CHDK/Camera Power Consumption

Q. Does the CHDK firmware consumes additional battery power?
A. Some people measured the battery consumption rate and found that using the CHDK does not affect battery consumption (either not at all, or just minimally). It makes no difference whether the live histogram etc. is activated or not, because the CPU of the camera always works (looking for keyboard presses in the loop). Btw, histogram is calculated even it is not displayed. But, with CHDK user usual increases the time when shoot button is half-pressed. Because he is looking at the histogram, zebra, etc. Not just at the green/yellow rectangle.

Here are some measured power consumption rates. The absolute numbers may not be totally accurate. But they should give you an idea about which camera mode consumes how much power.

A610 (Maksym)

A710 (Andrey-nag) Additional power consumption when using the CHDK: none

A710 (EWAVR) Additional power consumption when using the CHDK: +20 mAh