CHDK with RawTherapee to revive old point and shoot Canon cameras

[PhotoHobbyist142 168]

A couple of years ago I tried installing CHDK firmware on my Canon SX260 point and shoot camera to produce RAW files. I failed to get RawTherapee to recognize the RAW files and gave up. This week I tried again and RawTherapee recognizes the RAW files! I don't remember if I had selected DNG extension for raw files previously, but the DNG files work with the current version of RawTherapee.

Being able to use DNG raw files have really improved the dynamic range of my old SX260 camera! Maybe I'll treat it better now instead of letting it rattle around in my glovebox. If you have an old Canon point and shoot camera (CHDK supports dozens of models), you may be able to breath new life into it using the free CHDK firmware and free RawTherapee software.

Below are JPG and DNG raw pictures from the same shot. Big difference! No blowouts in the DNG!

SX260 DNG raw file output.

SX260 JPG output.