Hacking Digital Cameras (ExtremeTech) [Paperback]

When I see a picture in a camera book illustrating how I can open a digital camera and get at the insides to make modifications, I get scared. The thought of taking the guts out of my camera is like the thought of major surgery to my internal organs. And yet as I read through the "hacks" proposed by the author, I found just reading about them to be fun, even if I wasn't going to undertake any of these projects (or at least not most.)

Years ago a hacker was a person who modified software to adapt it to his or her own purposes. Over time it's also come to mean a malicious person who deliberately attacks the functioning of computers, but the author is using this earlier meaning.

In this book, Cheng tells of a variety of simple modifications that one can make to cameras and other photographic equipment to allow them to be used to extend their capabilities. Some are quite simple like building a remote trigger for a camera, or a battery pack that can be tucked inside the user's jacket for winter shooting. Other projects are more complex, like getting data in the RAW format from cameras that normally only deliver JPEG files. And I wondered why one would want to open up an MP3 player to remove its micro drive. (The answer is because the particular player with micro drive was at one time actually cheaper than a separate micro drive that could be inserted directly in a camera.) The projects are well explained, and illustrated with plenty of photographs. The equipment needed for the hacks is inexpensive, and the tools are readily available in most homes.

Now I have to tell you that if I wanted a camera with a tripod socket on it, I would buy one that was so equipped. But I can see that a certain kind of do-it-yourselfer might have a socketless camera on hand and regard it as a nice challenge. Ditto for a camera that shot RAW files, especially if I would have to learn how to decode the raw file after I had downloaded it. On the other hand, if I had a camera that needed a filter holder but had no provision for the device, I'd certainly consider one of the author's hacks.

Most of the projects are aimed at the modification of specific equipment but they can easily be translated to other cameras. For the more complex hacks, the author can both provide you with an idea for a project and a site on the web where you might be able to find detailed instructions.

Because this book probably only appeals to a small audience, the publisher has probably had to keep the production costs down. The quality of the paper is not high and the photographs of the project steps are of a rudimentary, but sufficient nature.

I have to confess that what this book most reminded me of was the project books that I got for my kids' science fairs. I loved to browse through these books, and I always wondered why my kids never tried any of the cool projects. Maybe now, I can try a project for myself.

Want to really live on the edge with your digital camera? Perhaps even void the warranty? Hacking Digital Cameras by Chieh Cheng and Auri Rahimzadeh might be to your liking if you want to build your own add-ons without spending a bundle...

Contents:
Part 1 - Hacking Cameras: Building Triggers; Adding a Tripod Socket to Your Camera; Accessing Raw Sensor Data; Hacking Power; Controlling Your Digital Camera from Afar; Improving Your Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Part 2 - Hacking Lenses: Using Accessory Lenses; Making an Accessory Lens Adapter; Changing the Lens Magnification; Making Your Own Pinhole Lens; Extending the Lens on Canon EOS Cameras; Making Reverse Macro Adapters; Modifying the Canon EF-S Lens for Use on Canon EF Mounts
Part 3 - Create Photography Hacks: Hacking with Filters; Shooting Infrared Pictures with Your Digital Camera; Eliminating the IR Blocking Filter from Your Digital Camera
Part 4 - Building Fun Camera Tools: Building a Car Camera Mount; Building a Headrest Camera Mount; Building a Spycam Mount for Your Bicycle; Building a Camera Stabilizer; Building a Flash Bracket; Building a Monopod; Making a 500-Watt Home Studio Light
Part 5 - Flash Memory Hacks: Modifying the CF Type I to PC Card Type II Adapter; Removing the 4GB Microdrive from the Creative Nomad MuVo2 MP3 Player; Removing the Microdrive from the Rio Carbon 5GB MP3 Player; Removing the 4GB Microdrive from the Apple iPod Mini
Appendixes: Soldering Basics; Circuit Symbols; Glass Cutting Basics; Photographer's Glossary; Index

If you're the tinkering type that loves to take things apart to see how they work, you'll find stuff here that I haven't seen in other photography books. I think this is the first book I've seen with a section on taking your camera apart... literally. Once apart, you can start adding things like shutter triggers to give you more options than a timed 10 second delay. I guess you could also just go out and buy something that already does that, but what's the fun in that? :) But not everything is quite as adventurous as that. If you have a camera with no tripod mount, there's a nice hack that shows you how to add one. You can go big time and actually build a block that you can velcro your camera to, or it can be as simple as gluing on a nut that's the same size as your tripod screw. Something I wouldn't have thought of...

To be honest, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to try a lot of this stuff. I'm not good with tools, and prying open my camera would cause bad things to happen. Maybe not to you, but it would to me. As such, I'm probably not the intended audience for this book. But I was surprised to see what you could do with a little ingenuity and a soldering iron. I can see where this book would offer hours of entertainment for the right type of photographer/geek...

Here is another benign use of the word "Hack". Meaning to tinker with, or experiment. The authors indulge fully in this meaning of the word, as applied to digital cameras. The activities described are almost all hardware related. That is, hands on, manual tinkering.

Such as making triggers. An entire chapter is devoted to this. You can see that the issues here are not so different from building triggers for analog cameras. A trigger is a basic and important extended functionality for many camera users.

There is much other experimental functionality given. The most interesting seems to be taking infrared photographs. Many digital cameras do respond in the IR. Unlike standard photographic film, which favours the visible spectrum. So whereas with an analog camera, you would need special IR film, if you have a digital camera, it should already have a decent IR sensitivity. For some of you, this may be an unexpected bonus of using a digital camera.

Two chapters do deal mostly with software. One involves getting raw sensor data from Casio or Nikon cameras, and then using some publicly available software to decode these into a more standard graphics format. While the other chapter is about programming a remote control for the camera.

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