Talk:CHDK/Suggestions

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It seems that some people want to use this wiki to share their ideas and suggest new features for the CHDK firmware. I think it may be good to collect these posts on a dedicated page. So, if you want to share an idea with us, click the post a new comment button at the top of this page and write away.

Please also have a look at the already Frequently Suggested Features.

How about ... (moving mine from another area)

 * CHDK Wish-List

I've read some posts that had some good ideas, and found some things that I too would like to see CHDK have in the future. Even though CHDK is already a remarkable advancement/improvement, there's always room for more. :)

Suggestions / Wishes:

What about to make codepage to be the topmost part of the .lng file and then set it automa[tg]ically when setting language?

A uBASIC script command to click the "Movie Record" button on the S3 IS. DONE! :-)

A uBASIC script command to trigger audio-only recordings.

A uBASIC script command for "zoom_to", where you could set it to quickly zoom to a numerical step. The "zoom_in" and "zoom_out" commands are very slow to run in steps.

The histogram having a small grid to show full f/stop regions.

How about an alternate rule-of-thirds grid for the golden ratio.

The time display to show AM or PM for us North Americans. :-) To save space it could be just a dot next to the 12-hour number for PM, it's how lots of clocks do it, we're used to that.

Focus distance and hyperfocal readings to reflect the feet/inches setting of the camera instead of just metric. (some of us still can't wrap our minds around metric estimates, we're old and gray. :) )

More colors to choose from for customizing features, so many are just repeats. And being able to use some of the transparent ones for special effect filters. How about a built-in transparent gray gradient for those over-exposed skies and under-exposed foregrounds?

An audio record-level meter during movie and audio recording modes that shows clipping. (now that would be so cool)

I like OwenJim's rebuilds of CHDK, where I'm able to keep the Blend Histogram showing at all times, as well as removing some redundant info, like the SCR and EXP alerts. The truncated Hyperfocal display option is nice too, but it's nice to have the fuller info displayed at times too.

I read somewhere of people wanting some preset frame overlays for some favorite printing dimensions. I thought that was a neat idea. Making transparent borders for composition assists.

What do you think? Are any of these worth considering for future projects?

And a bug that needs fixing for the S3 IS builds, the Focal-distance doesn't update in Manual Focus, MF, mode like it used to. You have to half-press the shutter to get it to refresh the F value each time you change manual focus.

Keoeeit 10:26, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

A script to implement a kind of B-pose (I don't know if it's possible but till 5 minutes or so would be great) Maybe it would be realized by setting a long exposure time (say 5 minutes?) during which a second shot will stop the capture. (Just like b-pose mode for DSLR cameras: first shot starts capture, second shot stops it)

Intervalometer extensions
Hi, I suggest modifying the intervalometer feature: - the total number of shots should be unlimited (just keeps taking pics until it fills up the card...) Currently this is arbitrarily set at 100. - the time between shots should be in SECONDS not minutes (with a minimum of 10 seconds, say) I'm no expert but it seems to me that these two features should be do-able simply by modifying certain constant values in the firmware. Thanks for reading. ryan.elt@gmail.com
 * No problem: Keo wrote a nice Ultra Intervalometer script which does what you want. I also like to use it. --Harvester 12:51, 29 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Be sure to get the latest version, I had to rewrite some routines to compensate for a problem when choosing 1 frame, a delay to 1st shot, and "endless" turned on (it was taking 2 shots instead of 1 and screwing up the total cycle-time count).The "Delay 1st Shot" time-setting being used as your time between single but endless shots. If you are using an S-Series camera you might be more interested in the OMNI Intervalometer script. It has the same features but also includes options to use a combo of video and/or still-frame images in your intervalometer sequences. Keoeeit 00:17, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

About dead/hot pixels on the ccd
I know that one can send their camera backed to Canon to have the bad pixels mapped out but what a hassle. Too bad, Canon does not provide an in camera mapping program similar to Olympus so that the mapping could be done by the owner.

I hope CHDK can provide an mapping program to re-map the dead/hot pixels. Thank you very much.

