about raw images..

[silverrspells]

Does anybody know if there's any way of moding a semi-pro camera, so that the files you get aren't compressed into JPEG format?
For instance, I have this Canon Powershot s5iS and I'd love to be able to have the pics in a crv format, without being processed by the camera.
Is there any way I could do that? There's no such option in the camera settings, so I'm asking for a trick or something.

[carolupus]

There is an alternative firmware for canon point and shoot cameras which can enhance their features. With it you can get much longer/shorter exposures, bracketing, and RAWs. you even could play games on your camera, even if that's quite a useless gadget. Anyway, it's open souce, therefore for free and it can't damage your camera because you just let the camera boot the firmware from a separate SD card. My bf is using it for his powershot G9 and it's causing no problems, but lets you control a lot of things your camera does normally automatically.

for more information and download look here:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

especially for the S5IS:
http://plovs.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/better-firmware-for-the-powershot-s5is/

[silverrspells]

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you soooooo very much for telling me this.
:)

[Grumbledook]

doesn't the G9 already have raw and manual controls?

my G3 does

[carolupus]

yeah, the G9 has RAW and a lot of manual controls, but for example the longest exposure possible is 30 sec. with the firmware it's up to 64 sec. oh, and somehow you can only shoot in jpeg in various automatic modes (like on my rebel too), the firmware fixes that.

I don't understand why the options to use those functions aren't there originally, because apparently the cameras are capable of it. maybe it's to explain the price difference between these cameras and pro ones?

[Grumbledook]

wonder if i can get firmware to increase the exposure past 30secs for my 40d, could have done with that last week instead of bumping the iso

didn't fancy standing out in the snow at 4am counting seconds heh

[silverrspells]

I don't think you can, they say they only do hacked firmware for "point and shoot" and "semi-pro" cameras.

[SIMPLEatLife]

The best part about RAW images the non destructive editing and the extra bit depth. But also the added flexability using the adobe raw converter. But the Adobe RAW converter can also be used on JPEG formats by selecting the photo or batch of photos in Bridge and hitting Ctrl+R or Command R on MAC. This converter is a really useful tool if you have not played with it. I know this does not solve the compression issue but a good tool at any rate.

[Crunchy Frog]

Is there something like that for olympus SLRs? Motion detection looks really useful.