
Thanks to smartphones you can now point, click, and share your way to superstardom.
Smartphones have made creating-and consuming-digital photos and video on social media a pastime for billions. But the content those phones can create can't compare to the quality of those made with a good camera.
British entrepreneur Vishal Kumar's startup Photogram wants to combine the benefits of mirrorless cameras replete with interchangeable lenses, big sensors, and often complex, fiddly controls with the smarts and connectivity of your smartphone.
The Alice Camera, due for release in October for around $760 to early backers on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, is, first of all, a compact, mirrorless camera.
The Alice camera focuses on what cameras do well But its machined aluminum body is sleeker than other mirrorless cameras. There's no onboard screen or viewfinder of any kind just a shutter button, a control wheel, and a cold-shoe adapter.
Instead, photographers mount their smartphone to the Alice camera. Alice focuses on what smartphones can't do: it houses a big, light-soaking sensor, and it can be screwed to a wide array of lenses.
Alice links to your smartphone via a 5Ghz Wi-Fi connection - so your smartphone can do what traditional cameras can't do. An app on your phone provides not just an easily updatable software interface on the smartphone's big, bright screen, but the connectivity to easily share images and stream video.
The secret ingredient: an AI built using NVIDIA GPU accelerated deep learning to help photographers wring the most out of Alice's hardware.
A Star Is Born Kumar, whose startup is part of NVIDIA Inception, an acceleration program that offers go-to-market support, expertise and technology for AI, data science and HPC startups, sees the opportunity for this device literally staring everyone in the face.
There are more than 1 billion active Instagram users, more than 1 billion active TikTok users, and more than 2.3 billion YouTube users. Social media influencers who can deliver great content to all these users become instantaneous global superstars, Kumar explains.
Consider Charli D'Amelio, who has more than 115 million followers, or Addison Rae, with more than 86 million, or YouTube star Mr. Beast, with more than 71 million followers.
Content creators like these may rely, in large part, on smartphone users to provide an audience. Most, however, left their smartphones behind long ago, adopting more sophisticated gear to create their content.
Firsthand Frustration and relies on a user's smartphone, mounted on the back, to do what smartphones do well. Kumar, a self-described cultural data scientist, learned this firsthand working as a data scientist at Sotheby's. Great photography was vital to sparking worldwide interest in the auction house's offerings on social media.
I was thinking a lot about how data science and machine learning and artificial intelligence could be applied to create video and imagery, Kumar says. I was using a camera all the time to create video content and becoming increasingly frustrated with operating them.
A Camera for Creators And, for serious content creators, a better camera than the smartphone they already carry around with them is definitely needed.
In part, that's because you can only capture so much light in the relatively compact sensors crammed into today's smartphones, Kumar explains. Bigger sensors soak up more light, so they can capture a high-quality image even in very dim lighting conditions, among other benefits.
So Alice is built around a Sony IMX294 10.7 megapixel 4/3 sensor optimized for high-quality and full-width 4K video. The sensor is eight times bigger than that of a typical smartphone.
In front of that big sensor is a Micro Four Third lens mount. The compact interchangeable lens system gives users access to more than 100 lens options from Olympus, Panasonic, and specialty lens makers such as Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina.
Users will be able to choose from 16mm-equivalent fish-eye lenses for a super-wide angle of view or 800mm-equivalent telephone zoom lenses able to get clear, undistorted pictures of objects far away, with plenty of options in between.
Like more traditional cameras, Alice can use a wide variety of lenses. A Classic Deep Learning Problem All of this is why professional photographers continue to keep big big, expensive cameras in their toolkit. But the masses of content creators may never get the most out of dedicated cameras, Kumar explains.
Making more expertise more accessible to more people is a classic deep learning problem. And the technology's roots in computer vision and image recognition make training an AI to operate a camera a natural fit.
To build Alice's AI, Photogram CTO Liam Donovan trained an NVIDIA GPU accelerated convolutional neural network using millions of out-of-focus and in-focus images, teaching an AI to distinguish between good and bad photos.
Optimized for What You Do The AI is a crucial element in the end-to-end deep learning image processing pipeline Photogram's team has built.
The result is an AI that can control and improve focusing, change exposure and automatically adjust white balance, and even perform automatic image stabilization.
Revealed last September and positioned by Kumar as the AI camera for creators, in February the project has raised $200,000 from more than 250 backers - 7x Kumar's original goal. Users will eventually make Alice better at whatever photography they do, Kumar explains.
Let's say you're a wedding photographer, or you like to shoot cats or clothes, Kumar says. We want people to be able to optimize our models and retrain them so their Alice camera can be more optimized for the photography they do.
Smartphone Synergy Revealed last September and pos
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
18/09/2025
DirecTV continues to expand its women's sports offerings by adding Sports Fanatics' and Whoopi Goldberg's Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) All Wo...
18/09/2025
WASHINGTON NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport's fall seas...
18/09/2025
WASHINGTON After issuing audit letters seeking Equal Employment Opportunity data from a randomly selected group of TV and radio stations in August, the Federal ...
18/09/2025
NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal that covers measurement for all Warner Bros. Discovery platforms acros...
18/09/2025
NEW YORK As part of its ongoing efforts to develop better measurement solutions, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) announced the launch of t...
18/09/2025
IRVING, Texas Following threats from the Federal Communications Commission and the announcement that the nations largest station group, Nexstar Media Group, wou...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing.
Discl...
17/09/2025
CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...
17/09/2025
PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...
17/09/2025
In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...
17/09/2025
Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...
17/09/2025
Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...
17/09/2025
Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...
17/09/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...
17/09/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...
17/09/2025
In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...
17/09/2025
Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...
17/09/2025
Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...
17/09/2025
Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026.
By
Colette Greenstein
September 17, 2025
...
17/09/2025
Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia Through ELIA's UAx Platform, six students from Kyiv joined Berklee Valencia for a week...
17/09/2025
Earlier this year Avid announced Kenna Hilburn as its new senior vice president of product. Recently Hilburn was promoted to Avids new Chief Product Officer, su...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....
17/09/2025
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...
17/09/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...
17/09/2025
Today's creators are equal parts entertainer, producer and gamer, juggling game commentary, scene changes, replay clips, chat moderation and technical troub...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
Jo Returns to FOR-A as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15...
16/09/2025
VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...
16/09/2025
ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...
16/09/2025
IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...