Email: doanythingcn@yahoo.com.cn


 * It's not the fix that you ask for, but there is a very nice freeware tool available at MediaChance's Digital Camera Tools page. Look at the one called "HotPixels Eliminator". Check out their other free tools there too (just the first 3 or 4 are shareware, the rest are freeware), some of them are very very nice. Keoeeit 00:40, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Longer shutter time?
Will this hack, or is there a script that will allow the shutter time to be longer than the S3's 15 or 30 second open time? Thanks


 * Not possible. This would require a rewrite of the original camera's firmware. CHDK only takes advantage of existing features in the original firmware.

Enable remote capture on an A610?
Is it possible to modify the firmware so that an A610 can use the remote capture feature (like the A620)?

How can I change size OSD fonts ??


 * You can change the size of the OSD fonts by choosing a different Menu RBF font. No idea about remote shooting though. Maybe it even has nothing to do with the cam firmware, but with the remote shooting PC software which does not support certain cams. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I think it's not a limitation of the software, even a third party software like PSRemote is not able to use the A610.

uBASIC: wrong loop FOR/NEXT
Sample script

@title Test FOR/NEXT rem --LOOP OK-- x = 5 gosub "loop" rem -LOOP NOT OK--- x = 0 gosub "loop" end :loop print "-" print "Loop from", 1, "to", x   for i = 1 to x        print "value of i =", i    next i    return

Output of script >>> -   >>> Loop from 1 to 5 >>> value of i = 1 >>> value of i = 2 >>> value of i = 3 >>> value of i = 4 >>> value of i = 5 >>> -   >>> Loop from 1 to 0 >>> value of i = 1             <-- NOT OK

thanks you for CHDK!!!

Danilo


 * What should happen in your opinion? I think "for i = 1 to 0" makes no sense. --Harvester 04:30, 2 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, the body of the second 'for' should never be executed. But currently 'for' statement always evaluates his body at least once, even if the condition is false in the begining. uBasic has this bug 'by design'. So, it's quite hard to fix this (but it's possible, of course). --GrAnd 05:54, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

According to my experience with other languages, I was expecting the body of FOR not to be executed. The check to decide if closing the loop, it should be at the beginning of the loop (FOR) and not at the end (NEXT). For the moment I solved: if x < 1 then goto "label1" for i = 1 to x       print "value of i =", i    next i    :label1 Danilo

uBASIC: new keywords do/enddo
I suggest a new keyword which simplifies the program writing.

Use like this:

if a = b then do       let .....        print ..... if c = d then do            let .....            click ....            print ..... enddo else do           let .....            print ..... enddo enddo

if x > 0 then do       for i = 1 to x           print "value of i =", i        next i    enddo

Thanks you for CHDK!!!

Danilo

Better video codec
I mean, lower bitrate in 640x480 video recording.
 * I think this is not possible without changing the original firmware. And even if you would do this, I'm not sure if the Digic II chip is fast enough for this. --Harvester 12:25, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Hide Icons / Info during playback
Would it be possible to hide all OSD info when in basic playback mode (photo only)? Right now, my battery icon is on in that mode and is a little distracting.

Also, can anything be done to include ISO (in the normal field) in the EXIF data direct out of the camera?

Thank you!


 * Not quite your question, but there's a shortcut for turning the CHDK OSD off: half shutter press + right. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Show free card space on OSD
It would be very useful if the OSD could show the remaining space on the card, in units of MiB (since I think that's what the camera already uses, e.g. next to the format option). This would be especially useful when shooting in RAW mode, since RAW makes the remaining pictures count pretty useless. In fact, the position of the free space display could be on top of that counter by default.


 * Yes, that would be nice :) --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Custom text in image
Some caption, signature or date from textfile.

Regards

zyga


 * I think this would be complicated to implement. The CHDK perhaps must bring its own jpeg processing engine or one must find a way to make complete use of the original Canon engine. So, I think an implementation is unlikely. I think it would be easier if you would use a batch processing tool on your PC for this. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Zoom during video recording
Can CHDK enable the optical zoom feature during a movie recording?

Thanks a lot...


 * No, at least not at the moment. Besides, the zoom motor would make terrible noises in the audio part, the zoom would be very fast with few steps in between (in most movies you see no zoom during scenes, or slow zoom) and zooming perhaps also would mean that the focus have to be re-adjusted (another thing which is not done during filming right now). So, I think an implementation is unlikely. --Harvester 18:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)