become aware that you need to switch quickly between 2 or 3 different camera settings. In such a situation you don't have the time to write scripts from scratch (or to customize existing scripts), but it's easy to define some settings (on-the-fly), save them in Custom Modes and then switch between them very quickly. I agree that you can use scripts instead of Custom Modes if you have enough time to prepare a photo shooting, but if you are in a hurry or in a situation you haven't planned/prepared then Custom Modes will be essential.

Supporting help files for scripts

You often have to set lots of parameters before you can run a script. Therefore some script authors give the advice to create a text file for each script that can be read with the text reader which comes with CHDK. But it takes always several keystrokes to switch between the script menu and the text reader. Therefore I would suggest a new menu item or a new key to toggle between the script menu and a help text. Example: If you are in the script menu and there is a script named interval.bas selected and you press the toggle key then the CHDK firmware should search for a file named interval.txt and show its content on the display; by pressing the toggle key again you should get back to the script settings.

Wow, either you've read my mind... or I'm replying to something I typed a year ago and had forgotten that I'd posted it! Although I haven't pursued the possibility, uBasic has a native "call" command which might serve (within a running script) in conjunction with is_key, to display a hard-coded path/file. Getting back to the script, after reading the textfile... I don't know how we (scripters) could accomplish that. I agree that the ability to toggle views, between the output of a running script and a same-named helpfile, would provide a HUGE usability benefit.

Delete RAW files easily

If you set the camera into RAW mode then each shoot creates two files, a RAW file and a JPEG file. If you delete a shoot then only the JPG file is deleted but the RAW file remains on the flash card. Of course you can use CHDK's file browser to delete also the RAW file but that's complicated because you must decide for each file in the photo folder wether to keep it or to remove it. I would like to have new menu item that deletes every (!) RAW file from the flash card if there isn't a matching JPEG file in the same folder.

UBASIC commands for audio signals

I would like to do the following:

1. Start a script that waits for a light signal to do a remote shoot.
2. After a while I want to use a laser pointer to give the light signal the camera waits for.
3. The camera should beep when detecting the light signal (so that I know that the signal has been received), wait a few seconds (because I need some time to put the laser pointer away) and then - after giving another audio signal - immediately take the photo (or start the recording of a video clip).

I think that (by using a build that supports the motion detection feature) I can do everything by script except of giving audio signals. But I think that audio signals are important because there are no other ways by which I can be informed remotely that a script is going to execute a new task.

(reply) I believe the existing CHDK build which contains a "motion detection" feature could detect your laser pointer. As for "no other ways by which I can be informed remotely", yes there is "another way" already available. You can include a command within a uBasic script to blink the bright, forward-facing AF-Assist LED. An audio shutter trigger feature is HIGH on my personal CHDK wishlist; I'm just replying to point out that you (we) do have alternatives (in the laser+blinking LED scenario, at least).

Bring a new structure to this page

Please break this really huge page into parts! Example: Create subpages for

• script-related suggestions
• camera-related suggestions (e.g. asking for new camera ports)
• suggestions related to special builds (Non-GrAnd's Builds)
• video-related suggestions
• RAW-related suggestions
• change requests for existing features
• requests for new features
• non-CHDK requests and comments
• reporting bugs

Good idea. We're all looking forward to seeing the results of your work.

You might want to put all the ones that have already been solved into an "Archive" section too so people can check to make sure if they've not already been done, or found impossible to do.

This is a Wikia, if YOU want something different, then YOU do it. Just like all the rest of us who have been contributing all these months to help out people like you.

Audio/Sound Triggered Shutter

I'm looking for a way to fire the shutter when a louder-than-ambient room sound occurs.

Potential uses:

• In the case of a group photo when the whole group says "Cheeeeese" (or whatever your area of the world says when the photo is taken to provoke a smile).

(reply: You might consider using the motion detection capability for this, but using it in reverse. Write your script so that no photo is taken while the camera is detecting motion. Then when everyone is still or stops waving at the camera, only then does it fire off an image. This way everyone in the group has control over when the image is taken. If someone isn't ready they just need to keep waving until they are.)

