Do you have a consumer Canon camera? If so did you know that you may have in your very hands a far more powerful piece of hardware than you ever realized. All you need is the right tools to unlock the power. Features Like Raw format images, live histograms, massive exposure control and camera scriptability are all waiting for you to turn them on.

There is a tool called CHDK (Canon Hackers Development Kit)that is essentially a new firmware for your Canon camera. With this firmware you get a ton of new options. Of greatest interest to me was the Raw image format which is usually only available in higher end cameras. Why would I want a raw file? I'm glad you asked. The raw file is the image before any processing is applied inside the camera. Think of it as a digital version of the film negative. where a standard jpg or targa from a digital camera is 8bit per channel a raw file will be 12 to 14 bit per channel giving you a greater dynamic range. Also there have been no filters applied for white balance, sharpening or anything else meaning you have the most accurate possible originals.

The other option that I really liked with CHDK was scriptability. This function basically gives you plugins for your camera. Some that I noted but have yet to play with include Automatic High Dynamic Range bracketing and even HDR time lapse.

This tool doesn't work with all Canon cameras but you kind find the list here. Find out all about CHDK here in the name of being able to mod anything.