HOWTO: Calibrating the distance of the A620. Richard Lemieux, 2007-05-24 The purpose of distance calibration is to get correct distance numbers from the camera software. The intent is to be able to compute distance related numbers such as the depth of field and the optimal stereo separation distance. The process of calibration returns parameter values that are used in a program that displays distance related numbers such as program rf_3.c [2]. The A620 already provides a distance number. The distance number provided by Canon is used in the 'distance scale' shown in manual focus mode and while doing 'autofocus lock' (shutter half-press and down arrow).
The 'Canon distance number' can also be found in the EXIF data (Look for FocusDistanceUpper if using Phil Harvey's Exif tool). The 'Canon distance number' appears to be pretty close to the real distance if the distance is measured from the back of the camera and is small (roughly less than half the hyperfocal distance). Focusing is performed by moving a lens group within the lens. 1.
FAQ. Firmware versions in green are available in stable and/or dev for download Firmware versions in gray do not have official CHDK releases. Check porting status here For the development status of not-yet-supported cameras, see For Developers. It is likely that any Canon Powershot based on the DIGIC II, DIGIC III or DIGIC 4 platforms can be supported, although it is impossible to be sure until someone starts work on a particular model. If your camera model is not listed here then there is no CHDK for it at the present time !
See also Unsupported Cameras, Adding support for a new camera and Q. My camera isn't ported yet. For camera models currently in development see For Developers For technical reasons some cameras will never be supported by CHDK. Canon DSLRs. Q. Edit A. A port of a new camera model happens if and only if there is a developer who has the camera and sufficient time, motivation and skill to complete the port. Q. A. Creating the ver.req or vers.req file Windows based systems Q. ACID. This is the English version of the ACID Download Page. There's a German version here and a Spanish version here. If you are interested in making other translated versions of ACID available, please see the ACID Internationalisation page. ACID will download an SDM or CHDK build, but will not install it. To download and install a build, use my ASSIST app (for SDM) or STICK app (for CHDK).
Acid is a Java application designed to simplify the process of getting an SDM, CHDK (stable or trunk) or CHDK-DE build for your Canon camera. Take a picture with the camera put the camera card into a card reader run Acid and drag the photo from the card and drop it onto the Acid window. Acid will then: analyse the photo extract the camera model and firmware version information automatically download the appropriate build of SDM, CHDK (stable or trunk) or CHDK-DE (depending on which button you press) to a folder you choose Acid requires version 1.4 or later of the Java Runtime. Version History: Pocket-Sized CHDK USB Camera Shutter Remote. This Instructable shows you how to make a pocket-sized CHDK USB remote for your Canon camera inside of an Altoids Smalls tin (the new kind with the hinged lid).
I kept it pretty simple as far as the circuit goes. It's just batteries connected to a NO push button switch and a jack into which a modified USB cable is inserted. There are no resistors, capacitors, or voltage regulators. It's simplicity at its finest. This remote has a detachable cable as well, that allows a bit of multitasking, as the cable can be used to charge a Motorola phone (or any other device that charges from a 5v power source through mini USB). If you have a Canon camera you should--if you haven't already--check out the CHDK (Canon Hackers Development Kit). It does all this without voiding any warranties. Note: This Instructable is in conjunction with two others recently posted by the Author. Try it out. Samples: High-Speed Shutter & Flash-Sync. Sample images of what can now be done with the ultra-high shutter speeds with high-speed flash sync. These images were taken with the new high-speed shutter override option. 1/10,000 second, Manual mode, f/3.5, flash manual at lowest output, +4 diopter close-up lens, subject distance approx. 10 inches (25cm), room lights and lights above sink all turned on.
Notice the greenish rectangular highlight in one of the drops. That is the fluorescent light over the sink. On further investigation by others, it now appears that while the CCD electronic shutter timing is at (approximately?) I like this one, look at that way cool perfect ring floating on the surface. This clearly shows the highlight from the fluorescent lamp above the sink. I saw this one go by as I was taking shots and had hoped it would have turned out better. This image from an S2 IS PowerShot camera was submitted to test the true speed of the new ultra-shutter-speeds. :(Contributor: "dudleydocker" from this discussion.