(reply: I see what you are saying...though haven't tried it. I'd say it's tough enough getting the kids to sit still during the photo, let alone getting them to quit moving for it to take! Getting them to shout on the other hand is easy. 76.212.56.49 07:11, 12 January 2008 (UTC))

• Security Monitoring (supplement visual Motion Detection)
• Remote control substitute (rather than USB based trigger)

Perhaps this could be implemented as a script command that "pauses" the running script until a louder-than-ambient sound occurs.

Script Parameter Thoughts:

1. Sensitivity (1 - 10, where 1=sensitive, and 10=tolerant)
2. Pause for X milliseconds after the triggering sound event, then continue

76.212.56.49 06:06, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

(reply) Sounds like you are WISHING FOR an audio shutter trigger (rather than LOOKING FOR). Me too!!! Ideally (for the applications I have in mind) the trigger would be able to both react to a sudden increase (a noise) vs the baseline ambient sound level, as well as a suddent DECREASE (lull) in the baseline sound level. Through the months, as CHDK developers have astounded us with their accomplishments, I have silently wished and hoped for them to devise an audio shutter trigger... but the mic sensitivity seems to "gain up" automatically, so I can understand if the audio trigger might never be possible (short of "listening" via a mic attached to a hardware dongle, connected through the USB port on the camera).

Remote Shell access / telnet ?

No idea how hard this would be, but would it be possible to add a remote command shell so that you could execute commands interactively over the usb line. Maybe a small telnet server or something along those lines? It would be great fun to be able to have an interactive uBasic session, with all the available uBasic commands.. Some basic filesystem commands would be very useful on top of those, (ls, cp, rm, mkdir..) And perhaps some file transfer methods...

... dreams of perl/ruby/expect scripts happily clicking away from my linux box..

Hahaha, any chance of a linux kernel, while we're at it?

It's a long shot, but we can dream, can't we?

Thanks

Chuckheron 21:09, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, I can see from the memory dump from my 710IS, the string "VxWorks 5.5" which is unix-like...

Bypassing initialization checks/lens extension?

I should really start digging through the source, I could probably answer this myself... Is there any control over the lens extension checks during initialization? Basically I would like to remove the lens assembly and use the camera for astrophotography by attaching it directly to my telescope so I can catch photons directly on the ccd. The problem that I've encountered with some other digital cameras is that there are sensors that check that the lens assembly has extended correctly, and the camera just goes into error mode if it fails.

Thanks again,

Chuckheron 21:11, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

A520 Support?

Is there anyone working on making firmware for the A520? I would really like to be able to have all of these great features without having to spend money on a new camera.

Me too. It would be great. 200.61.6.83 19:03, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Me also....

I would love it as well but it seems highly unlikely since the A520 reportedly uses the DIGIC I chip set, not the DIGIC II/III that CHDK was written for. But of course anyone is more than welcome to start work on that chip set.

Need built-in timelapse feature.

I haven't downloaded the software yet, so I don't know if this is an included feature or not, but I have previously used a Canon Powershot successfully to make many timelapse movies (more than 50). However I always have to have a computer nearby because I have no remote control. This greatly limits what I can do.

If there were a built-in timelapse feature that would let me shoot as many as 500 consecutive shots at 4 to 10 second intervals, I could create many more amazing videos than I already have. Ideally all of those shots would be at the same exposure & F stop, although it might also be good to have a very gradual adaptation as light conditions change.

Haha.. you're in the right place, but you definitely haven't read much before posting your request though.. (hint hint) There are a bunch of great timelapse/intervalometer scripts here: Scripts. I've used them to do a bunch of timelapses.. 2 or 3 second intervals for 2000-4000 shots each (until my batteries died or my sd card fills up..) You can write scripts to do timelapse just about any way you want... without having a computer attached. Loads of fun. Chuckheron 21:09, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Turn on continuous shooting on start up with 710

710 turns on to single frame. To do any kids/action/bracketing, is it possible to have a script to have continuous/burst mode as a default? John

(reply) Absolutely. Read the "scripts" pages here on the wiki & you'll see how you can easily/quickly load a "continuous shooting" script as your default script. After you press the camera's powerOn button, you may need to press the "Alt" button to toggle scripting mode, but you're all set -- as soon as you press the shutter button, you can have continuous shooting implemented (or whatever other actions your default script contains).

