Fujifilm Opened Up Their System in a Very Perplexing Way

With the new Fujifilm Digital Camera Control Software Development Kit, many cool things could manifest.

There’s been a push to make cameras a heck of a lot more useful. Manufacturers worked to build webcam integrations into them. And for the most part, they’ve done a good job. Fujifilm just took that to another level. They announced the Fujifilm Digital Camera Control Software Development Kit. Other brands such as Sony, Canon, and Olympus have done similar things. There are surely lots of possibilities, but also some perplexing decisions.

I’m going to admit, I’m in love with the idea of using AI ethically to boost human potential. We use it a whole lot here at The Phoblographer to augment what our writers do. To that end, I’ve done a lot of research into computer vision and AI camera use. Lots of developers prefer to use lower megapixel, smaller sensor cameras. The reason for this is that it’s just easier to develop for. The more megapixels and the larger surface area make scanning scenes very slow. Of course, if you’re using powerful processors, that’s a different story. 

With this new Fujifilm developer kit, the company is letting folks basically develop for Mac and Windows-based programs. But, that’s where it’s very perplexing. We’re a very mobile world. And the only major uses I can think of for this apply to being used out in the world. Tethering a camera to a computer or a laptop in the field sort of complicates things.

So what could be done? A lot of it probably has more to do with B to B applications. Some of the first things that come to mind are security cameras and augmented reality. Arguably, lots of computer programs already have that built-in. Wiring a Fujifilm camera to a computer with something like AI Body tracking seems tough to do. To be clear, Fujifilm already has tracking built in to their cameras. But they don’t use AI. They also don’t have things like animal and bird detection. Practically speaking, though, I couldn’t imagine myself hauling a MacBook Pro out to do that. It’s a bit ridiculous to think about. Could you imagine a wildlife photographer using a Fujifilm camera with computer-based AI? I’d think that’s a tad superfluous. If that’s the case, you’d be better off buying a Sony or Canon camera instead.

I think we’d be better served with Fujifilm letting developers create apps with easy mobile integration. Connecting to my X Pro 3 wirelessly through an app would be much more practical. I’d be able to do things like sit in a cafe and have it track all the adorable dogs who walk by. Then it could snap a photo of them! It would also be super cool to use with Facetime. I understand it could be pretty difficult to do, so in that case I think tablets like the iPad are probably a more ideal option. 

What Fujifilm has working for it is that loads of people bought computers in the pandemic. So loads of people can come up with something, at least. However, at the moment, I’m not totally sure what could work with a computer for the consumer world. 

Alternatively, I think Fujifilm could easily have its own app store community. Of all the brands, the Fuji community fosters an incredible amount of passion. Imagine a store that was similar to the Sony Playmemories apps store many years ago! So much more could have been possible.