Digi rebel - russian hack ?

[dave_adninzain]

I just bought the digital rebel and thinking about using the russian

hack on it, can i restore my original firmware if anything fails, and

what is exactly will happen if anything goes wrong?

 

and how do i check, how much the camera had been used?

 

Thanks,

 

Dave

[astcell]

Wait until the waranty runs out or you may end up with an expensive paperweight.

[phule]

<< can i restore my original firmware if anything fails >>

 

Yes.

[danny_lee2]

Wait until the waranty runs out or you may end up with an expensive paperweight?

 

huh? wha ?

[marcin harla]

If you need crucial functions such as MLU or FEC hack is very usefull. If you just got the camera, shoot as much as possible within first 2 weeks with "stock' firmware. This way you can seek for possible problems with your Drebel. If everything is ok within "testing period" just upgrade the firmware. If the camera won't fail within 2 week there is little probability anything should go wrong afterwards.

Of course installing the hacked firmware you have to realize that Canon may deny your Warranty IF anything goes wrong. How do you feel about it?

<br>FWIW I installed hacked firmware and I'm very happy with it.

[phil vaughan - yorkshire u]

If you're buying it second hand you've little clue except the obvious (is it beat-up /marked etc) as to how much it's been used. But let's face it, it's at most 17 months old. Mine was one of the first into the UK and is 'as new'.

 

As Marcin said, use it without the hack first to determine how much you might need it, I had the hack ready to install but never bothered, the one thing I would have installed it for is AI Focus, but that's still not available.

 

If you install the hack and you decide you don't want it, you can revert to the Canon firmware. However there's a caveat, if the camera dies, or you bend a CF card pin, you can't put the Canon firmware back on before sending it to Canon. OTOH there are stories where cameras have gone to Canon and been returned whilst the hack's been installed.

 

There are no reported bugs with the hacked firmware, just some missing features, that appear to be selectable.

[dave_adninzain]

is there anyway to check the number of shots it already shot?

[jimstrutz]

Not really. You can look at the number in the file name, but that doesn't really tell you anything reliable. They can easily be set to go back to zero every time you insert a compact flash card. And you can set a new camera's image number to multiple thousands, by inserting a card from a used camera. In fact, there have been more than a few ignorant complaints of sending sending a nearly new camera in for warranty work and getting it back with 500+ shots on it. All that means is the tech test fired it a few times with his own CF card before sending it back. So, no, there's no way to tell other than by looking it over closely.

[mark u]

The firmware in the hacked code is virtually identical to Canon's. Essentially, the only changes that have been made are to menu text strings (that don't affect operation at all - equivalent to having a different language display), and some "goto" addresses that allow some otherwise hidden features to be enabled. Essentially, Canon took the firmware for the 10D and hid features by putting in "goto where you were" rather than "goto routine for this feature". They did make some other changes too to account for some differences in features (e.g. speed of operation, size of buffer, etc.). Doing it this way allowed Canon to come up with firmware that had been mostly tested and debugged for the 10D, speeding up development in the process. I think you can safely install the hack.

[jerry_young]

I installed the hack and I am very happy with it. The FEC capability enabled by the hack is extremely useful when using flash. MLU also works. The only problem that I have seen is the menu language issue mentioned by Wasia himself. The camera will freeze if you try to change the display language. It will return to normal if you turn off and then turn on the power.

[citizensmith]

>>Wait until the waranty runs out or you may end up with an expensive paperweight?

 

I've seen a ton of posts talking about how cool the hack is. I've never seen one single post saying it killed anyones camera. Should tell you something as the bad news always spreads way faster than the good.

 

Oh, and it worked for me.

 

And as others have said, no way to check how much your rebel has been used aside from looking for signs of wear and tear. There are just too many things that mess with the file numbering system for that to be reliable, and only the 1 series cameras record number of shutter actuations.

[ericx]

I have yet to hear a case where the Hack damaged the camera beyond repair (repair

being a reinstall of the standard firmware). I have yet to hear of canon not honoring

the warranty because of the firmware hack. The most I have heard is that they

reinstalled the original firmware when they sent it back to the user.

[wilfred_m_rand]

The firmware that 'damages' the camera is the Canon firmware, which crippled the 300D. The Wasia upgrade unleashes the full potential of this fine instrument. It will not damage the camera. And if your camera goes back for service it's very unlikely that Canon will remove the firmware and reinstall their own. (Even then, so what? Just put the Wasia firmware back on.)