Video with MP3 compression

Hi, my English is very poor...

Subject: WAV -> MP3

I wish record videos with less filesize, but the "same" quality. The Canon S2 camera take videos at: 640x480 pixels, AVI video with M-JPEG video compression and WAVE(!!!! :-( ) audio. If the CHDK fw will contain an "mp3-encoder", the filesize of the taken videos will be a lot smaller.

Thnaks

md5sum

It would be nice if developers would also include the md5sums of the files they provide. Towsonu2003 21:57, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

join all branches into one chdk build

There are too many branches / builds of chdk. Although a similar defense to that of linux distros could be raised here, it would be great for the end users if the build developers joined all their builds and release one chdk that has all the features that each individual build currently offer. Writing language files and documentation and offering help by others would be made easier this way too Towsonu2003 21:57, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Provide templates as part of builds

as chdk is uploaded to camera memory, new folders are created in the camera card (book, scripts etc). it would be nice if you could provide with favorite (?) templates for these. for instance, including a cheatsheet and the chdk manual under BOOKS, a few most downloaded scripts under SCRIPTS etc Towsonu2003 22:00, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

would it be possible to remove the low battery warning from the canon a570is. it's annoying when it blinks. for some reason i can use the camera for a long time during this warning, so i rather use the camera until it stops.

thanks a lot

Is it possible to extend hot pixel mapping to video?

If so, there will be no point for me to send my camera for service.

Remote Capture (PTP) using USB

Hi

I've succesfully proved that gphoto2 will talk to an A550 in PTP mode that's running CHDK.I can upload/download pictures etc.So I guess the handshake problem reported here - is fine for gphoto2.

However the remote-capture feature (take a picture) isn't supported. Would it be possible for CHDK to add remote-capture support to those Canon camera's that previously didn't support it?

For a list of camera's known to support remote-capture see this list.

http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/

Thanks to the A550 porter for doing all his efforts on the port to the A550.

Jeremy (Bullfrog) Bullfrog 14:07, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Please someone do the S80!

Canon S80 is the last camera in S-series, providing what could be seen in G series and adding WA and smaller body. I'd love to see this modified FW on my S80!

suggestion from chee@hawaii.edu=

We're going to use CHDK to take intervalometer images of reefs to map changes and also work on figuring out what's killing the reefs. However, this needs to run a LONG time...it would be super if there was a way to connect an external hard disk to the USB port so that we're not limited in how many pictures we take before we yank the housing out of the water.

128.171.104.164 00:05, 25 June 2008 (UTC)brian chee

Square framing marks

It would be great if it was possible to add framing marks for square pictures to the a720is code.

Double-shot w/ and w/o flash

Some cameras have a mode where it takes one photo without flash and immediatly after another photo with flash, so that you can choose afterwards which one is better looking.

I guess it should be feasible in CHDK or a script. What do you think of this feature and its implementation? Cyril42e 02:38, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

h264 video recompression

Sounds crazy I know, but this is surely feasible. It seems that some builds allow to change the compression ratio, but if your camera records MJPEG it will always be MJPEG, and more compression equals less quality. And I perfectly know CHDK cannot change this algorithm.

But once a video is recorded, CHDK could perfectly recompress it in another format right? It would not allow to record longer videos, but would allow to record more cumulated video time on the same card... If someone manage to get an h264 compression algorithm source code, it could be pretty easy (if not it's probably too much work). Cyril42e 06:06, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

S2 IS a web cam?

Can you make S2 IS to be used like a web cam via USB?

RAW and REMOTE TRIGGER ON G9?

I am needing a 12MP digital to fly on a balloon (so lightweight) that takes RAW images.

I see that the G9 cannot do RAW at the same time as being remotely triggered..

Any way round this?

I am thinking of just using the blip from www.blip.com.au as this will trigger most canons and Nikons but this apparently turns off RAW mode.

Please help?

