Ben Rubinstein
Active member
I don't know how widely known the CDHK hack is known but I've turned my Canon A710 IS camera into a really serious picture taking machine.
I shoot RAW, have Auto ISO (as sophisticated feature wise as on Nikon DSLR's, min shutter speed, min/max iso to use), Hyperfocal and Infinity focus settings, Grid Screen and 3:2 overlay, Live readout of subject distance/near and far DOF/hyperfocal distance all calculated from the current aperture and focal length, ISO readout even in Auto ISO, ISO far higher than the nominal 400 and 1.5 second RAW+jpg write times (!).
And that's just the features I'm using, there are a whole heck of a lot more including sophisticated intervalometer, etc, etc.
You also get games, text reader, file manager, and other goodies including customisable scripting.
I don't know any p&s that comes even close to this feature list and I paid £135 for it new. It does of course still have all the usual 'A' camera pluses of Av, Tv, Manual, single point AF, viewfinder, etc.
I had given up on p&s's for street work, the Ricoh GX100 is nice but expensive and the viewfinder takes it out of the pocket catagory. I had the original CDHK for my Canon but the write time was 5 seconds for RAW and I hated how Canon implemented their Auto ISO, it took the IS/focal length into account which meant that you might be able to handhold it but forget stopping action! There was also the problem that the original CDHK only worked with DigicII not the newer cameras with Digic III.
However the newer versions are far faster, work with Digic III and are far more sophisticated.
I think I hear a G7 calling my name! Think of it, a RAW camera without the exaggerated 12 megapixels of the G9, more fully featured and most people say sharper as well. Oh and a fraction of the price. Sounds tasty to me!
Chassidic children look through the back of the bus on the road from Jerusalem.
Canon A710 IS, RAW, 1/25 @f3.5 iso 600
I shoot RAW, have Auto ISO (as sophisticated feature wise as on Nikon DSLR's, min shutter speed, min/max iso to use), Hyperfocal and Infinity focus settings, Grid Screen and 3:2 overlay, Live readout of subject distance/near and far DOF/hyperfocal distance all calculated from the current aperture and focal length, ISO readout even in Auto ISO, ISO far higher than the nominal 400 and 1.5 second RAW+jpg write times (!).
And that's just the features I'm using, there are a whole heck of a lot more including sophisticated intervalometer, etc, etc.
You also get games, text reader, file manager, and other goodies including customisable scripting.
I don't know any p&s that comes even close to this feature list and I paid £135 for it new. It does of course still have all the usual 'A' camera pluses of Av, Tv, Manual, single point AF, viewfinder, etc.
I had given up on p&s's for street work, the Ricoh GX100 is nice but expensive and the viewfinder takes it out of the pocket catagory. I had the original CDHK for my Canon but the write time was 5 seconds for RAW and I hated how Canon implemented their Auto ISO, it took the IS/focal length into account which meant that you might be able to handhold it but forget stopping action! There was also the problem that the original CDHK only worked with DigicII not the newer cameras with Digic III.
However the newer versions are far faster, work with Digic III and are far more sophisticated.
I think I hear a G7 calling my name! Think of it, a RAW camera without the exaggerated 12 megapixels of the G9, more fully featured and most people say sharper as well. Oh and a fraction of the price. Sounds tasty to me!
Chassidic children look through the back of the bus on the road from Jerusalem.
Canon A710 IS, RAW, 1/25 @f3.5 iso 600
