Posted on slashdot -
CHDK firmware add on for canon cameras lets you upgrade your point and shoot camera firmware with the following features:
Shooting in RAW, with RAW Average, RAW Sum, and RAW Develop features
Live histogram (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)
Zebra mode (live-view under/over-exposure subject-area alerts)
DOF-calculator, Hyperfocal-calculator with instant Hyperfocal and Infinity focus-set, and more
Battery indicator
RAW and Video space-remaining gauges with custom low-limit alerts
Scripts execution (exposure/focus/bracketing, intervalometer and more)
USB-cable remote shutter-release
Motion-Detection triggered photography (fast enough to capture lightning strikes)
Customizable high-speed continuous (burst) Tv, Av, ISO, and Focus bracketing (unlimited shots)
99 constant bit-rate and 10 constant-quality video compression levels
1 Gig video-size limit removed in earlier cameras
Zoom during video for cameras without
Shutter, Aperture, and ISO Overrides (shutter speeds of 64" to 1/10,000" and higher)
High-speed Flash Sync at all speeds up to 1/64,000 second (even faster in some cameras)
Custom framing, cropping, and alignment viewfinder Grids (user editable)
File browser
Text reader
Calendar
Some fun tools and games
Fully customizable CHDK display, info placement, user-colors, fonts in menus, etc.
Custom CHDK User-Menu (for instant recall of up to 10 favorite functions)
And other features too numerous to mention here. See the CHDK Firmware and Allbest Firmware usage pages for a more complete overview.