Undelete feature

This seems like an unlikely possibility, but it would be a real life saver at times! Would it be possible to be able to undelete photos from CHDK? While the camera is on, this could be done by intercepting the delete operation and implementing a Recycle Bin concept (if such a capability exists to override such a basic feature). It seems like it wouldn't be possible when the camera is connected via USB, but maybe it's the same operation behind the scenes. This is probably asking too much (especially considering how awesome the current version is!) but it would be a really great addition if possible. Specifically, I have the S3 IS. -Arian

AUDIO INPUT THROUGH USB PORT

USB Audio Input

Few, if any of these cameras have an audio input capability. Unfortunately, The quality of the onboard mics is always subject to handling and wind noise, as well as usually being too distant for good recordings.

There are a number of USB Mixers that can take inputs from Wireless or Shotgun mics.

If this audio could be fed into the USB port while recording video, it would open up a whole range of more professional results with these small cameras, many of which are now able to shoot in HiDef.

I'm particularly interested in the TX-1, but, as it has not yet been ported, only dumped, perhaps some other camera can be made to work and that knowledge disseminated.

TIA,

Cybercom 18:49, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

This http://forums.powershot-tx1.com/index.php?topic=44.0 is relevant -- perhaps get in touch with puppetboy

robocat 26 May 2008

Why not just record the audio separately from another device, remove the original audio stream from the video and mix them?

SLIT SCAN Recording Mode

A way to transform motion (time) into a single picture (space).

As long as you keep the shutter button pressed, the vertical middle row (1 pixel width) of the sensor will be read at the preset speed. All rows will be added to one raw-picture in the buffer and written to memorycard when the shutter button is released.

Options: 1) Speed in rows per second. 2) verical or horizontal row

Example: Take a look at the pictures of "Jay Mark Johnson" (use any search engine).

Background: In analog, it might work like this: A very thin (~0,1 mm) vertical slit mask is placed right before the film. You open the shutter and keep it open in the bulb mode. While open, you wind the film past the slit. If you have the camera on a tripod and the background doesn´t change, your picture will show only vertical stripes. If something moves across your picture, it will be on the picture on the background of stripes. The width of the resulting picture depends on the speed of winding and the total time of winding.

Digital (so far): Most easy und cheapest way is to record a video and build a picture by putting every middle row of pixels of each frame besides the next. (There is a slit scan script for processing.org doing this). Cons: fixed framerate (speed), small resolution, bad quality.

A little bit better is the Casio EX-F1, which can be set to 1-60 frames per second, but max. 60 frames at all. Full-HD camcorders have 1920 pixel max, but fixed framerates.

Xmaskid 13:55, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Why not use a flatbed scanner and modify that e.g. see articles http://www.google.com/search?q=scanner+hack robocat 26 May 2008

Use camera as passive 3D scanner - using Depth from Defocus algorithms

3D shape (or picture depth buffer) can be recovered using one, two or more pictures taken at different focus settings. A quick introduction into this class of algorithms including a little bibliography for further reading is available in this "Depth from focus/defocus-tutorial" from Paolo Favaro:

http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/CVonline/LOCAL_COPIES/FAVARO1/dfdtutorial.html

There exist many different approaches, some require calibration of camera parameters, other algorithms can determine them on their own. An example of the latter, including a literature survey over the most relevant algorithm classes you can find here: http://www.math.ucla.edu/~yflou/louFBS07.pdf

Do you think it is feasible to implement this on-camera, so that a special mode records one or more in-focus and de-focus pictures, and automatically recovers 3D shape or depth map, for immediate control on the display, so that the user can decide whether to take more pictures or choose a different POV? Would something like this be of general interest at all?

-- 89.247.88.41 17:22, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

comment: an alternative approach, using texture information instead of defocused pictures, can be found on http://make3d.stanford.edu -- sample code for non-commercial use on http://make3d.stanford.edu/research.html - one could even combine both algorithms in order to increase accuracy. -- 89.247.88.41 17:27, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Would something like this be of general interest at all? I only had a quick look at the page you linked to, but if this works well than I'm positive that this is of interest to various people (I know I am definitely one of them!) -- 82.215.30.65 21:17, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, I wouldn't mind this, for sure. An open-source program that experimentally implements depth extraction from focus is ALE, at [3], although I believe the algorithm is still kind of rudimentary. 213.140.17.103 20:18, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Support Canon A95

Can you build firmware update for Canon powershot A95? thx!

in-camera captioning/tagging

I'd like to be able to input a caption and/or list of tags/keywords that get stored either in the EXIF info (ideally in a standard way that other programs and websites know how to pull out) or in the image filename itself, just to save me time doing this at my computer later if I have time to do it in a car or on a train/bus or while waiting for something else to happen to take a picture of before I get back to a computer, even if the input of the text is obviously more painful that with a full keyboard).

