Hacking Canon Cameras

In these last few days I have been getting back to something that I read about several months ago. Trying to take time lapse photos of sparklers on the 4th drove me to revisit hacking our camera.

Features that I find useful:
1. Long shutter speed, for low light shots.
2. Extremely short shutter speed, for water droplet or balloon popping shots.
3. High Dynamic Range [HDR] shots.
4. Remote camera trigger.
5. Motion sensor camera trigger.
6. Time lapse sequences.

Here is what you need to know before beginning:
1. Hacking is not bad like most mindless media drivel would have you think.
2. The added features will not destroy the camera. They are features that the common user does not desire, or ones that Canon wants you to pay more for in a more expensive camera.
3. Almost all Canon digital cameras can utilize this series of hacks
4. The hack does not do anything to the camera itself. It loads a small set of files onto a memory card which are NOT loaded by default, but that you can access whenever you like.
5. Installing this to a memory card will erase ALL information on the chip, so backup anything on there that you still want.
6. The main site for information, chdk.wikia.com, is not organized very well.
7. Some of the information does not address all cameras, or all firmware packages.
8. Firmware is the operating system for computer chips, more or less.

Getting it to work:
1. Check here to see if your camera is supported.
2. Follow the instructions here, under the title "Let's put the CHDK in the card"
3. Continue reading on the same page in the section "CHDK is loaded!"
4. For general options for CHDK, go here. If you are using the AllBest firmware like I am, go here.
5. Lastly, there are scripts here that can be used to automate reloading settings after the camera has been powered off.

I have only played with the time lapse and remote shutter/trigger scripts.

I am happy to help anyone who has questions.