custom firmware for Canon cameras.

[dunk]

so this might be interesting to anyone who is interested in image machine vision.
one of the guys at work is using it and has good things to say about it (from a photographers standpoint).

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_in_Brief

CHDK is a firmware enhancement that operates on a number of Canon Cameras. CHDK gets loaded into your camera's memory upon bootup (either manually or automatically). It provides additional functionality beyond that currently provided by the native camera firmware.

CHDK is not a permanent firmware upgrade: you decide how it is loaded (manually or automatically) and you can always easily remove it.

dunk.