Changelog

Sidekick QR 1.1.1 — choose a photo by drag and drop, and a new colour for URL cards

• You can now drag and drop a photo onto the "Image" area to choose it
• URL-mode cards now have a darker grey background, with white text so it stays easy to read (EXIF-mode cards stay white)
• Both the web version on the product page and the offline Windows version (ZIP) have been updated to 1.1.1

Sidekick Planner Beta 1.03 released — Mount Fuji 2026 data and star-trail improvements

• Beta 1.03 (1.0.0-beta.4) is now available
• Mount Fuji's annual data for 2026 has been added, so Diamond Fuji and Pearl Fuji dates can also be searched in 2026 (annual data for other subjects remains 2027)
• In "Star trails", changing the date, start time or shooting time now redraws automatically. Only when you change the shooting point does it not redraw automatically; in that case, press "Redraw with the changed conditions"
• The "Star trails" date and the shared calendar are now linked both ways (changing the date in either place keeps them the same)
• The Starscape preview now shows the end date and time of the candidate window, and you can step to the previous or next day
• Beta 1.03 can be used until 30 November 2026 (Japan time), the same planned end date as beta 1.02. Known issues are listed on the product page

Sidekick Planner Beta 1.02 released — four plan types

• Beta 1.02 (1.0.0-beta.3) is now available. There are four plan types: Sun, Pearl, Starscape and Landscape (Pearl, Starscape and Landscape are beta features)
• Starscape finds candidate dates, times and compositions from a landmark on the ground and a sky object (such as the Milky Way). "Star trails" shows a 360° view of the stars' paths from the shooting point for 2, 4, 8 or 12 hours, including bright stars and constellation lines (real stars)
• A shooting plan can be shared as "QR only", "QR + preview" or "QR + image". The smartphone share page also opens Starscape and Landscape plans
• A running calculation can now be stopped with "Cancel calculation"
• Beta 1.02 can be used until 30 November 2026 (Japan time). The planned end date in Section 3 of the Terms of Use has been updated. The expiry of beta 1.01 copies already distributed (31 October 2026) does not change

Sidekick QR 1.1.0 — an EXIF mode that turns a photo's shooting information into the QR code

• Added an EXIF mode: instead of a URL, the QR code can carry the shooting information read from the photo
• Only the camera, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and date taken go into the QR code. Location (GPS), the camera's serial number, and the photographer and copyright fields are not included
• Scanning the code opens a Sidekick Lab page that shows the shooting information and nothing else — no ratings or commentary — and the shooting information is not sent to a Sidekick Lab server. That page is currently in Japanese only

Sidekick QR released — make a card image with a QR code, in your browser, from a photo and a URL

• Sidekick QR, a free tool that makes a single card image with a QR code from a photo and the URL of the web page you want people to see, is now available. Product page: /en/sidekick-qr
• The card is made inside your browser. The photo, the URL you enter, the title, the description and the finished card are not sent to any external server for Sidekick QR's processing, and no account is needed
• There is a web version you can use on the product page, and an offline version for Windows that works without an internet connection (ZIP, about 35 KB, no installation)

Published 11 articles tracing what "image quality" has meant, from film to 2026 — in Japanese and English at the same time

• From "How Many Megapixels Is 4×5 Film?" to "What Decides the “Best” Image Quality in 2026?", eleven articles follow the question in order, from the film era to the present
• On the film side they cover how a resolution figure changes with the measuring conditions, gradation, Velvia 50, how large-format lenses were designed, and the darkroom work that was part of finishing a photograph
• On the digital side they cover buying the Nikon D1 in 1999, what changed in what a lens has to do, whether a high-megapixel camera needs a high-resolution lens, and how much RAW can really fix later
• Available in Japanese and English (22 articles in total)

