Closed Digital Cameras - Does Anyone Care?

Posted by Cliff on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @09:18AM from the one-trick-picture-ponies dept.

Karamchand asks: "Free Software and open standards are ubiquitous in the server and even desktop area. But why does nobody seem to care about openness in digital cameras? I couldn't find a single hint as to what main processor my camera uses (I guess many use ARMs and others use TI DSPs), and while searching for information about (re-)programming digital cameras, I had to give up (apart from the scriptable Digita OS which was used by some discontinued cameras by Kodak, HP et al). Do you know of any efforts in this direction, whether they are actual disassembling/programming of cameras or asking vendors to get more open?" I still have my Kodak DIGITA-based camera from several years ago and I loved the flexibility, even though the performance is poor by today's standards (long cycle times, poor battery life, etc). Why are digital camera manufacturers keeping the lid on the capabilities of their products, when digital cameras could be so much more than their film-based counterparts?

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It just works by cpuh0g · 2005-01-19 09:32 · Score: 0, Flamebait

I love to tinker with code but I see little or no benefit to reprogramming my camera. It works great as it is.
Firmware in digital cameras CAN be updated, but usually only by the factory. I had to send mine out for a repair and it came back with updated firmware (the revision number was different).
Why the F* would you want to screw up your digital camera? The last thing I would want to do it run some half-ass "open" camera firmware from sourceforge (the ultimate repository of broken and half-ass software) that was not exactly correct and have it ruin all of my pictures or void my warranty.