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>> The hacks adds some neat additional features like RAW files,[...]
> >
>> Of course, more expensive models and SLRs can do that, but it's nice to 
>> get some high-end features on such cheap models.
>
> RAW files isn't a high-end feature. That is what Canon wants you to 
> believe.
>
> http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/antifeatures

Well, yes and no. That's in fact the conclusion of my blog post about CHDK, 
that the hack opens features that are actually disabled rather than absent. 
This is pure marketing, not technology, and I agree that's it's annoying 
from a consumer's point of view. It's just strange to think that a cheap 
little camera can do a 1/50000 shutter speed and that instead of using this 
as a selling point Canon prefers to disable the feature and activate it only 
on more expensive models. Same for RAW and the other features that CHDK 
"liberates".

OTOH, this is the real world, not the FSF's fantasyland where everyone is a 
geek, and this part of the article is, to be blunt, clueless. RAW *** is *** 
a high-end feature not because camera manufacturers say so but because the 
only people able to use RAW files are amateur/pro users who have a really 
good understanding of photography and digital image processing. In fact, 
shooting RAW on a Powershot can be occasionally useful  but given the lens 
quality it's also a little bit pointless. A real photography buff is going 
to use a SLR with proper lenses and sensors anyway, not Powershot-like 
cameras, except for the pics where top control doesn't really matter.

The Powershots are aimed at people who don't know about photography 
technology or don't care that much. The selling point is that Powershots are 
simple, point-and-shoot, fully automatic cameras that offer good quality 
with minimal user control. This is really what people like the FSF blogger 
have trouble understanding: for many users, the lack of power-user features 
is itself a feature. In fact, many people have been burnt in the past by 
featuritis in consumer products (VCRs anyone?). When I lend the camera to 
other people, I often have to turn off the manual mode because the few 
overrides made available by Canon are confusing to them. Yes, Canon could 
enable RAW saving and then what? A very small percentage of the users would 
know what it is and use it accordingly, and for the rest it would just add a 
level of clutter in the already cluttered menus, with the additional risk of 
people turning it on either accidentally or in the hope of making "better" 
pictures without knowing that RAW images would fill up the disk much quicker 
than the JPEG and require special software and large amounts of time to be 
processed.

Now, if the FSF author had used the lack of battery indicator as an example 
(something that is really meant to force users to buy a backup battery), 
he'd have a much better point...

G.

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