Enable blocked features on Canon PowerShot A4000IS

[1823alex]

I've got a Canon Powershot A400IS as of now, great beginner camera from what I've used it for, but I want to be able to do more with it and be able to change setting such as shutter speeds, exposure etc. I've already tried using CHDK but don't really like it, kinda buggy on my powershot for some reason menus flash or block the display. So is there something else besides CHDK, that I wont have to boot up a special way every time I use the camera, or can someone help me understand CHDK if I'm not using it right for some reason. Also I'm confused about what these settings in this script do, could somebody help me with that?

Script:

• a - EV fraction (1/x EV) - specify the EV fraction, used for both Start/End and stepping (e.g. 3 = 1/3EV, 6 = 1/6EV, etc.)
• b - Start Tv (1EV) - specify the starting EV in whole EVs (relates directly to shutter speed), 0=1sec, +slower speeds, higher exposure, -higher shutter speeds
• c - Start Tv (1/xEV) - specify starting EV fraction (is appended to b to allow partial EV, must be from 0 to a)
• d - No.Shots - Number of shots to be taken (>0, can be set to take one shot only)
• e - Step Size (y/x EV) - how much to step up/down each exposure for each shot (can be 0 to lock shutter speed)