Hardware Hack for EOS Cameras Coming Soon? [CR1]

[Canon Rumors]

<div name="googleone_share_1" style="position:relative;z-index:5;float: right; /*margin: 70px 0 0 0;*/ top:70px; right:120px; width:0;"><g:plusone size="tall" count="1" href="http://www.canonrumors.com/2014/02/hardware-hack-for-eos-cameras-coming-soon-cr1/"></g:plusone></div><div style="float: right; margin:0 0 70px 70px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-url="http://www.canonrumors.com/2014/02/hardware-hack-for-eos-cameras-coming-soon-cr1/">Tweet</a></div>
<p>We received an email stating that a certain company is getting ready to announce a hardware hack for Canon EOS cameras. Only the EOS 5D Mark III was listed, but other EOS cameras are likely.</p>
<p>The hack requires the mainboard inside the camera gets replaced with the modified custom board. It was not mentioned how, or where you’d send your camera to get the modification. I’d think they’d have to give away a few modified cameras to get the trust of the consumer. The reported cost of the mod is $1000 USD.</p>
<p>As for the modification itself, it’s said it will “greatly improve dynamic range, video sharpness and performance of the EOS 5D Mark III.”</p>
<p>I’ve heard about these types of things in the past, and nothing has ever come of them. This one seems a bit different, but we’ll have to wait and see.</p>
<p>More to come…</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>

 

[PhotographerJim]

Not so much...

 

[2n10]

A fool and his money...

 

[Skulker]

I'm sure Iif it works there will be plenty of people willing to give it a go. I won't be near the front of the que but will be watching with interest. But more DR is not near the top of my wish list, and video anything is not even on my list, ATM.

If it really works without much downside it might spur canon on with improvements, that would be a good thing.

 

[Etienne]

It all depends on how much of an improvement it provides.

 

[zim]

Wot Nikon are going to start modifying 5D3s

 

[poias]

Great job, guys. Canon gets the best technical minds. I hope it is 15-stop DR, 4K RAW video and 10 fps shooting for 5D3. Nikon fanboys will be committing suicide. What will be their excuse?

 

[yorgasor]

Now if this hack would give me everything I've been fantasizing about in the a7R (minus the 40mp sensor, I suppose), with the high dynamic range and ability to pull more detail out of shadows, I might be interested. It would certainly be cheaper than buying the a7R and adapter, and dealing with two different cameras. I certainly wouldn't be first in line to try it out though. The odds of the adapter giving me everything I want without breaking anything else seems awfully slim.

 

[eml58]

Wot Nikon are going to start modifying 5D3s

Ha Ha Ha, wondered how long before someone would suggest this, should be the start of another Looooooong blown out DR discussion, generating quickly into argument, degenerating inevitably into name calling, insults & Chaos.

But, if you wanted better DR than Canon offer, I suppose you could just buy a D800 ?? right ?? wouldn't void the warranty.

I think I'll just stay with my 1Dx, 5DMK III, 1DMK IV & 5DMK II as is and wait for Canon to improve DR, or not, I'm Ok either way.

 

[eml58]

Now if this hack would give me everything I've been fantasizing about in the a7R

My experience to date with the a7r is if it could be hacked to give 8fps ?? the rest is just fine as is, this Sensor and 8fps, my hopes for a near future 1D body.

 

[jdramirez]

No thanks. If I need dynamic range, I will hdr the shot... and video... my daughter NOT playing basketball doesn't require better video.

 

[jdramirez]

I want practically a new camera for a $1000 mod.

I want 8 fps, I want a bigger buffer, I want 4k video, and I want self adjust afma that adjusts through the range not just at the wide and at the tele side.

Is that outrageous... no. And the reason why is that the 5d mkiv will probably have all that and more, so if I sell my body for $2400 (maybe) and the new mkiv might be $4000... so for $1600... I can get the big upgrade. But I'm just making stuff up now. And the mkiv won't come out for another 2-3 years...

 

[DavidD]

More Dynamic Range IS at the top of my list.

So you bet I'm interested.

I'll be thrilled to buy a new 5Dm3 to get another stop.

If its 2 stops or more – I’ll be ecstatic !

The dismaying part is this means the 5Dm3 sensor already snags a significantly wider Dynamic Range but for some political/marketing/strategy reason Canon decided not to let us use it.

Reminds of how Intervalometer function could be added in a manner of hours (of development time) if Canon wanted to. Its just that Canon wants to sell you a separate device.

Now if they would only get rid of the pattern noise in shadows – I’d be a very content fellow.

 

[verysimplejason]

I wonder when would Canon offer APIs for "extending" the software capabilities of their cameras. Samsung if I recall is offering the same thing. I think this is a much better path than having hardware hacks which can definitely void a camera. It will also give more value to their camera eventually. As a software developer myself, I know improvements can still be done on the code level even with limited hardware capability. Of course, Canon should take a lot of precautions (like safeguarding certain parameters) so as not to void the warranty of each camera.

