A firmware hack for 400D to enable ISO 3200 and Spot Metering

[r-knee]

Does all my CF card have to be made bootable and copied with AUTOEXEC.BIN?
when i insert another CF card,..the ISO3200 instantly set back to 1600. :dunno:

all CF card must be made bootable and loaded with autoexec.bin

 

[chicklit]

good news for me, who only plan to upgrade after use this body for 5 years ( 2 years to go)

 

[bababright]

oh my god, can somebody help me please?

I just follow the instuctions and do all the steps correctly, but at step 8, when I inserted my cf card, the blue led turns on but sceen shows "Update file cannot be found. Please turn off the power switch and reload the battery and try again."

Now my camera doesn't work at all. What can I do?

 

[bababright]

recovered.

I copied the original firmware into cf card with autoexec.bin, then upgrade from 1.1.1 -> 1.1.1. Now my camera works again.

 

[bababright]

I have done the procedure again but the problem remains.

My cf card is 4GB but using FAT32 format, so I choosed the 2nd method, and the autoexec.bin seems running ok, but I still got "unable to load update file" error.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[andywan83]

did u missed out step 4?
4. insert CF, and then run firmware update again using testfir.fir the screen will go blank. wait 5 minutes, turn off, take battery out and back in.

 

[calebk]

...
How useful is spot metering compare to evaulative metering?..
I tried and compare both, like no diff like that eh.. :dunno:

First you must understand what spot metering and evaluative metering are about. Do you?

 

[chalib]

First you must understand what spot metering and evaluative metering are about. Do you?

Bro his manual book don't have spot metering lah...:bsmilie:

TS, please google spot metering and you will tons of explanation

 

[pikapig]

anyone selling this CF card?? ...haha lazy me

 

[xnapper]

Which autoexec.bin file did you use ? I think I had the similar problem as I used the file in step #3 (about 1KB). But after change the file in step #7 (about 9KB), the message didn't appear anymore.

Even worse, no display at all, no message, nothing !. I think only direct-print and CF LED blink once. I thought my camera already died, coz if I use another CF card still have the same problem, until I realized that the battery compartment cover was not attached as initially I used a battery grip.

After I attached it properly, my camera become normal again and the hack really works !

I have done the procedure again but the problem remains.

My cf card is 4GB but using FAT32 format, so I choosed the 2nd method, and the autoexec.bin seems running ok, but I still got "unable to load update file" error.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[fws1981]

wat is the angle use for the spot metering function?as i knw partial metering have a slightly bigger spotting angle...

 

[Zephyrus]

Hmm, I wonder if there's any hack for 350D.

 

[coolin]

man i've been stalking this thread hoping to hear about similar hacks for 450d. none then?

 

[andretheng]

tried this and everything works great! the 3200 ISO looks useful and certainly will come in useful (I hate using flash). Only thing is that I can't get the shutter count! I only find a field with "releasecount= ---". anyone experienced this too?

 

[yafoo82]

Thanks to the TS. It worked on mine. I can't wait to try out the various iso steps

I think for ISO 16,32,64, there pictures always turn out over-exposed when using Av mode. Have to use Manual mode to get the right exposure.

Anyone have any views on using the low iso modes?

 

[tatsit]

does this hack support faster shutter speed when using flash? 1/200s is a bit...

 

[andywan83]

Bro his manual book don't have spot metering lah...:bsmilie:

TS, please google spot metering and you will tons of explanation

My manual don't have spot metering.. hahha..
Okay la, did a research on spot metering.
Glad that this hack enables spot metering, so cool..:thumbsup:

 

[fws1981]

i try the spot metering buy it dont have the AE lock function.when u move away from the point u wanna shoot the reading will go away..then i have remember the setting then set to manual mode and use the setting..

 

[owller]

I followed the instructions and was successful
in running the modified firmware to obtain
the ISO3200 setting, spot metering and shutter count.

The hack seems to be in 2 steps.

i) Testdir.dir
ii) autoexec.bin

It worked for both a 4GB CF under FAT16 as well as
for a 8GB CF under FAT 32.

I cannot be certain if (i) has permanently changed
any part of the original 1.1.1 firmware.

The noise in a ISO3200 image can be made cleaner
with post processing.

For me, too early to say if the hack is really
worth it. ie, need more experimentation.

 

[andretheng]

From the way I understand it, it seems that the 2 files

i) Testdir.dir

allows the camera to boot from CF card/CHDK file

ii) autoexec.bin

contains the actual hack.

I followed the instructions and was successful
in running the modified firmware to obtain
the ISO3200 setting, spot metering and shutter count.

The hack seems to be in 2 steps.

i) Testdir.dir
ii) autoexec.bin

It worked for both a 4GB CF under FAT16 as well as
for a 8GB CF under FAT 32.

I cannot be certain if (i) has permanently changed
any part of the original 1.1.1 firmware.

The noise in a ISO3200 image can be made cleaner
with post processing.

For me, too early to say if the hack is really
worth it. ie, need more experimentation.