For my friends with Canon Powershot cameras

[sraun]

johnridley just gave a pointer to http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK - it's a 'boot from card' add-on to Canon Digic II and Digic III cameras. Doesn't touch the firmware, adds on a number of what look to be nifty features. I'm certain that there are people on my FL with a relevant camera that aren't on his, so I'm passing it along!

Comments

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I also ran into a Lifehacker article (http://lifehacker.com/387380/turn-your-point+and+shoot-into-a-super+camera) about it as well.

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This looks like it could be interesting, though I've only skimmed a little of it so far. No mention yet of a possible fix for my main pet peeve with my A540: you can use the macro setting or the manual focus, not both at the same time. It's always seemed to me like that could be a potential software fix.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Even if you don't see that feature, it's possible you may be able to add it with a script. Many of the things that are currently features started out life as scripts, including being able to use optical zoom during video recording (which is of dubious value since the audio is nothing but the whirring of the zoom motor while it's running).