(Note that while lots of programs and website let you caption/tag, many don't do so in a way that is easy to backup or extract and use automatically with other programs/websites, so my preference is always to have the custom text stored in the JPEG file itself---that way any backup of the file automatically preserves the text too. The most standard way of doing this that I've found is to use the filename itself.)

-Karl (kpfleger@cs.stanford.edu)

Any chance of working with the 1dsMKIII ?

Dual Digic 3 processors... and firmware is available as a download from the Canon website.

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/dc/eos1dsmk3112.exe

Any chance of someone running this through IDA or whatever and checking feasibility ?

65.10.69.234 03:30, 7 May 2008 (UTC) rc

Stand alone security camera that deletes old images?

I have a power adapter for my camera and want to use it as a security camera. There are motion detection scripts that will take pictures but after awhile the memory gets full. I would like it to keep working for months and months. Is there any way to have the script delete some old pictures when the memory is getting full?

Change Flash Default Setting?

I would like to change my flash from defaulting to "Auto" on startup to defaulting to "Off." Is this possible?

Calculator

I think it would be feasible and useful to add a calculator in the <ALT> menu using the same controls that calendar

 has.

Eye-Fi!

Eye-Fi is a combo SD flash card + wifi radio…so your camera can upload its pictures wirelessly. Great concept! Unfortunately it has to be setup with a PC, because of course the Eye-Fi card cannot talk to the camera. This limits it to your home network or similar. The real utility of the Eye-Fi—uploading your pics through a public wireless connection while traveling—is difficult to get, because you need a laptop to tell the card what network to use.

But now with CHDK, would it be possible to access the Eye-Fi card too? Just display the open connections it sees and let the user select one. Perhaps add the ability to enter an encryption key. That would make the Eye-Fi card a real help for travelers.

Frame rate over 60fps

It would be great if in video mode the frame rate could be higher than 60fps. With this, some cool slow motion effects could be created!

Micro Closeup

One thing I really miss about my recently deceased PowerShot a410 was a special mode just for extreme closeups - like no farther than a few inches from the lens. There was an extraordinary number of interesting pictures taken in that mode, and it doesn't exist on my new a590 - which, itself, is not yet a supported model.

It would also be nice to have back the Stitch Assist mode on the darn thing, too....

Uhm, all powershots have a macro option. It's the button with a tulip on it. Press it once and the camera goes into macro mode for closeups. According to this image: [4] the A590 has the option. However, stitch mode/panorama mode does not appear to be present, according to this image: [5] -- 82.215.30.65 16:25, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Take photos/video even if LCD closed (TX-1)

I found it frustrating that I couldn't just point and shoot (and noticed a couple of comments from other users about this too!). The LCD swivel panel on the TX-1 has a small switch sensor to detect when it is closed. Although the camera starts up and opens the lens when put into manual mode, press the shutter button or the video record button and the camera beeps 5 times to tell you to open the swivel panel.

My mistake sorry - this feature is already part of CHDK - great!

Robocat 05:40, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Manual settings for video

(on an S5IS)I would like to be able to shoot video, with manual controls for: exposure, aperture, focus, iso, color correction, and (if eventually possible) framerate/time remapping. Grosso-modo I want to disable the automatic video settings.

I'm a student in cinema, (poor :P), and the progressive video from this camera looks better than the interlaced one from my camcorder. That and I hate shooting on tape.

Thanks!

Flat field coorection

Motivated by raw sum and average: would it be possible to have also raw image division? In this case it could be used to perform a flat field correction. Especially for making panoramas the dark corners with wide open lens are annoying since you can see the transitions between the single shots in the final image. Of course this problem can be solved ouside the camera but it would save a lot of memory if one could do it already in the camera and save jpeg after correction instead of raw.

