CHDK for any DIGICIV+ Models, esp. ELPH 340? - General Chat - CHDK Forum
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CHDK for any DIGICIV+ Models, esp. ELPH 340?

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Offline ctsurv553

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CHDK for any DIGICIV+ Models, esp. ELPH 340?
« on: 19 / October / 2014, 17:16:50 »
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I have been using CHDK on my A-720IS for several years, but want to upgrade the camera itself, as it is now 6 years old. The ELPH 340 has the best overall bundle of features, and the retail price seems reasonable, but I have held off purchasing one until I am sure that CHDK will be successfully ported to it. Looking at the Developer page, I see that NONE of the Powershot models with DIGIC4+ have CHDK yet, although most of them have had firmware dumps available for a year or more.  Is there something about DICIC4+ that makes it impossible to port CHDK to cameras using it? I still want to get a newer model shirt-pocket-size Powershot with a 10x~12x lens and at least 12 megapixels, but only if it has CHDK available. Thanks for all the work that CHDK developers put in. Being able to shoot RAW makes even the cheapest Powershot models so much more capable. There are plenty of times where I don't want to lug around the bulk and weight of my 6D with a bunch of "L" lenses, but I still want photos that are as nice as possible, and CHDK helps make even a cheap "A" series Powershot into a decent camera that only weighs a few ounces, and that has a real lens and RAW capability, unlike the cameras in smart phones that most people seem to be using for snapshots nowadays.
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Offline waterwingz

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Re: CHDK for any DIGICIV+ Models, esp. ELPH 340?
« Reply #1 on: 19 / October / 2014, 17:53:54 »
Quote from: ctsurv553 on 19 / October / 2014, 17:16:50
Is there something about DICIC4+ that makes it impossible to port CHDK to cameras using it?
I don't believe so.  It's just that nobody with the required porting skills and time has access to one of those cameras and the desire to do the port.

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Being able to shoot RAW makes even the cheapest Powershot models so much more capable.
That's a bit of an ongoing debate around here.  Sure, it's RAW but so far nobody has posted a RAW that looks better (with post processing) than the corresponding jpg.   Not that you are not welcome to try.

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CHDK helps make even a cheap "A" series Powershot into a decent camera that only weighs a few ounces, and that has a real lens and RAW capability, unlike the cameras in smart phones that most people seem to be using for snapshots nowadays.
Not even sure that's true anymore - there was a post a week or so ago where the A series powershot image had a lot more noise than a shot from a Samsung S4 mobile phone.  YMMV.
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Offline ctsurv553

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Re: CHDK for any DIGICIV+ Models, esp. ELPH 340?
« Reply #2 on: 27 / October / 2014, 01:14:22 »
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Being able to shoot RAW makes even the cheapest Powershot models so much more capable.
That's a bit of an ongoing debate around here.  Sure, it's RAW but so far nobody has posted a RAW that looks better (with post processing) than the corresponding jpg.   Not that you are not welcome to try.

I'm not trying to say that the RAW image is "better" than the in-camera JPEG, I just prefer RAW because it gives me a better chance to correct exposure and white-balance problems thanks to the greater bit depth. I mainly use this greater bit depth to salvage photos with dynamic range problems. I have a better chance of pulling out details hidden in deep shadows and bright highlights. For example, I shoot a fill-flash photo of someone wearing a white T-shirt, outdoors under a tree canopy and surrounded by dark green shrubbery. Processing the RAW image in ACR, I can suppress the white T-shirt and pull put details like wrinkles in the fabric that would be blown out and invisible in the JPEG, and also boost the dark greens and browns in the shadows of the background shrubbery that would have been clipped to black in the JPEG. I'm sold on CHDK - it has let me get acceptable single-exposure photos with my old A-720IS in difficult lighting that would require multiple-exposure HDR techniques otherwise.

Should I just go ahead and buy the ELPH 340? I suppose I could try porting CHDK to it myself. I've never done it on my older Powershots, but I suppose I could try. Does it take extremely technical computer programming know-how to port CHDK to a new model of camera?  Are there Guru's on this Forum that I could ask for advice on occasion if I attempt this?
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Offline reyalp

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Re: CHDK for any DIGICIV+ Models, esp. ELPH 340?
« Reply #3 on: 27 / October / 2014, 22:58:18 »
Quote from: ctsurv553 on 27 / October / 2014, 01:14:22
Does it take extremely technical computer programming know-how to port CHDK to a new model of camera?
Yes.  If you don't have a fair bit of programming experience and working knowledge of C and some assembler, it will be very difficult.

Even for an experienced programmer who already knows their way around CHDK, it's a substantial amount of work.
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Are there Guru's on this Forum that I could ask for advice on occasion if I attempt this?
There are several of us who are happy to offer advice here or on the IRC channel, but that probably won't extend to teaching the requisite programming skills.
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