Introduction

Today we will upgrade the famous Canon EOS 400d with the addition of CHDK firmware

CHDK (Canon Hacker's Development Kit) is a resident program for Canon's compact and SLR digital cameras based on DIGIC processors, which can significantly increase their functionality and add undocumented features. Created by the CDK enthusiast community. It is a resident program, but by tradition it is often called alternative firmware.

When using CHDK, the basic functionality, control method and appearance of the digital camera settings menu are retained. Additional functions added by the CHDK to the main ones are configured using the alternative menu.

Background

This summer, information appeared on the network about the successful decryption of the Canon EOS 400d firmware .
As it turned out, a set of utilities from another model, the Canon EOS 30d , was great for this .
And after achieving a successful result, painstaking work began on the modernization of 400 -tk internal software .



And so, in early autumn , the first stable release of the modifier appeared.

New features introduced by CHDK

Additional ISO values:

Now you can set the ISO to 3200 instead of the native 1600.
You can perform a smooth increase in ISO with various steps:

100-> 125-> 160-> 32-> 40-> 50-> 80-> 100
200-> 250-> 320
400-> 500-> 640
800-> 100-> 1250
1600-> 2000-> 2200 -> 3200

The transition between the modes is as follows:

a) Press the " Set ISO " button
b) Select the desired value from the list provided .
c) Use the " Direct Print " button to add ISO
d) The current ISO value will be displayed on the screen

2) Spot metering

a) Go to " metering selection "
b) Press the " Direct Print " button
c) A dot in the square will appear on the screen indicating the corresponding mode

3) Engineering menu

a) Go to the menu
b) Press the " Direct Print " button
c) Press the " menu " button 2 times
d) A new item " Factory menu " will appear

4) Ability to view the current status of the shutter counter

a) Enter the " Factory menu " (see above)
b) Press the " Direct Print " button to activate " debug mode "
c) After the beep, go back and select the " spot metering " mode
d) After that, remove the memory card and connect it to the PC via Card Reader
e) The root file will contain the file " STDOUT.txt ", open it
f) Find the word " Release ", and immediately after it will be the desired number of

PS. I still could not do this item :(

5) Focus pattern

It is the installation of CHDK that we are now going to do

First, we need a Card Reader with support for CompactFlash memory cards.
If everything is in order, we can proceed to the process itself:

Installation:

1) Make sure your Canon 400d has the latest firmware (1.1.1)
2) You need to format it to the CF memory card in the FAT16 / 32 file system . This can be done either through the camera or through CardReader 3) Copy the testfir file to the root of the CF memory card. fi 4) Insert the CF card into the camera and select " update firmware" in the menu . The screen will go blank, then wait 10 seconds (I waited a minute for accuracy) and turn off the Canon 400d . To do this, remove the battery from the compartment . 5)








Now you need to make the CF card bootable .
There are 2 ways to do this:
a) If your card is in the FAT16 file system (less than 4 Gb)
You need to download the Cardtricks utility .
In it, check the " cf boot sector " box and click on the " Make Bootable " button b) If your card is in the FAT32 file system (over 4Gb) You need to download the HxD utility. In it you need to go to menu extras -> options -> security-> and uncheck " open disk as readonly by default ". Now click on the " Open disk " button . Select your from the list















CF memory card In the warning menu that appears, click " OK " Now the most important thing: Insert " EOS_DEVELOP " at 0x47 and " BOOTDISK " at 0x5C That is, as shown in the figure. Save and close the program. 6) Download the AUTOEXEC.BIN.20090913 file , rename it to AUTOEXEC.BIN and put it in the root of the memory card. The testfir.fir file can be deleted, it will no longer be needed 7) Insert the CF card back into the Canon 400d and turn it on. When turned on, the "

















Direct print "in white light.

Congratulations, you updated your Canon 400d and breathed a second life into it.

Video demonstration:



Links:
Canon 400d mod site
Original instructions in English
My IT blog

UPD: Examples of photos without processing can be viewed HERE