Sidekick Planner Beta 1.01 released — the beta now has an expiry date

• Beta 1.01 (1.0.0-beta.2) is now available. The only change is the beta expiry; calculation, map, QR sharing and the viewer are the same as beta 1.00
• Beta 1.01 and later can be used until 31 October 2026 (Japan time). After that date the beta can no longer be started and shows a notice pointing to the product page. If the end date is extended, a new beta version will be distributed
• To determine the expiry, the date and time of the last start is stored only on your PC (it is not sent anywhere). Terms of Use Section 3 and the Privacy Policy 9-1 have been updated
• The download page now provides beta 1.01. Beta 1.00 copies already distributed do not contain the expiry mechanism, but the beta period in the Terms of Use is the same

Sidekick Planner Beta 1.00 (public beta) is now available

• The free public beta of Sidekick Planner — shot-planning software that finds where and when to shoot from the image you want — is now available. Product page: /en/sidekick-planner
• Beta 1.00 finds plans where the sun lines up with a subject (Mt. Fuji, mountains, towers, castles, temples — 100 subjects), searching from the shooting point or from the date. It includes the composition preview (terrain skyline, sun track, lens field of view), the map, QR-code sharing and the smartphone viewer. Moon (Pearl) plans are coming soon
• Windows 10 (64-bit) or later, Japanese UI, about 2 GB ZIP (bundles the 2027 annual planning data). The beta period runs until 31 October 2026 (planned). Please read the Beta Terms of Use
• The beta is not code-signed (a certificate is being obtained); Windows / SmartScreen may show a warning at launch. The only official source is the Sidekick Lab download page

Published six articles re-examining common rules about aperture, ISO and the circle of confusion — in Japanese and English at the same time

• Four of them ask whether the familiar wording holds: "Is f/8 Really the “Best” Aperture?", "Is a Lens Really at Its Best 2–3 Stops Down?", "Does Raising ISO Really Increase Noise?" and "Does Lower ISO Really Mean Better Image Quality?" — each one re-examines a rule I had used myself for a long time
• Two more cover the circle of confusion that depth of field depends on: "What Is Your Circle of Confusion?" and its follow-up "Can You Really See a 0.03 mm Blur in a Print?"
• 0.03 mm is not a physical constant; it compresses viewing conditions — output size, viewing distance and an acceptable angle — into a single criterion
• Available in Japanese and English

Published two articles on star-trail seams and on long exposure vs. lighten compositing — in Japanese and English at the same time

• "Why Do Star Trails Show Seams Even Though the Frames Were Shot Continuously?" re-measures 3,522 NEF files shot on a D3 seventeen years ago. In this particular set, the gaps between frames alone did not explain the seams
• "A 30-Minute Exposure vs. 30 Minutes of Lighten Compositing: What Actually Differs?" explains long exposure, mean stacking and lighten compositing as different ways of combining light over time
• Both belong to the astrophotography series on this site
• Available in Japanese and English

Depth of Field Calculator Released — in Japanese and English at the same time

• Released a free web tool that calculates depth of field from focal length, f-number and focus distance (/en/tools/dof). You can open it from the "📐 DOF Calculator" item in the site navigation
• For the circle of confusion you can choose not only the traditional 30 µm value but also criteria based on sensor size. The 30 µm value is a conventional reference, not a limit of human vision
• Depth of field is not a physical boundary where the image suddenly goes out of focus; it is set by how much blur you are willing to accept. The tool lets you see and compare on the spot how the range changes when you change the criterion
• Available in Japanese and English

Published "When Did My "8 Seconds" for Freezing Stars Become Outdated?" — in Japanese and English at the same time

• Published an article on exposure time in astrophotography, re-examining the 8 seconds I have used since my Nikon D3 days through the 500 Rule, the NPF Rule, and the rise of higher-resolution sensors
• It explains, with calculations for a representative set of conditions, how the same 8 seconds means something different in pixels once the pixel pitch changes
• Available in Japanese and English

Published "How to Focus on Stars in Astrophotography" — in Japanese and English at the same time

