I have been covering the AI-powered Micro Four Thirds Alice Camera for 4 years now, and it is good to see that they are finally starting to ship to customers.
There is currently a new similar project on Kickstarter called "SwitchLens" that can turn any smartphone into a Micro Four Thirds camera:
New on Kickstarter: SwitchLens turns any smartphone into a Micro Four Thirds camera
Here are the details on the Alice Camera shipping:
Alice Camera, a novel AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera, Prepares for Delivery
London, UK – June, 2024 – After three years of dedicated development, Photogram is thrilled to announce that the Alice Camera, a novel AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera that attaches to iOS and Android smartphones, will begin shipping to pre-order customers from 15th July 2024 (see proposed delivery dates below). Designed to streamline high-quality social media content creation for creators, businesses and everyday users, Alice Camera aims to bridge the gap between mirrorless cameras and smartphones. Users will be able to capture content with interchangeable lenses, a smartphone-like user experience and on-camera AI-driven computational photography.
As an official Micro Four Thirds system partner, Photogram has built the Alice Camera to meet the standard's specifications and requirements. Alice Camera utilises the Micro Four Thirds lens mount and a Sony 4/3" HDR, dual-native ISO CMOS sensor. However, what sets Alice Camera apart from other mirrorless cameras is its use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon and Google Edge TPU chips as its primary processing units. These processors accelerate the calculations necessary for running Photogram’s proprietary AI-driven computational photography algorithms and software-based image signal processing (ISP) pipeline directly on the camera. Unlike hardware-based ISPs in traditional mirrorless cameras, Photogram's AI-driven software-based ISP is an innovative approach as it enables additional AI features and improvements to be brought to their existing cameras over time. In 2023, Photogram joined Google Cloud’s program for AI startups in London, where they received credits and mentorship to further train and develop their pipeline, which automates essential functions like white balance, exposure and colour grading.
Alice Camera's smartphone app offers an intuitive design for camera control, file management, and content sharing. Alice Camera OS, a Linux-based camera-specific operating system, allows for over-the-air software updates and open-access development, opening up new creative possibilities. Developers and businesses interested in building their own AI algorithms and custom apps on the Alice Camera platform are encouraged to contact the team.
"We're incredibly excited to finally bring the Alice Camera to the world," said Vishal Kumar, CEO at Photogram.
"We set out to build the Alice Camera because we wanted to offer our customers a new type of mirrorless camera built specifically for a new era of content. We’ve developed a fundamentally new engineering paradigm for mirrorless cameras, with significantly novel implementations on hardware, software and with AI algorithms. Alice Camera represents an innovative step forward in how mirrorless cameras are designed and how our users will process, capture and share their experiences. We can't wait to see the amazing content created with the Alice Camera."
The journey to launch was not without its challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns in 2021 and 2022 caused severe chip shortages impacting Alice Camera’s manufacturing. Further delays arose in 2023 as the product underwent rigorous consumer electronics regulatory testing. Despite these hurdles, Photogram persevered, thanks to the support of its backers and investors. "We are deeply grateful for the belief and patience our community has shown throughout this journey," added Vishal Kumar. "As a new entrant in the camera industry, we hope to bring fresh perspectives. All the difficult development work over the last three years is now done. Now, we’re ready to deliver and start to scale manufacturing. Our journey begins from today… We’re just getting started."
PROPOSED DELIVERY DATES
- Cameras for the UK will begin shipping from 15th July 2024.
- Cameras for US, Japan, EU, Australia are scheduled to start shipping from 15th August 2024.
- Cameras for Canada, France and Rest of the World are scheduled to start shipping from Sept 2024.
About Photogram
Founded in London by a team of data scientists, engineers, content creators and camera enthusiasts, Photogram is a London-based computational photography startup with a mission to empower creators, business and everyday users with a camera more suited for a new era of content. By combining Micro Four Thirds optics with AI-accelerated hardware and computational photography algorithms driven by AI the team is offering a device more suited to a fast-paced content lifestyle. Alice Camera’s USP is to leverage a proprietary AI pipeline on-device; instead of doing post-processing on a laptop, editing can be done in real-time on the camera, drastically streamlining workflows.
In 2021 the team raised a $235,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK government’s innovation agency, and $200,000 from backers on Indiegogo to develop Alice Camera. Then, in 2022 the team secured $1,300,000 in venture capital funding from Ascension Ventures, Cur8 Capital and 7pc ventures. In March 2023 the team was selected to pitch on stage at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, and was recently selected by the British Government to display at the inaugural CogX, Festival of AI, in Los Angeles in May 2024. Alice Camera is one of the first mirrorless cameras to be designed and released from London and/or the United Kingdom in the last two decades. Read more about the company, its co-founders and their story.
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