Thanks for the nice piece of work already done Leo

dslr dedicated flash adapted to s3is usb port?

Might there be an after market cannon dedicated flash that can be hooked up to comunicate through the usb port? might it be posible that the usb can provide the flash with the camera settings, and set off the flash, or at least provide the settings so the flash will be automatic and set itself, and then have the flash set off with a digital specific slave adaptor? There are slave adapters that can use a generic manual flash with this cam, but i was hoping that there might be an automatic flash that is dedicated to other digic II cannons with hotshoes that could be hacked to work through the s3is usb port. Hopefully they can be made to comunicate with each other like the dslr cameras do. Whether it is through a jack on the flash, to the usb port, as some flashes have sync jacks,(it is my impression that some camera flash combos use an exterior cable to link the camera to the flash even though the flash is mounted to the hotshoe on top of the camera) or might one be able to get a 'dead' hotshoe alone, those used for mounting strobes, and figure out which prongs on the base of the flash it's self comunicates which way with the camera, and solder the necessary wires to the corosponding spots on the dead hot shoe, and splice that into the usb? I might be willing to find a used flahs, if deamed a suitable unit, and offer it to whome ever might be able to hack it. I would prefer it be a current and affordable flash, so others in this delima could take advantage. No point in hacking something that will not be readily available to others. Also, given usb daisy chains, can this be done and still be able to use the remote trigger? (ok, i'm really pushing it, but just curious in general in regards to staking hack on the usb port) Also, can any of the battery powered cable remotes out there be modified to fit the cannon? Same for the wireless remotes? Is there a known grouping of parts available to make a remote 'out of package' with minimal fiddling with wires and soldering and such? Some folks are intimidated by such. Moi, for example. :-) BTW, I passed on the s5is due to the higher resolution, and smeary noise reduction. I wanted the s3is, but there being no hot shoe is the only regret.

Send USB signal from pc?

I was thinking about this today: since CHDK supports remote shooting by sending a 3V signal to the USB port, wouldn't it be possible to write a pc program that sends this signal? That way, you could for example write a program that takes a photo every 5 minutes without you having to push the button yourself everytime.
I asked about this on a Dutch programming forum, and the response I got was that this would require writing a new USB driver. I am a programmer myself, but I have no experience writing drivers or controlling hardware.

So, if someone knows how to do this, please contact me. Or if you feel like writing such a driver, please do so! :D -- Spinal83 15:46, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Black & White Filter/Pixels

It would be fun to allow the user to take B&W pictures using only one of the RGB pixels (as selected by the user) or a combination of only two in order to simply give the same effect as if standard B&W filters were used in front of the lens (Red, Orange, Yellow & Green being the most common filters)

Using as HiRes-Webcam

What about using a camera with CHDK as a High Resolution Webcamera for making hi-res timelapse movies. Of course small timelapse movies can be created without any additional equipment, but the filesize is still limited to the SD-Card size.

Stream LCD feed to USB port (in lower frame rate) when LCD is cracked

When your LCD screen is cracked then you would like to connect a Palm computer or a cell phone to the USB-port. Then you would just watch the LCD of your Palm or phone while adjusting the aim and zoom of your camera.

Ideal would be to enter the maximal resolution of the external LCD via the SD card, and then let the camera update the USB port at best poosible rate the USB port can handle.

(Service staff of any camera brand could team up with hackers to let ordinary folks download this patch for 20 dollars, Pentax S60 anybody?)

Cracked LCD 11:07, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Improved (non-linear) battery indicator

Some people express surprise at the CHDK battery indicator, especially when it counts down right before your eyes! This has been put down to the habit of common battery types to sharply drop in voltage initially before levelling out to a smooth decline.

Would it be better to offer by default a non-linear mode that counts down roughly at the same rate over the life time of the battery? This could be modeled using a sample of runs and adjusting the percentage drop per voltage drop, so as a completely arbitary example your tests might show that the first 10% of the time a battery lasts actually corresponding to a drop of 500mv rather than the current 250.Kalniel 11:10, 31 July 2008 (UTC)