'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions - General Help and Assistance on using CHDK stable releases

Jebus

3

'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« on: 06 / May / 2008, 17:05:51 »

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Hi,... I've recently discovered this whole CHDK stuff and had a chance to mess around with a friend's camera (SD450) and I absolutely love the idea of having an alternative firmware for a camera.

I'm looking to upgrade my current camera (Casio EX-Z40)(I know... I know...) and am definitely interested in a compact Canon camera because of the ability to add different firmwares and features. What I'm really interested in doing with the camera is capturing both video and successive frames for a particular sport. The sport is much like wakeboarding - it's called hydrofoiling. I don't know which Canon camera would take video good enough that would enable a person to capture good frame-by-frame pics from the video. OR... and I assume that an alternative firmware would allow this... a 'burst' mode with a fast shutter-speed that would enable a person to capture a jump or 'trick' - much like a SLR camera would allow.

Any suggestions or advice?

Thanks

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wontolla

413
S3 & G9 & A720

Re: 'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« Reply #1 on: 07 / May / 2008, 11:51:57 »

IMO, the Powershot S3 IS is good for sports:

Can take 320x240 videos at 60fps
Continuous shooting (burst mode) is 2.3fps (limited only by memory card space)
~~It has a "sport" mode where it takes 16 small photos and shows them as one. Sounds nice for jumps, but I've never realy use it.~~
Edit: The S3 doesn't have this feature. I confused it with my old Nikon.

And don't forget you need a decent zoom for sports. S3 has 12x.

But as you said, for better results in burst mode, you need an SLR. And an old photographer (which I'm not) whould tell you that to get the best sports shoots you need to KNOW WHEN to press the button instead of realying in "burst modes".

Last hint. This forum is about CHDK. You could get much better answers in forums like dpreview.

« Last Edit: 07 / May / 2008, 15:08:30 by wontolla »

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PhyrePhoX

2254
make RAW not WAR

Re: 'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« Reply #2 on: 07 / May / 2008, 13:59:29 »

"It has a "sport" mode where it takes 16 small photos and shows them as one. Sounds nice for jumps, but I've never realy use it."

huh? where did you get that info about the 16 small photos?
sports mode afaik goes like this: when you switch the mode dial to sportsmode, continous mode is preselected (burst), also you have no review time. the sportsmode burst isnt as fast as the normal burst, because it uses autofocus between the shots. also, refreshrate of screen is supposed to be higher.

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Jebus

3

Re: 'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« Reply #3 on: 07 / May / 2008, 15:24:50 »

Thanks for the reply wontolla. I know I should have posted something like this in a different forum, but I was thinking that a particular camera might work better than an other because of the CHDK alternative firmware. What I guess I was looking for was a camera that could do what I'm looking for with one of the alternative firmwares.

The Powershot S3 looks like a nice camera, but I'm looking for something even more compact than that. Something along the lines of my friend's SD450 (in terms of size), but I just didn't know what kind of options I had in terms of burst mode or something like that for shooting 'sports' and using the CHDK alternative firmwares. I'm not too worried about the 12x zoom (although it would be nice).

Is it possible to have one of the smaller cameras work in my particular situation for a burst mode (or something along the lines)?

Thanks again

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wontolla

413
S3 & G9 & A720

Re: 'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« Reply #4 on: 07 / May / 2008, 16:21:10 »

CHDK hasn't improved burst mode (yet?). AFAIK burst mode speed is limited by the time it takes to write into SD card. Software can't do anything about it.

Anyways, whatever camera you get, I suggest you look for a CHDK capable. I'm not a "sports" guy so let's see if someone else can give some "CHDK for sports" input.

BTW, you may consider a model with a waterproof case, it looks like a humid sport that hydrofoiling thing.

« Last Edit: 07 / May / 2008, 16:23:19 by wontolla »

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Jebus

3

Re: 'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« Reply #5 on: 07 / May / 2008, 23:44:59 »

Okay,... thanks again. I was hoping that CHDK had something fancy that might work awesome for what I'm trying to do. Either way, I'm sure I'll be picking up a CHDK-compatible camera!

Cheers!

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fudgey

1705
a570is

Re: 'Sports Mode' - Looking for suggestions

« Reply #6 on: 08 / May / 2008, 13:34:50 »

Quote from: wontolla on 07 / May / 2008, 16:21:10

CHDK hasn't improved burst mode (yet?). AFAIK burst mode speed is limited by the time it takes to write into SD card. Software can't do anything about it.

I'm not sure if you ment just the S3's high speed burst mode, but at least on my a570is burst mode speed is not limited by card speed (instead, it's limited by something slower) because JPEG size/quality settings have no effect (or virtually none) on burst speed.

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