Adding features to Canon IXUS 60 with CHDK

I bought my Canon IXUS 60 from Zürich during summer 2006. It was my first digital camera and it served well until 2008 when I bought Canon 450D. After that it has been left mostly unused and that is a shame.

Then I got to know about the CHDK project and saw some exciting new uses for the old IXUS. This Canon Hack Development Kit extends your camera and it allows to run simple applications on it. One example is time lapse photography and, actually, that got me interested.

Installation was quite simple on OS X with scripted CHDK Mac Installer. The only problem was to choose the right version as there are two for IXUS 60/SD600 but with trial and error I got it working. That might sound risky but the installation is done on the memory card so nothing is changed permanently on the camera. For me the right one was 1.00a instead of 1.00d.

The camera starts now from the software on the memory card and it displays CHDK splash screen at the startup. The normal CHDK comes with many new options but for time lapse photography it requires a script. I chose Ultra Intervalometer and so far I have been happy with it. I was a bit worried how long the old battery would last but I managed to take couple hundred shots with one minute intervals. The important power saving trick is to set the LCD screen go off as soon as possible.



I have made couple time lapse videos but they are not suitable for public as they show our messy living room. The plan is to make something better and upload it to vimeo or youtube. Meanwhile, I recommend you take a look at the CHDK project page in case your camera is supported.

Vivitar 35mm f1.9, Amanda De Luxe 135mm f3.5 and SMC Takumar 55m f1.8 review

I finally received my M42 to EOS adapter ring with AF-confirm. The first thing was naturally to take some test shots with my vintage M42 lenses mentioned in the previous post. So how did these around 30 or more year old lenses perform?



The setup was very simple. I placed two teddys on a paper and placed a YN-460II flash on their right. The flash was triggered with YN RF-602 radio trigger. The camera used was Canon 450D and it was placed either on a gorilla pod or a tripod. The shutter speed was set to 1/160s and I changed flash power based on the aperture setting. Each lens was focussed using camera's live view.

Of course the setup is not ideal as the camera angle and amount of light was not fixed but it should give some idea how each lens performs. The test photos can be seen in my flickr set: M42 Bear test

The first lens to test was Vivitar 35mm f1.9. I hoped it would to perform well as I am planning use it indoors a lot. The focal length nearly matches 50mm in a crop sensor camera and the f1.9 makes this lens fast. But with wide open aperture it is clearly a bit soft. Luckily sharpness improves at f2.8 and onwards. Unfortunately I did not have Canon EF 35mm f2.0 to compare - I guess it would be sharper wide open.

The mysterious Amanda De Luxe 135mm f3.5 was next. This lens was softest of all three and lacked contrast all the way. Well, I did not expect too much...

Finally it was time for tiny SMC Takumar 55m f1.8. This multi coated lens was supposed to be pretty sharp and it did not let me down. Already at f1.8 it produces surprisingly sharp results and at f2.8 it is very nice.

I am not disappointed as none of the lenses was total disaster. Compared to their price they are good enough and SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 seems to be excellent. As soon as possible I will take them outdoors one day and try out more. In any case I will keep them all untill I run out of storage space.

Back to the 70s - vintage photography

Maybe I saw it as a cheap way to get some decent prime lenses or maybe it was just interest in experimenting. In any case, I ended buying bunch of old camera gear from an elderly gentleman. With reasonable price I got Asahi Pentax Spotmatic F film SLR, Vivitar 35mm f1.9, Takumar SMC 55mm f1.8, mysterious 'Amanda De Luxe' 135mm f3.5, light meter and some accessories. I think most of them were manufactured during the 70s.

The primes have M42 mount so I will be able to use them with my Canon 450D as soon as the adapter arrives. But I could not wait and I had to go and buy a roll of film. The first surprise was the price of the film. I have forgotten that taking a photo actually costs something with film camera and paying 4 GBP for a roll made me think. I also needed battery for the light meter of the camera. Other than the that it is completely mechanic and does not need electricity to take photos.

I had to do some research on how to use the camera and each lens. The easiest one is the Takumar SMC 55mm f1.8 and it is quite close to how modern DSLR works in manual mode. I start by setting the aperture first. Then I check the light meter reading and I adjust the exposure time. Finally I check the focussing - there is no autofocus or focus confirmation light.

With Vivitar 35mm f1.9 I need to check light meter value using a switch on the camera. This sets the aperture of the lens to my setting and light metering can be done. In case of the Takumar the light metering was automatically adjusted based on selected aperture. So there is one more step compared to that.

The 135mm is even more complicated because it does not have a way to preview aperture. This makes things tricky as focussing is difficult with small aperture. Therefore you need to do light metering with the selected aperture first, then open the aperture and focus the lens. After this you must return the aperture setting to the previous value. And all this must be done assuming no changes in the situation.

After taking a shot I have yet another thing to do. There is no EXIF data on film so I have to write the settings down on my notebook. Of course this is optional but I have been trying out new lenses so I want to know how they perform in different situations. At least I do not have to write down ISO... it is same for the whole roll of film.

I have not seen the results of my film shooting yet so I have no clue how well Spotmatic F works and how the lenses perform. I have to take couple more shots and then take the roll to the film processing. I guess there will be some places still doing it with reasonable price.

Just a couple days of film shooting has thought me many things. Most importantly I have much more respect for photographers prior to digital age or autofocus. Capturing the right moment with manual gear required quite some skills and experience. Photography is so much easier today. But the artistic side of photography is as difficult as ever.