Scenario: Samples: Unlimited DOF. You can use focus bracketing to increase the DOF (depth of field) of a photo. This is especially useful for macros, because often the DOF is so shallow that large parts of the picture will be blurred. Just load your pictures into CombineZM (freeware), click "Macro>Do Stack" and they will be combined into one photo with large depth of field.
The following photos were combined into one image with a large DOF. As you can see there is a problem on the picture with the three Kinder Surpise figures: There is an unsharp halo around the ears of the mouse. This is because the distance between the mouse and the background was too large: When the background was in focus, the ears of the mouse became bigger and blurry and so they concealed the background. I should have taken another photo without the figures - just the background. Benchmarks. Here are some benchmark results for various SD card brands which were acquired with the new benchmark option of the CHDK. Maybe also see BenchmarkVideo60Sec. The higher is the value, the higher is the speed [kb/s], the faster is the memory card. Take them with a grain of salt: The first benchmark round sometimes shows too low numbers and there are some unknown variables (Which firmware version of the cam was used? How full/fragmented was the card? → Always run the benchmark at least 2 times, add your results from the 2nd run here, do not report the values from the 1st run !
The quickest Digic II speeds are 74X, 71X, 51X, 63X. MbineZM News. CombineZP the next member of the CombineZ series of programs is now available. Having trouble Downloading from here? There are copies of most files on the CombineZ Yahoo Group web site, try downloading from there. Please Note There are now Two versions of CombineZM. 1. the FULL version still called CombineZM, short form CZM. 2. the SMALL version called CombineZ-m, short form CZm. The SMALL version has had the Movie Making function, the Extract Frames function and all of the Acquire functions removed. Download this version for running on older versions of the Windows opperating system, or if you do not need these functions or have trouble installing the FULL version. The Full version is as it always was with all features enabled. There are now TWO installation packages one for each version of the program, and two different .exe files.
For new users here are four versions of the installation package. Full Versions CombineZM.msi and Combinez-m.msi 18th of April 2008 fftw3.dll CombineZ5 Docs. CombineZM. DOF stacking was not set properly, and/or too many/too few photos.What were your parameters in the focus settings, and how many shots did you combine? What I do with such macros is set the focus depth increment to 2mm, set it to "+" bracketing, set into continuous mode, set the focus lock at the closest I can, set EV lock, and fire away.I take many dozens of shots on the tripod.When I load them all, I clear out the ones at the beginning of the string of shots (usually none need to go) and any shots after the last good focused part of the object.From there, I may be left still with 3 dozen shots.
I then delete the last two photos in every three shots.In other words, pictures numbered xx25, xx26, xx27, xx28, xx29, xx30, xx31, xx32, xx33, xx34, xx35, xx36, xx37,xx38,xx39,xx40... becomes a list of... xx25,xx28,xx31,xx34,xx37,xx40...and so on. Here's a composition I made a few days ago. CheatSheets. A640 for HDR Bracketing Edit I've made this cheat sheet to help me remember all the ALT-shortcuts on the A640, and to teach my wife how to take HDR exposure-bracketed sequences.
Hope that one or the other might find it as useful as I do. Feel free to modify it to your needs. Some of the text is camera and/or script file dependent. The drawing is in SVG format and was done with Inkscape. Just print and cut out front and back. CheatSheet CHDK A640 (SVG) --Blumpsy 15:23, 4 October 2007 (UTC) A620 mini cheat sheet Based on the above one, I've created a mini cheat sheet for gluing behind the display of the A620.
FAQ. Firmware versions in green are available in stable and/or dev for download Firmware versions in gray do not have official CHDK releases. Check porting status here For the development status of not-yet-supported cameras, see For Developers. It is likely that any Canon Powershot based on the DIGIC II, DIGIC III or DIGIC 4 platforms can be supported, although it is impossible to be sure until someone starts work on a particular model. If your camera model is not listed here then there is no CHDK for it at the present time ! See also Unsupported Cameras, Adding support for a new camera and Q. For camera models currently in development see For Developers For technical reasons some cameras will never be supported by CHDK.
