Interesting news for owners of cheap Canon cameras (Powershot, IXUS, etc)

A new third-party software system is available here:

[chdk.wikia.com]

This adds a whole lot of new functionality (and doesn't change the firmware so it won't affect your warranty) including:

# Shooting in RAW, with RAW Average, RAW Sum, and RAW Develop features
# Live histogram (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)
# Zebra mode (live-view under/over-exposure subject-area alerts)
# DOF-calculator, Hyperfocal-calculator with instant Hyperfocal and Infinity focus-set, and more
# Battery indicator
# RAW and Video space-remaining gauges with custom low-limit alerts
# Scripts execution (exposure/focus/bracketing, intervalometer and more)
# USB-cable remote shutter-release
# Motion-Detection triggered photography (fast enough to capture lightning strikes)
# Customizable high-speed continuous (burst) Tv, Av, ISO, and Focus bracketing (unlimited shots)
# 99 constant bit-rate and 10 constant-quality video compression levels
# 1 Gig video-size limit removed in earlier cameras
# Zoom during video for cameras without
# Shutter, Aperture, and ISO Overrides (shutter speeds of 64" to 1/10,000" and higher)
# High-speed Flash Sync at all speeds up to 1/64,000 second (even faster in some cameras)
# Custom framing, cropping, and alignment viewfinder Grids (user editable)
# File browser
# Text reader
# Calendar
# Some fun tools and games
# Fully customizable CHDK display, info placement, user-colors, fonts in menus, etc.
# Custom CHDK User-Menu (for instant recall of up to 10 favorite functions)

I haven't tried it yet, but it seems that it is worth trying if you have one of these cameras! I think Ida's camera is on the supported list so we'll give it a try later.

Jolyon

WOW!!
Looks like I can finally make some decent mineral pics!
It was about time

Thanks a lot, Jolyon!

Chris

Focus bracketing is perfect for using with CombineZM or similar to make nice pics. I'd be curious to see what results people have with this new combination!

Jolyon

Ok, so Ida's camera isn't supported *yet* but it seems to be in progress. Her brother's camera is supported though!

Jolyon

Better to let him be the pioneer (pioneers are the ones that have arrows in their backs).

This isn't a firmware update. It's an application that runs from the camera SD card, so once the card is removed, the camera reverts back to normal behaviour. Canon have confirmed that it doesn't void the warranty.

Jolyon

I have tried to write a focus bracketing script for a Canon A620 camera and yes, it works as it should ! I modified some of the examples on the website.
I will try to optimize it for mineral macro photography. The focus bracketing does not work well through a microscope, because the difference in frontmost to backmost focal plane in the camera is hardly different through the microscope.

Hi Stein,

I have focus bracketing with my S5 excellent through the scope. Maybe the controls on the A620 are different?

I can focus from about 1m to infinity from the camera's perspective and it covers only about 3mm through the scope. So, I can easily get 10 shots over 3mm depth of mineral.

The S5's manual focus is achieved by holding a "MF" button and then pressing the "up" or "down" buttons to move the focus.

If you're interested my script is:
(NR=noise reduction, i use this to reduce noise at each focal point.)

@title Focus Bracketing with buttons
@param a Number of shots
@default a 10
@param b steps per shot
@default b 3
@param c NR frames
@default c 4

if a<1 then let a=10
if b<1 then let b=3
if c<1 then let c=4
sleep 2000

get_focus f
for s=1 to a
press "mf"
for d=1 to b
click "up"
next d
release "mf"
print "Shot", s, "of", a
for e=1 to c
shoot
next e
next s

set_focus f

end

Thank you for the script, I will try it.

I didn't measure exactly, but with the A620 the distance between top and bottom focal plane was only a fraction of a mm. I think this has to do with the combination of optics in the camera and the microscope. If you can get 3 mm depth that is very interesting. What microscope and magnification are you using ? What zoom setting do you use on the camera ?

I have been thinking about buying an S3 or an S5, since this seems to be the last compact camera in production that supports remote capture. Canon has announced that it will not support remote capture for future models in the PowerShot series.

Stein,

Yes, it does sound like the camera's and microscope's optics are limiting your focal range, which is a pity.

I use a Nikon SMZ-2T microscope with a martin microscopes adapter.

I'm not at home right now to test, but I think the camera is almost at full zoom in order to fill the sensor frame completely. At no zoom the view is only a very small circle.

Magnification is up to 63x, but I would typically use 30-40x.