Firmware Hack Allows Video Analysis On a Canon Camera

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from the University of Liege in Belgium have been able to perform real-time video analysis on a regular Canon digicam (video link) without any hardware modification. The results are shown directly on the digicam's screen. They use a hacked version of a popular open-source alternative firmware for Canon cameras: CHDK. This is a proof-of-concept that computer vision algorithms can now be embedded on regular Canon digicams with little effort (CHDK is coded in C). What other popular vision algorithms could be implemented? For what purpose?" You can get some idea about ViBe from this abstract at IEEE; basically, it allows background extraction in moving images.

Comments

CHDK

[The MAZZTer]

I use CHDK on my own Canon PowerShot. Good stuff.

Re: CHDK

[rhizome]

Check the sidebar: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

I'm anxiously awaiting the SD1200 port.

Re: CHDK

[kimvette]

I use it on my S5 IS. I use the intervalometer, various grids (for composing level shots when it matters), the extended shutter modes (both slower and faster than the "stock" firmware allows) and of course the RGB histogram and on rare occasion raw. I don't use raw too often though because it slows the camere down a fair bit. However, CHDK is a wonderful tool and scripting it isn't too bad. The documentation is actually pretty good for a "young" open source project. In short, it makes point-and-shoot cameras usable where they otherwise wouldn't be, and where a point-and-shoot camera is preferable to a DSLR (such as when traveling), it can give you some of the capabilities you would normally turn to a DSLR for.

I hope they manage to port it to the DSLRs, particularly the EOS 7D.

Re: CHDK

[Anonymous Coward]

Does repeating a link in the summary really count as informative?
I know this article is only tangentially about CHDK but I've been looking into CHDK lately for a project so I thought I'd share some useful links.

Supported Cameras

Note that a higher number doesn't mean it's a newer model. The A710 was released before the A590.
Canon PowerShot A series info

CHDK Howto

Info on how to make a port

Info on implementing PTP in CHDK
This is still relatively new but it could allow using a computer to remotely control the camera, which isn't doable on many Canon cameras with the stock firmware. I'd love to see this mature so I can do remote capture in Linux.

Re: CHDK

[Trebawa]

I have a PowerShot SX200, which is compact and DIGIC IV. It also shoots 720p. There's a beta of CHDK for it, and it's worked well so far.

Re: CHDK

[DZign]

As far as I know it'll check the different faces and decide where it has to put focus and a small enough aperture so
they all are sharp.
So if the faces are close enough to each other it can focus on one and go for a small dof that'll have them all sharp, if they're further away then it'll increase dof (and thus exposure time) and possible put actual focus somewhere in between the faces (again, if I'm not mistaken it's around 1/3 before your focal point and 2/3 after it that's sharp).

Re:Video analysis

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure "video analysis" means something more concrete to those in the know (or not), but I can't shake off the feeling that it's all blahblahblah with no meaning other than to generate more blahblahblah.

OpenCV
Integrating Vision Toolkit

Think these libraries but on the camera. You take an image, you process HSV, contrast, and a bunch of other data to do shape detections, motion detection, etc.

Re:THEY ARE NOT CALLED "DIGICAMS".

[Mike Buddha]

I call it a Cami-DigiCam Camcorder. It's so important to get the terminology right when you don't know anything else.

Not alternative firmware

[marcansoft]

It's worth pointing out that CHDK isn't a hacked firmware (that would probably not be legally redistributable), nor is it an alternative firmware (that would be too much work). CHDK is an add-on to the existing firmware, that works by piggibacking on its OS, hooking functions, and spawning off extra processes on the camera's RTOS. This is what makes it so great: you get the original funcionality of the camera plus extra stuff, and you don't have to wait for the developers to add what already came with your camera anyway.

Re:For SLR's makes much more sense

[SharpFang]

Because they are SLRs. Their firmware can do almost all CHDK can do. A lot of work and little gain, plus risk of bricking an expensive camera. The main focus of CHDK is cheapest idiotekameras, because the difference it makes is really huge.

If you are interested by testing ViBE...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can check our dedicated webpage.

It features downloadable binaries for windows and linux (thanks to wine).

Re:THEY ARE NOT CALLED "DIGICAMS".

[maxwell demon]

Isn't this when somebody is supposed to chime in with a meme?

In Korea only old people use film?
In Soviet Russia film uses you?
Or maybe just imagine a Beowulf cluster of hacked Canon cameras ...

Re:Canon S90

[bograt]

I just checked the tripod mount on my S90, and it looks like it's smack bang in the centre of the lens.

As for the pop-out flash, it's motorised. I don't know if that makes it more os less robust, but there you go.

I've read that the S90 is basically the same as the G11 but with a different body and lens, which gives me hope that CHDK will be available for the S90 soon, since it already is for the G11. It does shoot RAW out of the box, though. You won't need CHDK for that.

Re:THEY ARE NOT CALLED "DIGICAMS".

[Khyber]

No, most photographers that refer to a non-SLR digital camera refer to it as a PnS (Point and Shoot) and dSLR as just "SLR" as in most digital forums it's automatically assumed you're running a digital camera opposed to film.

I still take superior pictures with my Minolta X-700, no Photoshop needed afterwards.