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Canon PowerShot SX130 IS is a nice digicam and almost it deserves so many features such as high-end cams provide  .But it can’t shoot RAW images .But , shooting RAW images is possible with upgrading its firmware .Now , here , I need to say something about the firmware .

In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices.

Most digital cameras process and compress the snaps you take immediately after capturing the snap. This can be helpful, as it keeps the file sizes low as it uses the JPEG format to process the snap and takes care of colour correction, including white-balance, tint, and exposure and everything .

However, so many people, such as professional photographers and other photographers , prefer to take snaps with more control and that’s why many high-end cameras have the ability to shoot images in RAW mode. This mode does not compress the images at all and leaves them completely unprocessed but they can be processed or developed later on the cam .

However , the Canon PowerShot SX130 IS doesn’t come with the feature that enables you to take snaps in RAW image mode .But , Upgrading the Firmware , you can get all the features as a high-end cam provides you .

To do this , you just need to place a small script on the root of your Cam’s SD card. But , if you are using USB cable to transfer data between your cam and your pc , you can’t do this .Why ? Because , through USB , data can be imported onto your PC but you can’t transfer your data from your PC to Cam .So, to do so , you just need a card reader to place the small application on the root of your SD card .

However , according to the developer , the application has been licensed as GPL so you have the right to use the application freely and even , you can freely distribute it considering the terms and conditions of the application developers ( be sure to read the terms and conditions before using or distributing the application ) .

This is also called as CHDK hack .the way that  you are going to upgrade the firmware of your cam is not going to change it permanently because each time you need to run the script , you have to start it manually .

What is CHDK ?  CHDK is a firmware enhancement that operates on a number of Canon Cameras. CHDK gets loaded into your camera’s memory upon bootup (either manually or automatically). It provides additional functionality beyond that currently provided by the native camera firmware.

However , CHDK is not a permanent firmware upgrade: you decide how it is loaded  and this is easy to you to remove the script from your cam when you want .

The additional functionality , you are going to get is just amazing in a word .

Main features that you are going to get if you use the script :

* Save images in RAW format
* Ability to run “Scripts” to automate the camera
* Live histogram (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)
* Zebra mode (blinking highlights and shadows to show over/under exposed areas)
* An “always on” full range Battery indicator
* Ability to turn off automatic dark-frame subtraction
* a higher compression movie mode, and double the maximum video file size
* exposure times as long as 65 seconds
* exposure times as little as 1/10,000 of a second
* ability to use the USB port for a remote trigger input

Additional features:

* a depth-of-field (DOF)-calculator
* File browser
* Text reader
* Calendar
* Some fun tools and games
* To get Raw file capability on cameras that don’t have that ability
* To get the ability to use scripts  and you will be able to know the battery status at all times

Download the script for your Canon PowerShot SX130 IS from here ..Click to Download

However , this formula works on so many cameras .here , I am giving a link to a web page . Check here whether your cam supports the script and whether you can use the script . You can get the scripts there also . Click here to visit the link.

In the next article , I’ll give the details about how to run the script and how to use it practically .