I've been aware for some time that there is a third-party firmware enhancement called CHDK available for some Canon digicams.
Today I finally tested it out on my A620, which I've been using as a pocket cam.

I'm a big fan of live zebra and histogram views. After using Sony DSC-R1 for a couple of years I've gotten so used to checking exposure before taking pictures that cameras without those functions seem crippled. Canon A620 has no live zebra or histogram when used with default firmware and having to check the histogram after each shot and/or taking multiple exposures can become quite annoying, especially in point-and-shoot situations. That's the main reason my A620 has been sitting on a shelf for last few months. Another reason was the fact that by default it has no battery life indicator, only a low battery warning.

The CHDK firmware enhancement fixes those problems. Both live zebra and live histogram are available and while a bit sluggish, they are quite usable. The battery life can be shown as percentage, which is much better than the default low battery warning.

Also, there are several other useful functions available, like the ability to shoot RAW and automate some functions with scripts.
For example, it's possible to set the camera to do time-lapse shooting - a function I intend to try out in the summer.

After a couple of hours of testing different functions there seems to be no problems when using CHDK. I've configured it to turn on automatically when camera starts up, and its GUI elements integrate seamlessly with default ones. I'm off to buy some new rechargeables, since it seems that my A620 is going to be useful once again!

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