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Photography News of the Week: Fujifilm creates A.I. for use in designing albums

Hydrophobia V3.0 Camera Rain Covers

Afraid of missing out on the latest photo industry news while you’re out, well, actually taking pictures? Photography News of the Week is all the news you might have missed this week, published on the weekends. Alongside the biggest stories of the week, like the GoPro HERO7, the new Canon PowerShot SX70 HS, and the Sony 24mm f/1.4 G Master lens, find briefs on the latest in accessories and photography news from this week.

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Scared of ruining gear in the rain? Think Tank Hydrophobia keeps gear dry and accessible

Sure, rain can ruin your gear, but it can also lead to some great shots. Think Tank Photo’s updated rain covers shield your gear from the elements while still allowing easy carrying with its own camera strap supported by the camera lens, not the rain cover alone. The covers have two sleeves for operating the controls and two windows to see both the back and top of the camera. A custom eyepiece allows the cover to seal without impeding the viewfinder, and a front cover keeps rain off the glass in between shots. The Hydrophobia V3.0 comes in five different sizes.

The company’s third-generation covers also launch with a new line of emergency covers that are smaller and more compact than ever. The Think Tank Photo Emergency Rain Covers have a single access for hands at the bottom and fewer extras. Both series are available now, with the Hydrophobia starting at $115 and the Emergency at $35.

Fujifilm has A.I. to cull photos and design your photo books for you

Sorting through images and designing photo albums is a time-consuming process, but Fujifilm is designing artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help. This week, Fujifilm announced Personalized Select and Personalized Layout. The first selects the best images for you while the second automatically generates album layouts.

Fujifilm says that both programs are personalized — as the A.I. gets to know your preferences, it will adapt to making selections and layouts in the future, improving the more you use it. The company says the software is a response to the growth in the number of images taken by digital cameras that makes selecting images and designing albums a tedious process. Fujifilm says the tech will be part of “several products and services” in the spring of 2019. Fujifilm didn’t share exactly what programs the A.I. will be part of, but it’s easy to imagine the technology in an online photo-ordering platform or even integrated into editing software.

The Lowepro ProTactic series mixes organization and durability

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The ProTactic line of camera bags is one of accessories giant Lowepro’s best sellers — and it just got an upgrade. This week, Lowerpro launched the second-generation ProTactic series, a line of camera and lens bags designed for durability and shock protection with updates for better organization. The series includes two new backpacks, two lens cases, two utility bags, and several accessories.

The ProTactic BP 350 AW II fits up to two standard DSLRs with up to eight lenses and a 13-inch laptop, while its bigger sibling, the ProTactic BP 450 AW II fits up to two pro-sized DSLRs, up to eight lenses and a 15-inch laptop. The backpacks also use convertible utility belts and multiple attachment points for adding on storage.

The series also includes the ProTatic Lens Exchange 100 AW and 200 AW, the ProTactic Utility Bag 100 AW and 200 AW, and smaller accessories including a bottle pouch, phone pouch, utility belt, and quick straps. The series is already available from Lowepro’s website as well as select retailers, with accessories starting at $12 and bags starting at $50.

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Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues
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Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”

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