Do you think Canon can add the contrast detection AF for the live view via a firmware fix or do you think this is a hardware issue?If they could, would you prefer it over the current mirror-flip AF?

Yes, this is just a matter of firmware. There is no need for any hardware modification or addition. The fact that Breeze Systems' tethered shooting software already gives us contrast detect LV AF proves that the hardware is already supplying everything that's needed.BUT:There needs to be sufficient "room" in the various memory areas of the 40D (RAM and ROM) to hold the additional code and any additional "hot" variables required. So we don't really know if that's available or not. It probably is, but I certainly don't know that for a fact.Also, to my knowledge, Canon has NEVER upgraded an existing DSLR via firmware. They fix bugs, but they do NOT seem to add features.While they're at it, they could:Give us some useful alternatives to the way the C1, C2, and C3 dial positions work. As they are, I never use them. Too dangerous.Give us AF micro-Adjustment.Give the camera the ability to "zoom into" the full-resolution images when reviewing on the rear LCD (power-chimping, I'll call it) instead of limiting us to the poor resolution embedded thumbnails we must endure now.Give us user-initiated hot-pixel mapping (like Oly has had for years).But again, I do not expect any of the above to happen. It just isn't Canon's style. Now if we were talking about Olympus: They'd do it in a heartbeat if they thought the customers wanted it.BUT on to the 2nd question:Would I prefer contrast based LV AF over the current mirror drop implementation?NO, I wouldn't. I want it in addition to the existing mirror drop AF.Contrast-based would be handy in some situations and mirror-drop in others. Mirror-Drop is probably faster and may be better in low light.Contrast Detect is ultimately more accurate despite any lens or body calibration issues (non-issues for a closed-loop system based on the image from the actual "taking" sensor, of course).So I want both.Gee, some of us are just never satisfied

JimHwrote:Give us some useful alternatives to the way the C1, C2, and C3 dial positions work. As they are, I never use them. Too dangerous.I'm using them all the time, great feature - if anything... to few of Cn'sGive us AF micro-Adjustment.yes!Give the camera the ability to "zoom into" the full-resolution images when reviewing on the rear LCD (power-chimping, I'll call it) instead of limiting us to the poor resolution embedded thumbnails we must endure now.yes! yes! yes!and also give to some custom function the ability for the user to decide whetherthe TCs should be allowed to try for AF or not (like the situation is right now), with lenses resulting in the effective aperture slower than f/5.6;also, user's selectable limits to the AUTO ISO;and the contrast-detect AF in LV besides phase-detect with momentarilymirror down option as implemented currently;there are some other ideas, but all the above pose no danger whatsoever toany piece of 40D's hardware, shutter, etc - these doubts were voiced in some other treads,jpr2

If you never deviate at all from the registered settings, then those modes are OK.But here's what I'd be likely to do with the custom modes:I'd set one for "indoor shooting" and one for "outdoor shooting". Then, at a party or reception, I could go quickly from indoors to out and back again with the twist of the mode dial. Flash fill for outdoors, full-flash for indoors, etc.BUT, let's say I'm inside shooting, using C1, and I decide that I want to increase the FEC or change the shutter speed or adjust the aperture, etc.. That's great. But let's say the camera goes into power save mode, and then I want to take another shot. Zappo! The registered settings are reasserted and I lose all of the adjustments I've made a minute ago. Ouch!So, we can just set the camera to never go to sleep.But now, let's say I make a few adjustments and then switch to C2 for outdoor shooting. While outside, I also adjust things a bit. Now I go back inside and switch to C1 for indoor shooting. Darn! I'm back to the registered settings again, so I've lost all of the specific adjustments that I made for this particular situation. That sort of blunts the usefulness of the custom modes if I end up needing to remember all of the adjustments I've made and then re-apply them before I can fire a shot. Think of all of the shots I'll miss.Thus, the C1, C2, and C3 modes are all but useless. I'm better off doing what I always do which is to set up Tv for indoor shooting and Av for outdoor shooting and switch between them. THEY remember your "last used" settings.It's somewhat odd that C1, C2, and C3 do NOT remember your "last used" settings when all of the other modes do. To me, it's a discontinuity in the logic. Having your adjustments go away just because the camera dozed off can be dangerous because you can't rely on the settings staying the way you last left them.Now I understand the reasoning behind having C1, C2, and C3 behave the way they do. But what I'd propose is the following:We have another custom function to control the behavior of the custom modes.If you leave this C.Fn set to 0 (the default), the custom modes behave just as they do now. Plenty of people like it just as it is.Set the C.Fn to 1, and now the camera retains the "last used" settings after an auto power-down. That'd be a very welcome "safety" feature that a LOT of people would use. You could always reassert the registered settings by manually cycling the power switch or rotating the mode dial back and forth one step. But unless you did that, you could rely on the camera being the same way it was when you last took a shot.Set the C.Fn to 2 and now the camera retains the last-used settings after an auto power-down OR a manual operation of the power switch. In this mode, the ONLY time the registered settings would be asserted is when you rotate the mode dial. That'd be really safe and a lot of folks would like that.Set the C.Fn to 3, and now the camera is in "auto register" mode. In this mode (my favorite), the camera remembers your last-used settings for any of the custom modes no matter what. That way, I can set up C1 for indoors, C2 for outdoors, and at a shoot, I can go in and out, switching between C1 and C2, and have them each remember the last-used settings just the same as Av, Tv, and M do now. They don't change just because you've rotated the dial. That's the logic most of us are used to.And as a little addition to the "mode 3" logic, I'd provide ten mode memories into which you could register settings just the way we do into the three mode dial settings now. But these ten mode memories would NOT change unless we went into the menus and re-registered settings over them. So we'd still have our non-changing registered "starting points". Then, we'd have a menu method to load any of those ten mode memories into each of the three custom mode-dial positions. So you could always get back to some presets quickly.That way, I'd have the best of everything. I could have the camera's three custom modes "evolve and adapt" during the course of a shoot so that I could count on them being the way I last used them (refined for this specific shooting situation), yet I could easily "reload" one of the ten mode memories back into any of them any time I want.Conversely, I might want to save this "evolved and refined" version of, for example, C2 into one of my ten mode memories. No problem, I just tell the camera to store C2 into M5 (or whatever). And I would be able to name these mode memories to make them more useful.As with our other wish-list items, this could be done entirely in firmware. And because we'd have our four possible C.Fn behaviors for the custom modes, nobody would lose anything. If they like the way it is now, they can leave it set to 0. But if having the camera change settings on its own is causing you to blow important shots, you can use one of the three other alternatives to get the degree of "last-used" retention that you prefer.As it is, I really just don't use the custom modes. But in case I ever do, I've got "Camera User Setting" programmed into my "favorites" menu so that I can just re-register things over and over while shooting. That's my answer for now. I just have to keep re-registering things any time I make a change while shooting.I guess the thing is that I never really shoot much of anything where I can absolutely count on every setting being totally predictable. Instead, I'd rather use the registered settings as a "starting point" from which my settings will evolve as the shoot progresses.