 

[thebowtie]

<div name=\"googleone_share_1\" style=\"position:relative;z-index:5;float: right; /*margin: 70px 0 0 0;*/ top:70px; right:120px; width:0;\"><glusone size=\"tall\" count=\"1\" href=\"http://www.canonrumors.com/?p=15948\"></glusone></div><div style=\"float: right; margin:0 0 70px 70px;\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"vertical\" data-url=\"http://www.canonrumors.com/?p=15948\">Tweet</a></div>
<p>We received an email stating that a certain company is getting ready to announce a hardware hack for Canon EOS cameras. Only the EOS 5D Mark III was listed, but other EOS cameras are likely.</p>
<p>The hack requires the mainboard inside the camera gets replaced with the modified custom board. It was not mentioned how, or where you’d send your camera to get the modification. I’d think they’d have to give away a few modified cameras to get the trust of the consumer. The reported cost of the mod is $1000 USD.</p>

Oh dear, are we now seeing April 1 product pre-announcements?
Consider this - a new mainboard, the thing that makes the camer work - never mind the warrany/repairability implications.
What about future compatibility for CANON firmware (or even MagicLantern?)

Yeah.
Not!

 

[dstppy]

Hoe dup.

Lemmie go buy a $3k camera and crack it open to solder a new main board . . .

 

[jrista]

Hmm, new main board. That sounds like a total sensor replacement to me...Sony Exmor in a Canon body? Alternative to DIGIC as well? The thing I would be curious about is how will the camera perform overall. The 5D III is an excellent camera, and it performs well, in many cases exceptionally well, in pretty much every area. That includes IQ, even though it doesn't have the low ISO DR.

If someone slaps in a different sensor and image processor, I really wonder how that would impact the 5D III being the 5D III....

 

[RGomezPhotos]

You totally nailed it. A $1000 mod to give you another stop or two of dynamic range and more sharpness? And you'd probably get another FPS or two to boot. Really, that's a bargain. You're talking medium format now and entry point to that starts at $15k. So $4k for something that's really close or maybe even better and certainly faster?

You KNOW the big MP camera Canon is coming out with is going to cost around $7k - $8k at least. Me? I'd be happy with a Canon 5D MKIII with MF dynamic range. Or do that with the 1DX would be pretty much the perfect camera for me at that point. Just build in WiFi. Really...

More Dynamic Range IS at the top of my list.

So you bet I'm interested.

I'll be thrilled to buy a new 5Dm3 to get another stop.

If its 2 stops or more – I’ll be ecstatic !

The dismaying part is this means the 5Dm3 sensor already snags a significantly wider Dynamic Range but for some political/marketing/strategy reason Canon decided not to let us use it.

Reminds of how Intervalometer function could be added in a manner of hours (of development time) if Canon wanted to. Its just that Canon wants to sell you a separate device.

Now if they would only get rid of the pattern noise in shadows – I’d be a very content fellow.

 

[philmoz]

Hmm, new main board. That sounds like a total sensor replacement to me...Sony Exmor in a Canon body? Alternative to DIGIC as well? The thing I would be curious about is how will the camera perform overall. The 5D III is an excellent camera, and it performs well, in many cases exceptionally well, in pretty much every area. That includes IQ, even though it doesn't have the low ISO DR.

If someone slaps in a different sensor and image processor, I really wonder how that would impact the 5D III being the 5D III....

The whole thing sounds very suspicious to me.

One possibility is it's a custom firmware version with the ML hacks for expanded DR and Raw video added.

Sell it as a main board replacement for more profit, when in fact it's just a firmware update.

Phil.

 

[jrista]

Hmm, new main board. That sounds like a total sensor replacement to me...Sony Exmor in a Canon body? Alternative to DIGIC as well? The thing I would be curious about is how will the camera perform overall. The 5D III is an excellent camera, and it performs well, in many cases exceptionally well, in pretty much every area. That includes IQ, even though it doesn't have the low ISO DR.

If someone slaps in a different sensor and image processor, I really wonder how that would impact the 5D III being the 5D III....

The whole thing sounds very suspicious to me.

One possibility is it's a custom firmware version with the ML hacks for expanded DR and Raw video added.

Sell it as a main board replacement for more profit, when in fact it's just a firmware update.

Phil.

Eh, I doubt that. They would get found out quick. This is the age of the social internet. If that's all they were doing, they would get CRUSHED by Twitter. They would be out of business in a week. It's got to be comething more than that, if they are doing a mainboard replacement. For a grand, it has to be something rather substantial. Taking apart a DSLR, making careful modifications, and reassembling aint cheap. Hell, to have the standard IR cut filter removed from a DSLR and replaced with one that passes 90%+ of the deep reds for astrophotography, it costs about $450! And all that is doing is replacing the built-in filter stack with a custom filter stack from Astrodon. The filter itself only costs about $150...the rest is labor cost, because it's very careful, painstaking work that requires a very skilled hand.

So, my guess is if this company actually exists and actually ends up offering this, it's far more substantial than just a firmware hack. It's new hardware. Either a new DSP, a tweaked DSP, or a new or tweaked sensor. I think new sensor, and a non-Canon sensor at that, if they are actually replacing the main board. It may not be a Sony Exmor, but there are a number of other sensors out there that offer great IQ and more DR.