Camera software

[johnridley]

This hack software for the Canon Powershots is going to be a LOT of fun. I tried playing with it with a "motion detection" script running this evening, and results are promising. I screwed up in that A)I had the ISO set to 800, so the results are unacceptably grainy, and B) it was set in RAW mode (normally not supported by this camera, but capability added via the software and I must have bumped the setting while crusing menus). So the results weren't that great, but still, it's nice to just point the camera at a feeding area, turn it on, and go inside while the camera shoots whenever something gets in front of it. And that's just one script that someone wrote for this addon. You can pretty much do anything you can think of. Heck, they put some games in while they were at it.

I'll try again later with better settings and more light; this was taken in the evening.

Comments

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Be sure to check the compatibility list. Apparently Canon is catching on, and they have encrypted the firmware on at least one newer camera. Also, Canon just switch from VxWorks to their own OS on their newer cameras (to get the price down I'm sure) and they have CHDK working on a few DryOS cameras but not all.

Here's a developer page that lists the current status of firmwares for various cameras.
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/For_Developers

My camera is an A710, L's is an A700, they're both supported. The current version is an A720, which is $200 and supported.

But if you're looking just for something to play with, the A460 is $98 at newegg with a free 2GB card (though $9 shipping). It'd be nice if the A590 was supported yet, it's a nicer camera in the $150 range. But right now it looks like $200. I quite like my 710. I checked ebay but all I see right now is nutjobs selling them for above MSRP.