The amazing CHDK: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_in_Brief for those who aren't aware of it. If I could ensure a new camera was supported, that alone would be enough to make me buy it over any competing models.
The story of how the CHDK was born is really amazing. Remember that "print" button on your camera, the one you never use? It has a light on it. Apparently someone coaxed their camera into outputting the source code of the firmware getting the "print" button to flash on and off.....
Reminds me of how people cracked the iPod Nano (I think) firmware - one of the first steps was exploiting a buffer overrun and dumping the bootloader acoustically, through the clicker. There's a page somewhere with a photo of an iPod and a mike, all in styrofoam.
BTW, CHDK doesn't use any exploit or vulnerability as all Canon cameras can boot from the SD memory, you only need to know the firmware file format, that it is of course already documented by the folks from CHDK.
The 5D mark II for which it was originally developed could hardly be considered low end. The official firmware at the time was just extremely lacking for film makers. (it's only very lacking these days).
Unrelated: Trammell Hudson, the guy who started Magic Lantern has done a lot of other interesting stuff - such as open source helicopter control software.
I was referring to the support for other lower-end DSLRs like the 550d rather than the 5D mark II, although I didn't know it was originally developed for the 5D mark II, thanks.