• Published an article on how to focus on stars, step by step: try Starry Sky AF first if your camera has it, and if that isn't enough, switch to manual focus and find the position where the star looks smallest
• It also explains why setting the lens to the ∞ mark does not necessarily mean the stars are in focus
• Available in Japanese and English

Fixed: AI mask generation would not start, reporting that the task runner could not be found

• One required file was missing from the download package, so AI mask generation (the step that runs before aircraft trails are removed) could stop with an error before it began. This has been fixed
• The download files have been updated. If you run into this error, please download the latest version and install it again

Four articles on Astrotracer published — in Japanese and English at the same time

• Published four articles on Astrotracer (sensor-shift tracking): why the ground blurs while the stars stay sharp, how long you should track, why stars still trail near the frame edges with an ultra-wide lens, and how the tracking error is calculated
• All four are available in Japanese and English
• Also published the English version of "What to Check When Sidekick Star's AI Mask Generation Won't Finish"

New "Story" section — plus a page for Sidekick Planner, now in development

• Added "Story", where photographer Ichiro Murata writes at length about photography, engineering, building his own tools, and what he has thought about in the field (Japanese and English). It is neither a product manual nor the development log — it is about why these tools came to be built
• Published the first five pieces: arriving at the lighten composite, a long habit of building his own tools (in two parts), turning the O-GPS1 into something usable in the mountains, and why he decided to build Sidekick Planner
• Added a page for Sidekick Planner, a shot-planning tool for finding the when and where your sky object and your landscape line up. It is currently in development; availability and pricing will be announced once decided
• Fixed an issue where the mobile menu stayed open on English pages

New page for Ichiro Murata — plus fixes for English pages and Terms

• Added a page covering the developer's background, with links to external public sources (Japanese and English)
• Fixed an issue where opening an English page could redirect you to a different page
• The Terms of Service page now shows the same navigation and footer as the rest of the site

Fixed: meteor effect not working on fresh installations

• Fixed an issue where users who installed from a fresh zip download could not run the "Create Meteor Shower" feature. Multiple independent causes were identified and resolved together
• The Python runtime and inference code required for meteor processing are now bundled in the zip. No separate Python installation is needed

AI sky mask stability improvements and RawDev resume optimization

• Overhauled the internal launch mechanism for AI sky mask generation. Processing hangs that occurred in certain environments should now be resolved
• Improved the resume detection in RawDev batch processing. Files already completed in a previous batch are now skipped, avoiding unnecessary reprocessing

Light-composite: reduced memory usage during processing

• Photoshop's history count is now reduced to a minimum during light-composite processing. This should help prevent mid-process hangs on systems with around 16 GB of RAM

Airplane removal AI — performance and stability improvements

• Optimized the airplane removal AI to eliminate redundant image loading. Processing is now faster and uses less memory
• Fixed an issue where the Photoshop fallback compositing did not trigger correctly when airplane removal failed on all frames

English Privacy Policy and Legal Notice pages published

• Published English versions of the Privacy Policy and Legal Notice
• Added links from the Japanese pages to their corresponding English versions

Development Log launched in Japanese and English

• Launched a Development Log documenting the ideas, decisions, and experiments behind SideKick
• The log is available in both Japanese and English

6 new articles added — English Knowledge section launched

• Added 6 new articles on photography and Photoshop finishing techniques
• Launched the English Knowledge section, making selected articles available in English

Knowledge library for photographers launched

• Launched a knowledge library based on real problems and lessons from photography and post-processing
• Published the first article: a guide to camera settings and equipment for astrophotography

Automatic guidance to English pages based on browser language

• Visitors whose browser language is set to English are now automatically guided to the corresponding English page
• Japanese and English pages can still be switched manually at any time

AI Lab (Photo Critique AI, Camera AI, Shooting AI, PC AI) now available in English — Terms of Service page added