Great explanation. Thanks, Jim.BTW Canon did release a firmware upgrade for the 20D to support the WFT-E1. Technically it can be called a new feature, though it does nothing extra if you did not also buy the wireless grip.

Those firmware from Russia might be able to do it.Contrast detect has limited use, it is very slow and only useful for static tripod mount shoots. Think about it if you are using a tripod shooting still object you do NOT need auto focus. A live view with manual focus with a tripod is FAR MORE efficient, FASTER, more ACCURATE and SAVE BATTERY life.CONTRAST DETECT is a FAD and nothing more than a MARKETING GIMMICK!

ira_ravidwrote:Do you think Canon can add the contrast detection AF for the live view via a firmware fix or do you think this is a hardware issue?I believe it's firmware based, but won't be added. It's included in the new 450D. The 1DMkIII has live view but not AF. It was the first with live view. The 40D gained live view with AF, the 450D gained live view with contrast detect. I'd expect other future bodies released to have both options.If they could, would you prefer it over the current mirror-flip AF?No, I wouldn't prefer it over the current AF mode. However it would probably be useful at times in addition to the phase detect mode with mirror flip.

I think they released that because it opened a market for them to sell the wi-fi grip. Ka-chingBut technically, you're right. It did add a potential new capability to the camera

There have been no new hacks for any of the Canon DSLRs because after the loss of face they suffered over the Rebel hack, they immediately switched to a proprietary operating system in these bodies.As I understand it (and I may be wrong) the famed "Russian Hack" for the Rebels was only possible for two reasons:1. The OS for the camera was a commonly available system that had lots of widely used development tools.2. The features were already coded into the firmware and only needed to be "unlocked".The way things are now, it is highly unlikely that anyone will be coming out with third-party firmware for these newer cameras. It's a shame, but that seems to be the case. Canon wasted no time plugging that leak from what I've read

Taikonautwrote:Those firmware from Russia might be able to do it. Contrast detect has limited use, it is very slow and only useful for static tripod mount shoots. Think about it if you are using a tripod shooting still object you do NOT need auto focus. A live view with manual focus with a tripod is FAR MORE efficient, FASTER, more ACCURATE and SAVE BATTERY life.CONTRAST DETECT is a FAD and nothing more than a MARKETING GIMMICK!it actually might be useful for a situations demanding absolutely critical focus, but these are also target depended, here is why: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=27106160jpr2

JimHwrote:There have been no new hacks for any of the Canon DSLRs because after the loss of face they suffered over the Rebel hack, they immediately switched to a proprietary operating system in these bodies.are you saying, that this is no longer true: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=27169531indeed, it is a great pity and shame, but such evaluative statements are based on my personal idiosyncrasies, and perhaps are not shared by Japanese at alljpr2PS an thanx for c1-cn explanation and ideas - I do agree with almost everything as to the way you propose to improve things

I saw a post on here a few years ago from someone who claimed to actually be one of the people who develops the new EOS firmware and he assured us that after the hacking of the Drebel, Canon began using a proprietary OS and that it's very secure and not something that will be hacked with any ease in the future.And you will notice that there have been no hacks since the one for the DRebels years ago.So while it was once true that a common OS was used, this is no longer the case. So future "hacks" are unlikely to appear.