# Hardware Hack for EOS Cameras Coming Soon? [CR1]



## Canon Rumors Guy (Feb 27, 2014)

```
<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 (Feb 27, 2014)

Not so much...


----------



## 2n10 (Feb 27, 2014)

A fool and his money...


----------



## Skulker (Feb 27, 2014)

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 (Feb 27, 2014)

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


----------



## zim (Feb 27, 2014)

Wot Nikon are going to start modifying 5D3s


----------



## poias (Feb 27, 2014)

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 (Feb 27, 2014)

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 (Feb 28, 2014)

zim said:


> 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 (Feb 28, 2014)

yorgasor said:


> 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 (Feb 28, 2014)

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 (Feb 28, 2014)

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 (Feb 28, 2014)

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 (Feb 28, 2014)

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 (Feb 28, 2014)

Canon Rumors said:


> <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 (Feb 28, 2014)

Hoe dup.

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


----------



## jrista (Feb 28, 2014)

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 (Feb 28, 2014)

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... 



DavidD said:


> More Dynamic Range IS at the top of my list.
> 
> So you bet I'm interested.
> 
> ...


----------



## philmoz (Feb 28, 2014)

jrista said:


> 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 (Feb 28, 2014)

philmoz said:


> jrista said:
> 
> 
> > 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.
> ...



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.


----------



## JumboShrimp (Feb 28, 2014)

Cheaper and easier if you just dunk you EOS body in a vat of salt water for a while ...


----------



## RGF (Feb 28, 2014)

perhaps they could add memory to the 1Dx. So I could have a 200 shoot buffer in raw ;D


----------



## candyman (Feb 28, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> ....... I want self adjust afma that adjusts through the range not just at the wide and at the tele side.
> ......



Now there you go. THAT would be a real improvement. A main board in the camera that detects the lens attached, adjust automatically the AFMA value and keep this value as long as this lens is attached. When you bump your camera it immediately re-adjust the AFMA value.
Come on....you see self diagnostic programs in cars and other products. This is the 21st century...bring it on Canon before others will do...

I hate to go through all the work with Reikan.....


----------



## The_Sinister (Feb 28, 2014)

Cant wait to see it!


----------



## expatinasia (Feb 28, 2014)

I think it is great and will sign up immediately. Or I would, if I had not just lost all my money to a Nigerian email scam, anyway not to worry as I have just been notified that I have won the lottery. Filling that email out now. Maybe the beautiful girl - Iamyourski - will talk to me again now I am rich, she seemed to lose interest when I said I had no money left the last time we chatted online. ;D


----------



## TLN (Feb 28, 2014)

Imagine, it's like soldiering a new chip that allows to overrive all the params: like FPS, aperture step, or something.
We already have a software to control this, now we need a hardware without a factory-made limits. 
I still cannot see where the DR improvements come from, but I guess this is possible.
May be... May be canon have some limitations built in, and difference between 1dX and 5d3 is there. Like same sensor tech, but Canon inserts extra noice in "cheaper" 5d3. Same for shutter: you limit it to 4fps, so people who need more are forced to buy another model, but actually there's no limiting factor in 5d3 which prevents it from doing 10fps in perfect conditions.


----------



## mb66energy (Feb 28, 2014)

Canon Rumors said:


> [...]
> 
> <p>As for the modification itself, it’s said it will “greatly improve dynamic range and video sharpness and performance in the EOS 5D Mark III.”</p>
> 
> [...]



Optimized PCB layout might help to get the pedestal noise down which increases DR directly. Perhaps they introduce some intelligent readout which reads the sensor twice to extend the DR by increasing the max counted photons per subpixel. Sometimes tiny alterations of PCB layout reduce "electronic dirt" on signals making them cleaner, more realistic.

Our brain disciminates very subtle changes in signals. Think about sound reproduction: I added a dipole subwoofer to my very good loud speakers and the rendering of sound below 35Hz is magic - I don't hear to much new things in that region.
Listening is much easier than before; from psychoaccoustics we know that the brain adds missing details very effectively like bass sound from higher frequencies. But I think, the brain has to do the calculation of missing details - if you add the detail you need less processing power which can be used to enjoy the music.
The same might apply to optics/cameras.

Another thought: cooling or at least stablizing the temperature to something like 20 degree celsius for sensor and ADC might help to reduce noise sources substantially.

IMHO substantially higher frame rates are not possible because the shutter mechanism will limit fps for an EOS 5D MarkIII.


----------



## m (Feb 28, 2014)

If this results in a supercharged ML, because the reverse engineering required will be reduced, this can be interesting for people.


----------



## pedro (Feb 28, 2014)

I'd rather send it in to Canon for a sensor swap with the 1Dx ;-) But no chance in a million, that I'd entrust a 3.5k CHF device to someone to fiddle with its interior parts...


----------



## JasonATL (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm intrigued by this for video reasons. The ML raw hack is great for getting good image quality, but it is not really all practical for most uses for me. The main limitation for me in making it practical is hardware, in that I can only record 10 minutes on a 64 GB CF card. 

Add hardware that has the ability to mount an SSD drive? All of the sudden, this camera is as (or more) functional than, say, a Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Add a good codec that will record a 10-bit ProResHQ file (even to a CF card)? That would be very nice, too - perhaps even better than raw. More dynamic range would be fine in video, but if you are just going to record it in an 8-bit, compressed as %$#! codec, then what's point? 

Finally, it will depend on who the company is. Is it ML? Those guys are great with software, but what about hardware?


----------



## tron (Feb 28, 2014)

1st. If this is true it was made possible by myself buying my 2nd 5DMkIII camera instead of waiting (Murphy's Law in action!!!) ;D 

2nd. In reality, the best possible hack is the introduction of 5DMkIV by Canon themselves sometime in the future... ;D


----------



## tron (Feb 28, 2014)

Another possibility is they take our 5DMkIIIs and run ;D


----------



## tog13 (Feb 28, 2014)

If "other cameras" includes the 5D1 and the mod brought the high-ISO performance up to (or beyond) my 5D3, I might take a look at that.


----------



## drjlo (Feb 28, 2014)

eml58 said:


> yorgasor said:
> 
> 
> > Now if this hack would give me everything I've been fantasizing about in the a7R
> ...



I just took delivery of A7R to add to my 5D III, and man, have you "felt" and heard that ridiculously loud and vibrating Sony shutter? :-\ If somebody made A7R do 8 fps, the shutter assembly would likely contort and explode.


----------



## verysimplejason (Feb 28, 2014)

pedro said:


> I'd rather send it in to Canon for a sensor swap with the 1Dx ;-)



Or just sensor swap with a 6D.  6D with 5D3 AF and priced between 6D and 5D3, WOW! Even if they just put 19 double cross AF to 6D, I will certainly be a lot happier now.

While we are at it, a 6D with an upgraded AF will also be fine. WTH, a 6D with all the other points the same with the center point capability will be enough for me.


----------



## cliffwang (Feb 28, 2014)

Sounds like a 5D4 upgrade without warranty for 1K. If the mod really can bring a lot of benefit, I would consider for it since my 1.5 year old 5D3 is out of Canon warranty.


----------



## NormanBates (Feb 28, 2014)

Give the 5D3 the same DR of the D800, while retaining the ability to shoot RAW video through Magic Lantern, and I'll get one in a heartbeat.


----------



## Diko (Feb 28, 2014)

IMO the way this whole article has been written it deserves no more than *CR0*.

And it really sounds like if the author's nigerian cousins, that he hasn't seen for quite a long time, dropped him a letter with the new idea... ???

Additionally: 

1/ the talk is about the motherboard and NOT about the sensor.
2/ I wonder what CANON has to say about in legal terms about unathourised tunning.

PS: I hate tablets


----------



## tron (Mar 1, 2014)

Diko said:


> IMO the way this whole article has been written it deserves no more than *CR0*.
> 
> And it really sounds like if the author's nigerian cousins, that he hasn't seen for quite a long time, dropped him a letter with the new idea... ???
> 
> ...


I agree about CR0. HOWEVER, in the extremely highly unlikely case that this were to be true - which I do not believe it is - sold cameras do NOT belong to Canon. So their owners should do whatever they want with them if they do not care about guarantee. Plus, they did not sign any agreement when they bought the cameras...


----------



## NormanBates (Mar 1, 2014)

I also believe this won't happen, but there's a slim chance of it being true: Canon uses off-sensor ADCs, and maybe someone has found a way to replace those with less-noisy ones, while working within exactly the same specs that the processor is made to work with. Really, really unlikely. But it could happen, and a sensor swap would not be needed.


----------



## Hardwire (Mar 25, 2014)

NormanBates said:


> Canon uses off-sensor ADCs, and maybe someone has found a way to replace those with less-noisy ones


Like from a 6D perhaps?


----------