• Added English versions of all four AI Lab tools: Photo Critique AI, Camera AI, Shooting AI, and PC AI. Not just the interface — the AI's responses themselves now come back in English
• The English version of Photo Critique AI clearly states that it reflects Ichiro Murata's own personal critique style and perspective, translated into English
• Added a Terms of Service page (in both Japanese and English)
• Unified the naming of each tool as "Photo Critique AI / Camera AI / Shooting AI / PC AI"
• Sidekick Star / Portrait / Sky Effect now also support English in their control panels (automatic detection with a manual switch). Downloadable packages for these and SideKick AI have been updated to their latest versions

"AI Lab" page launched — one place to find all 4 free AI tools

• Launched an "AI Lab" page where you can choose from 4 free AI tools: Photo Critique AI, Camera AI, Shooting AI, and PC AI
• Reorganized the top page so Photoshop scripts (Products), AI Lab, and Workshop are clearly separated
• Clearly noted the free usage period (up to 5 AI tickets per week, free through end of August 2026)

SideKick AI released for free — a usage-help and error-diagnosis assistant

• Released a completely free, local assistant that helps with usage questions, setting explanations, and error diagnosis for Sidekick Star / Portrait / Sky Effect
• No installation needed (just double-click SideKickAI.exe). Works without an internet connection
• Your questions and diagnostic log contents are never sent anywhere
• Also checks at startup whether a newer version of each product is available and lets you know (no automatic updates)

Added a lightweight "Core" download for updates

• Added a lightweight download that excludes large runtimes such as the AI airplane-trail remover
• If you've already set up the runtime, use this for faster downloads on your second update onward
• Available alongside the full package on the download page

Added technique selection and follow-up questions; refined critique perspective

• Added a dropdown to select the technique you were intentionally aiming for when shooting (16 options, including low angle and center/Hinomaru composition). Critiques now take your selected technique into account
• Added a "Ask about this critique" feature so you can ask follow-up questions (uses the same weekly usage allowance as a regular critique)
• Refined the critique's perspective to weigh not just composition and technique, but also whether the emotion behind the shot comes through and whether the subject has real appeal
• Added a diagram explaining the on-screen coordinate symbols used in critiques (the A–I grid and ①–④ intersections)

English pages added

• Added English versions of the full site. Switch via the banner on the Japanese top page.

Auto white balance fix for light-stacking · UI in English

• Fixed an issue where the automatic white balance during light-stacking was drifting from the intended target color. Stars and Milky Way now finish in more natural tones.
• Control panel UI now supports English. Usable in non-Japanese environments.

Ver.2 update — GUI overhaul, quality improvements

• Complete GUI redesign. Panel layout and usability improved; versioned as Ver.2.
• Fixed issue in standard mode where white lift and soft-focus artifacts appeared.
• License management unified with Portrait Ver.1 for more stable operation.

AI Photo Critique: consent checkbox added

• Added a consent checkbox for how your critique results may be used (e.g. for marketing reference)

AI Photo Critique officially launched

• Sign in with Google, upload a photo, and receive a composition critique in Ichiro Murata's style. Official release.
• Free users: up to 5 photos/week (campaign period: through August 2026)
• Sample critique card updated with a real motorsport panning shot and actual AI critique text.

Full site redesign

• Complete design and structure overhaul — cleaner, easier to navigate.
• Official product pages for Sidekick Portrait and Sidekick SkyEffect launched.
• Workshop, gallery, FAQ, and AI Photo Critique pages added progressively.
• Navigation and footer unified across all pages.

Download registration form added · Workshop page redesigned

• Email address now required for free download. Used to send updates and important notices (unsubscribe anytime).
• Workshop page redesigned. Current open workshops shown at the top for easy registration access.
• Fixed broken links on Portrait / SkyEffect pricing pages.

Migrated to custom domain sidekick-lab.com

• Acquired custom domain sidekick-lab.com. Site address has changed.
• Old URL (vercel.app subdomain) redirects automatically.

UX fix: Cancel button added to trial expiry dialog

• Added a Cancel button to the trial-expired dialog. Also closeable with the ESC key.
• Previously the only option was force-quitting Photoshop.

Bug fixes: GPU support, airplane removal stability

• