Afraid of missing out on the latest photo industry news while you’re out, well, actually taking pictures? Photo FOMO is all the news you might have missed this week, published on the weekends. Alongside the biggest stories of the week, like a new PaintShop Pro, Epson’s fastest personal photo scanner, and Lensbaby’s new Sol 45 lens, find briefs on the latest in accessories and photo industry news from this week with Photo FOMO.
The Leica Elpro turns regular lenses into macro bokeh masters
Leica M and TL shooters may no longer need to invest in a macro lens to capture close-ups. On Thursday, August 9, Leica announced the Elpro 52, a close-up attachment that turns more than 20 different M and TL lenses into a macro lens. Leica says the Elpro allows lenses to shoot closer to the subject, while also creating a shallow depth of field. The company says the accessory still maintains the usual focus and aperture settings of the lens.
The Leica Elpro retails for $395 from Leica dealers and includes stepping rings for 46mm and 49mm lenses.
Artificial intelligence can now pair photos with articles
A.I. can tag photos and recognize landmarks — and now determine photos to pair with an article. This week, Getty Images launched Panels, a tool that helps publishers quickly find an image to accompany an article. Powered with a partnership from Vizual.AI, the tool improves over time to learn the type of images each editor tends to select. Custom filters can also be used to narrow down the search results.
The tool, Panels by Getty, is part of Getty Images Premium Access. A similar partnership earlier this year with Cortex helps find images for social media campaigns.
Fujifilm Festival returns to California for workshops, classes and photo walks
After a successful first year, the Fujifilm Festival is slated to return to Venice, California on October 5-7. The festival includes full-day workshops, classes, and a free photo walk. Workshops will be led by professionals across multiple industries, including street, travel, and wedding photography and names like Elia Locardi, Xyza Cruz Bacani, and Michelle Turner. Andrew Primavera and Tehillah De Castro will also lead a workshop on industrializing video.
After the full workshops on the first day, the festival includes elective courses on the second day, and opens up to a free photo walk along the Venice Beach Boardwalk on Sunday. The event isn’t exclusive to Fujifilm shooters, though attendees will have the chance to borrow some of the latest Fujifilm gear. The event is limited to 150 participants; registration is $449 on or before August 31 and goes up to $499 on September 1. Additional information is available at the Fujifilm Festival website.
Shutterstock images go VR with Magic Leap Integration
Virtual reality developers working on the Magic Leap platform now have easier access to Shutterstock images. This week, Shutterstock announced a partnership with Magic Leap that brings Shutterstock images and video into the Magic Leap One Creator Edition. With the new partnership, developers can place images or videos inside the VR experience, including hanging a virtual picture frame.
“It is really exciting to be working with a company as innovative and forward thinking as Magic Leap,” Jon Oringer, Founder and CEO of Shutterstock, said in a press release. “To know that assets from Shutterstock will help provide some of the digital building blocks for developers to create new environments and entirely new worlds is the kind of thing Shutterstock is built for. Opening up our contributors’ work to be used in a completely new way is thrilling. As a technology company first, Shutterstock is well placed to help feed the imaginations of these creative pioneers. I can’t wait to see what they build.”
Adobe expands TypeKit fonts — and makes them easier to find
Adobe TypeKit now has 665 fonts from the Monotype collection available for download — along with new tools coming to make finding specific fonts easier. The 41 font families come from Monotype, which Adobe says is one of the largest and most influential type companies. The collection includes options like ITC Benguiat (like the Stranger Things title) and popular options like Gills Sans and Rockwell Nova.
With the TypeKit collection included with Creative Cloud now numbering over 9,000, Adobe is also making changes to make finding the right font simpler. An upcoming InDesign and Illustrator update will allow the fonts to be accessed without leaving the application. The font user interface is also getting improvements.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 uses camera A.I. to scan documents
The new Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s built-in cameras use artificial intelligence for boosted quality and features — and that A.I. can also recognize when you want a scan and not a snapshot. On Thursday, August 9, Adobe shared a new feature that connects Adobe Scan with the Note 9’s Bixby Vision smart assistant.
The Note 9 camera will auto-recognize when there’s a document or receipt in front of the camera, then convert the file into a PDF using Adobe Scan. The feature skips the process of switching from the camera over to the Adobe Scan app, while still incorporating Adobe Sensei to detect edges, auto crop, and enhance text.