Canon DSLRs. Q. Edit A. A port of a new camera model happens if and only if there is a developer who has the camera and sufficient time, motivation and skill to complete the port. Note : there are several CHDK camera ports that have not been released due to a lack of testing. FAQ/Mac. A guide to installing and using CHDK with your Mac. Manual vs. Auto booting Edit There are two possible ways to use the CHDK on the camera. One way is autoboot, where it will boot up automatically whenever you turn on the camera. The other way is manual boot (also known as firm update) where your camera will start up with only the original Canon menus. Probably the easiest way is a hybrid of the manual and automatic methods: simply download, unpack, and copy over right build, manually boot it the first time as described above, press <alt> then menu, choose Miscellaneous stuff > Make card bootable... finally "lock" the card with the slider on the side and the CHDK firmware should boot the next time you start the camera (in any mode).
Note that for some cameras (including the SD1100/Ixus 80) if you have a card that's larger than 4 gigs, you have to use the manual boot method. -See also How to Install CHDK on a SD Card Using a Macintosh Note: These methods were tested on OS X 10.5.6 "Leopard". CameraFeatures. Since the discovery of many new override features, some far surpassing what the cameras were originally sold to do, it has been found that each make and model of camera may have variations in the absolute limits of Shutter-Speeds, F-Stops, ISO-Values, Motion-Detection Speed, among others. It might be interesting if people who have tested the limits of their particular cameras would provide what limits they found.
This would also be a nice quick & dirty chart for anyone wanting to choose a CHDK-capable camera based on these new capabilities. As well as a place to show to newcomers the answer to their "I set my camera to 2 minutes exposure but I only get 65 seconds, Why" questions. NOTE: All ratings in this chart should be taken as a basic guideline. Important! New Camera Capabilities with CHDK Edit Values in (parenthesis) are the camera's OEM value. 1 RAW File/Frame Sizes - You might notice something you haven't noticed before. ! How To Test Your Camera Edit Longest Tv Highest F/Stop (Av) Tests. CHDK for Dummies. The Very First Steps Choosing a new camera Edit There are two segments in the digital camera market: people who just want to snap pictures, and professional photographers. Accordingly, many camera manufacturers have two "families" of product: Point And Shoot cameras (also called Digital Compact cameras) intended for consumers who want to take snaps.
P&S cameras are small, easy-to-use digital cameras, without fancy lenses. First time camera users should get a Point And Shoot camera. The CHDK (Canon Hacker Development Kit) software makes the extra settings of a DSLR available on Canon's point-and-shoot cameras. Using CHDK Edit Please note these points on using CHDK to get more out of your digital camera . CHDK only works with Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras. Modern digital cameras contain tiny computers. The next section describes how to check which firmware version your camera has. How to check the firmware version of a Canon P&S camera Preparing the file on the SD card In the store Edit. CHDK firmware usage. Introduction Edit What is CHDK? Canon Hack Development Kit CHDK is a unique software application developed by enthusiasts that enables extra features for ported Canon™ "Point&Shoot" cameras.
(Note: it will not run on DSLR cameras). What can it do? After loading CHDK, your camera will have the following extra functionality: These new features are accessed through CHDK-specific menus, rather than the default camera menus. How is all this possible? Does CHDK permanently alter the camera? How does CHDK get on the camera? How does CHDK software get copied to the flash card? Where can CHDK software be downloaded? Thanks to the Authors Many thanks go to all the contributing writers over the years.Please see Acknowledgements at bottom of this page Important Disclaimer This CHDK User Manual is FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, and offered WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CHDK is experimental! See also GPL license information below. ? UBASIC/Scripts. UBASIC/Scripts: Focus Bracketing. DoF Stacking. Scripts. UBASIC/Scripts: Universal motion detection.
Gentles Limited: Camera Remote Control. The Gentled CHDK2. Sujit Shet. Building usb-remote-cable. USB Splitter. USB Remote Cable. CHDK in Brief.