The AI in the Raspberry Pi Paragraphica camera may be great, But this is NOT photography!
The Paragraphica camera uses an AI image of the location - based on the location, time and weather(Image credit: Bjorn Karmann)
This is a new AI camera that looks that looks like a camera that has had a TV aerial stuffed where the lens should be. Called the Paragraphica, is able to take AI-generated pictures using its geolocation, the time, and the weather - without any need for you to input these text prompts. It doesn't need to see the scene - but uses generative AI to create the image.
The control the user has over the result comes from the three dials on top of the camera. "The first dial behaves similarly to the focal length in an optical lens but instead controls the radius (meters) of the area the camera searches for places and data. The second dial is comparable to film grain, as the value between 0.1 and 1 produces a noise seed for the AI image diffusion process", we are told.
Three dials allow the "photographer" to influence the generative AI image (Image credit: Bjorn Karmann)
"The third dial controls the guidance scale. Increasing guidance makes the AI follow the paragraph more closely. In the analogy of a traditional camera, the higher the value, the "sharper," and the lower, the "blurrier" the photo, thus representing focus".
Quite frankly it's the strangest and stupidest thing I have ever seen, yet I am in awe by its engineering - but this is NOT photography - or could it be?
This 'camera' has took the internet by storm and while I admire the engineering behind it from Bjørn Karmann, its creators I also feel cheated. To me, photography is all about the process, and then the glory is the image itself afterward, much like shooting some of the best film cameras or the best mirrorless cameras today.
An example of the AI camera at work. On the left the photographer, in the middle the text prompts, and on the right the resulting image. (Image credit: Bjorn karmann)
The process of photography is also the most enjoyed part while having images to take you back to that day, time, and event in your life, and act as a memory for evermore - but this AI camera, that uses a Rasberry Pi 4 computer to generate images using Artificial Intelligence, once you have your desired setting, even how are you are away in matters to the subject, hit the "shutter button" and it will start generating an image of what's in front of you.
Therein lies the issue in which I have, if you are traveling to a location with this type of device (I'm not even going to call it a camera anymore), why not just take a REAL picture with your camera?
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The red 3D-printed 'aerial' on the front of the camera is designed to look like the snout of a star-nosed mole (Image credit: Bjorn Karmann)
Honestly, this type of device makes me so angry I can hardly write this new story as it just goes against everything that photography stands for, and what I love about photography.
However, I must say that Bjorn has developed a rather interesting system that I can certainly see being useful to those photographers that are registered as blind. But here lies the conundrum - if we judge it on its engineering alone then it is probably as perfect as anyone would want it, with enough manual control to get the results you want.
(Image credit: Bjorn Karmann)
But I just can't understand the WHY? - AI is becoming a rather interesting subject within many communities, and the photography industry is no different, only recently we heard Adobe introduce an AI-generated editing tool to Photoshop to help "create" your vision, but to me, this just takes the idea to a whole new level, which I just don't feel comfortable with at all, so uncomfortable that I am willing to say I don't want to be part of this part of photography in the future.
Photography is a process, please AI don't take that away from all of us that enjoy the process, as well as the art.
For nearly two decades Sebastian's work has been published internationally. Originally specializing in Equestrianism, his visuals have been used by the leading names in the equestrian industry such as The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), The Jockey Club, Horse & Hound, and many more for various advertising campaigns, books, and pre/post-event highlights.
He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, holds a Foundation Degree in Equitation Science, and is a Master of Arts in Publishing. He is a member of Nikon NPS and has been a Nikon user since the film days using a Nikon F5 and saw the digital transition with Nikon's D series cameras and is still to this day the youngest member to be elected into BEWA, The British Equestrian Writers' Association.
He is familiar with and shows great interest in street, medium, and large format photography with products by Leica, Phase One, Hasselblad, Alpa, and Sinar. Sebastian has also used many cinema cameras from the likes of Sony, RED, ARRI, and everything in between. He now spends his spare time using his trusted Leica M-E or Leica M2 shooting Street photography or general life as he sees it, usually in Black and White.
