Introduction

Today we will modernize the well-known Canon EOS 400d camera with the help of the CHDK firmware add-on .

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

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

Prehistory

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This summer, the network has information about the successful decoding of firmware Canon EOS 400d .
As it turned out, for this, a set of utilities from another model - Canon EOS 30d - was perfect.
And after achieving a successful result, the painstaking work of upgrading the internal software of the 400 began.



And so, at the beginning of autumn , the first stable release of the modifier appeared.

New features introduced by CHDK

Additional ISO values:

Now you can set up ISO up to 3200 instead of native 1600
You can perform a smooth ISO increase with different 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 modes is as follows:

a) Press the " Set ISO " button
b) Select the desired value from the list provided.
c) Add ISO using the " Direct Print " button
d) The screen will display the current ISO value.

2) Spot metering

a) Go to " metering selection "
b) Click " Direct Print "
c) A dot appears on the screen indicating the corresponding mode.

3) Engineering menu

a) Go to menu
b) Click " Direct Print "
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) Click " Direct Print " 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) At the root will be the file " STDOUT.txt ", open it
f) Find the word " Release ", and immediately after it will be the desired number

Ps. I did not manage to do this point: (

5) Focus Pattern

It’s exactly the CHDK installation that we are going to do now.

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

Installation:

1) Make sure your Canon 400d has the latest firmware (1.1.1)
2) It is necessary to format to CF art memory in the file system FAT16 / 32



This can be done either through the camera or through CardReader
3) Copy the file testfir.fi to the root of the CF memory card
4) Insert the CF card into the camera and select " update firmware" from the menu
The screen will go out, then wait 10 seconds (I waited a minute for fidelity) and turn off the Canon 400d .
To do this, remove the battery from the compartment .
5) Now you need to make a CF card bootable .
There are 2 ways to do this:
a) If your card is in FAT16 file system (less than 4 Gb)
Need to download Cardtricks utility
In it tick the item " cf boot sector " and click the button " Make Bootable "



b) If your card is in the FAT32 file system (more than 4Gb)
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 " Open disk "



Choose your CF card from the list



In the appeared warning menu click " OK "



Now the most important:
Paste " EOS_DEVELOP " into 0x47 and " BOOTDISK " into 0x5C
Ie as shown in the figure.


Save and close the program.

6) Download the file AUTOEXEC.BIN.20090913 , rename it to AUTOEXEC.BIN and put it in the root of the memory card.
The file testfir.fir can be deleted, it is no longer needed
7) Insert the CF card back into the Canon 400d and turn it on.
When enabled, the " Direct print " button will blink in white light.

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

Video demonstration:



References:
Canon 400d Fashion Website
Original English manual
My IT blog

UPD: Examples of photos without processing, you can look HERE