B. Mann Consulting

First, what the heck is CHDK??! Basically, it's a "firmware enhancement" for a whole list of Canon PowerShot cameras (supported camera model list here). You follow a process where you copy some files onto your memory card, and instead of your camera booting the "regular" operating system, it boots from the memory card instead.

OK, so what does all THAT mean? Basically, today's digital cameras have operating systems -- software -- that runs many of their features. In fact, software is some times one of the main difference between "lower end" cameras and the higher end Digital SLRs. By loading this software onto your camera, you get access to a whole host of other features. The CHDK in Brief page has a list of those additional features -- the three of most interest to be so far are 1) enabling RAW mode, 2) exposure times as long as 65 seconds and 3) exposure times as little as 1/10,000 of a second. There are all sorts of other scripts that can actual be loaded and run on the camera as well. I'm interested in checking out the intervalometer aka timelapse scripts.

So, I spent perhaps 3 hours on Friday, cursing and swearing after the first 30 minutes, swapping my SD card between my computer and my camera, trying to get this stuff working. Looks like most people that are messing with this are on Windows or Linux, and getting this working on the Mac presents some special challenges.

Here are the steps (and yak shaving) that I had to do to get CHDK running on my Canon S5 IS. This assumes that you won't run screaming from using the Terminal, and are at least going to be OK cut and pasting commands in.

James and I originally set out on Saturday to both buy a Canon S5 IS at Future Shop, but they were out and gave us rain checks. Here's a link to Flickr's page about the S5 IS -- there are some amazing photos there.

I've been a long time fan of the S series. I bought the S1 IS three years ago, and have been raving about it ever since: big zoom, great movie mode, really good optics, regular rechargeable AA batteries. I've taken most of the 7000 pictures on my Flickr account with the S1 IS. But, I recently dropped the camera and it's been acting up.

Luckily, Canon has continued to evolve the series. I've continued to recommend the series, and pretty much everyone I know that has bought one has been happy with it. About the *only* downside is its size: it's too big to be a pocket cam. But, I've always been happy with this trade off -- increasingly, my cellphone has been taking the role of pocket cam, and if I am going somewhere where I want really great pictures, I'll take the camera along.

So I ended up going to London Drugs this evening and bought the Canon S5 IS ... it's on for $499 there, but they'll price match Future Shop at $479. I went to the store on West Broadway -- Harry C was behind the counter and super knowledgeable. A 4GB SD card for $69 completed the purchase (and I just remembered that I forgot to get a UV filter -- recommended even just as a way to keep your main lens from scratching). First photo at right. Not super exciting, I know, but 8MP rather than the 3.2MP that I've been used to, and *excellent* low light performance.

In short, I still love the Canon PowerShot S series, and continue to recommend it to anyone that doesn't want a pocket cam.