Actually useful AI for photographers, assistants and techs.

In a world where every brand slaps ✨ on their hardware and software and expects their implementation of AI it to change your life, there's actually a good and useful AI tool that can help you out on set whether that's in studio or on location.

While you really should RTFM (Read The Fucking Manual) for your cameras, lighting and other equipment. It's just not something that one does for leisure. When you're in a pickle it can the the best option to figure out that weird setting you never really knew about. But then you have to find the manual and search through. Yes, you can ask around on Reddit and other forums or put faith in ChatGPT or Google's AI overview but those aren't really dialed into any specific things and as you are probably aware can lead you down the wrong path on things. That's where NotebookLM from Google comes in (trust me this isn't sponsored, I just love this as a tool and I wish Google would pay me!)

Notebook LM isn't like the general large language models, it only knows what you feed it. So, I've found it useful to take the .pdf manuals, spec lists, support docs for the cameras, lights and software I will come across on set and feed it into a Notebook. With this I have an "AI assistant" that actually knows what the hell I'm needing help with.

To get started:

  • Go to https://notebooklm.google.com
  • Select Create new notebook and name it.
  • Select "+ Add Sources".
  • Add .pdf, websites, text files, spreadsheets or just copied text.

Then you're ready to use the Chat panel to ask it anything and it will only reference the sources your have entered and selected. 

I have a separate notebooks for Cameras, Lights and Software. But you could just make it all in one if you'd like. Once you have them created you can even share them with others. You could also make a notebook for all the details for your network setup and configuration to help when you have problems there as well. The more sources you add the better it will be for the given category.

I've added the manuals for some of the most used lights I encounter.
You can use .pdf manuals or interactive .html sources like the one from Canon.

There's also mobile apps so you can have it on your phone or iPad without using the web interface.

Overall it's a useful tool to have when you need to troubleshoot or just remember how to configure something you don't use often. There's a lot more the NotebookLM can do but now you have a starting point to explore and remember you can always add or remove sources to tailor it to your needs. 

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