AmateurPhotographer

Technical Support
Professor Newman on…
Attack of
the hacks
The manufacturers may not like them, but a wellchosen
hack can add functionality to your camera
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One of the interesting
things to have
emerged in recent
years is the
phenomenon of the camera ‘hack’.
First, it is important to determine its
meaning. From the 1960s, hacking
was the term used to describe
what talented computer
programmers could do – they
could hack out code. Nowadays,
it has gone on to mean any illicit
programming activity, no matter
how small, from compromising
security on computers to making
devices do things that the
manufacturer did not intend. It is
this latter use of the term that is
relevant in this week’s column.
The fi rst widespread camera
hack was the ‘Canon Hack
Development Kit’ (CHDK, visit
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK),
which started back in 2009. This
exploited the mechanism that
Canon provided for users to load
new fi rmware onto their cameras.
By examining the data in the
fi rmware download, hackers could
discover the type of computer
chips that the cameras were
based on, and from the data
sheets for the computers they
could identify much of the way in
which the camera worked. Then
they started writing their own
software for the camera, adding
new functions that they wanted in
their cameras. They gave raw fi le
and video capability to cameras
that didn’t have it, remote-control
facilities and the ability to control
the camera via scripts (small
pieces of high-level software).
From CHDK came ‘Magic
Lantern’ (www.magiclantern.fm).
This was directed specifi cally
at motion picture usage
(I differentiate from ‘video’
intentionally), adding to Canon
camera facilities that would be
useful to fi lmmakers, moving
them closer to professional
cinema cameras.
Video has been a potent driver
for camera hacking. A well-known
‘Nowadays, hacking means any illicit
programming activity, however small’
All these cameras can be
significantly enhanced
with camera firmware
hacks Ð but it voids
the guarantee
camera hack is Vitaliy Kiselev’s
‘Ptool’ (www.personal-view.com/
faqs/ptool/ptool-faq). Ptool is
a piece of software that can
modify Panasonic fi rmware
images, allowing new facilities to
be added to the fi rmware. Rather
than a complete package of
enhancements, such as those
found with CHDK or Magic
Lantern, Ptool is used to add
selected functions to the fi rmware,
and there are a number of specifi c
packages available with it. One of
its most popular applications has
been to increase the video data
rate with the GH-series cameras,
providing better video quality than
that which Panasonic originally
provided. Initially, Panasonic tried
to stop the use of Ptool, until it
became clear that its use was
increasing the fi rm’s sales.
Vitaliy Kiselev was also
behind the Nikon Hack (https://
nikonhacker.com) – unsurprisingly
structured in a similar manner
to Ptool and called ‘Nikon Patch’.
The Nikon Hack was very much
video-based, trying to relieve
some of the specifi cation
weaknesses that Nikon cameras
had with respect to video.
There’s one thing worth noting
about all the various hacks
mentioned here: they will void
your camera’s guarantee, so, if
they fail, you are on your own.
Manufacturers do not generally
approve of them, and recently
Canon has taken measures to
prevent Magic Lantern from
functioning on some of its
cameras. To me, this seems
strange, because the new
capability enhances sales. I would
think that a more measured
approach would be to open up the
camera’s application programming
interface and enable a market in
certifi ed and quality-controlled
camera apps, similar to that with
mobile phones.
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Bob Newman is currently Professor of Computer Science at the University of Wolverhampton. He has been working with the design and development of
high-technology equipment for 35 years and two of his products have won innovation awards. Bob is also a camera nut and a keen amateur photographer
subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 14 May 2016 59