Forget AI-generated images like the one above. A leaked video on the dark web has revealed a fully automated, intelligent drone that does away with photographers.
My pal Steve is a detective who specializes in the dark web. Much of what he does is confidential, but he sometimes shares with me things that he thinks I will find interesting. Last week, he sent me a leaked research video from Japan that was fascinating and a bit scary at the same time.
Eipuriru Fūru's Capabilities
Codenamed Eipuriru Fūru, this AI-powered drone will make landscape, wildlife, and sports photographers redundant. Sadly, for copyright reasons, I cannot share the video here, but let me describe the action.
Before dawn, the operator took the drone a few miles from Mount Fuji. He pointed out his position on the map, and it seemed to be about 10 miles from the summit—so slightly farther, taking into account the foreshortening effect of the map. He spoke, in Japanese, to an app on his phone, which repeated the instructions back to him and asked questions to presumably clarify the information; I don’t speak Japanese, and although Google Translate could work on some of the text, the translations were not perfect.
The drone took off at high speed and returned with a series of stunning photographs at different distances and focal lengths of the sun rising above the horizon with Mount Fuji in the foreground.
The video then jumps to various sports events, and it is filmed among the action of a soccer match, a baseball game, and people playing tennis. In all three scenes, the ball is hit toward the drone, and it moves out of the way and spins to watch the trajectory of the ball. It also showed people trying to grab hold of the drone, and it stays just out of reach. It looks like there are small “eyes” around the body of the drone that give it 360° collision protection.
The next video was more amazing. The operator seemed to load the details of a sika deer into the app. The drone made its way through woodland and returned with pictures. The Eipuriru Fūru has a stealth mode when it can be almost silent in flight.
How Does the Eipuriru Fūru Perform?
The Eipuriru Fūru is big—nearly a yard in diameter. Its body comprises a composite of carbon fiber and Kevlar.
It has six aerodynamic wings with embedded rotors. Although the pitch of the blades can be changed, the angle of the rotors and the wings can vary too, making this maneuverable. On top, there is an openable air intake with an internal fan that gives the drone a speed boost. This was used when it was following rally cars and motocross bikes. It has a top speed of 75 mph, but its economic speed is 40 mph.
Moreover, below the drone are two removable pontoon floats that allow the drone to land on water. There was more footage of it riding the waves close to a pod of orca. The interchangeable lens of the camera was splashed, but some sort of water-repellent coating kept the camera mostly clear.
Right at the front of the drone is the interchangeable lens. The video flashed up the Micro Four Thirds symbol and a graphic showing a stacked sensor. It claims 8K video with up to 240 frames per second.
The flight battery lasts up to an hour. So, at its economy speed setting, it can fly nearly 20 miles away and return. The camera battery allows an hour and a half of video footage, but it can also act as a backup battery for the motors, extending the flight time slightly.
The device doesn’t just rely on GPS to navigate. It recognizes ground features from satellite images and has a magnetic compass.
In Conclusion
This AI-powered camera is a game changer. The release date is planned for the very start of April 2026, a year from today.
Will this drone make a fool of us photographers? We worry about AI-generated images like the one at the head of this article, but AI-operated cameras seem to be the next step.
Of course, it won’t take away the enjoyment of taking photos, but why would a magazine or newspaper pay for a photographer to provide sports coverage when they can send out a drone to do the job? They will no longer need a person to head into a rainforest or climb a mountain to photograph rare fauna. Because they can be almost silent, event photographers won’t be needed.
If you want to watch the progress of the drone’s development, it is starting to appear on mainstream sites. After reading this article, search online for Eipuriru Fūru.
Does the development of this technology worry you? It would be great to hear what you think in the comments.
SMH you just lost all credibility with me. I am used to click bait but ridiculous scare tactics are not OK. Don't bother responding. I'm not reading anything else you post. Fstoppers becoming obsolete, yea at at accelerating rate.
So you don't realize today's date?
Eipuriru Fūru's day
There's a long tradition of media posting April Fool's jokes. It's just a bit of fun. Sadly, we cannot fool all the people all the time. Obsolete? The thousands or tens of thousands of readers we get on our articles wouldn't suggest that.
Does the camera have a fool frame sensor?
ha ha ha, very funny. You win the award for the best reply of the day.
Hehehe...
I would absolutely love to use a drone if it is really as good at getting photos as what you describe in the article. If a drone can allow me to capture more appealing photos than I can currently get with my DSLR gear, then yes of course I would love to replace what I use now with such a drone.
This morning was frustrating as hell. I was out for bird photography, and I had all these wonderful images in my mind's eye, but there was no way to get my camera into position for any good images. Absolutely no way at all at this venue. Even if I were to set up blinds and wait in them for hours and hours, I wouldn't be able to put them in the places that I could get the best photos from.
But a drone ..... as long as it didn't spook the birds away before capturing great images, it could be the game-changer of all game-changers!
Yeah, although it was an April Fool's joke, the technology is coming on leaps and bounds. You raise a serious point though, Tom. We have a lot of migratory shorebirds here that need to constantly feed to replace their body mass lost on the journeys of thousands of miles. However, they are often disturbed by dog walkers, photographers, and drones. Cumilatively, they are impacting the populations of the birds.
Just be careful of any laws regarding the harassment of wildliffe wherever you are flying. Even if it is technically legal to fly, it's not a good idea to alter the natural behaviour of an animal just to satisfy our need/wants for a good photo or video. I recently worked on a documentary about the Western Sandpiper and we had to get multiple permits and be under the supervision of scientists to shoot our stills & video from both land and air.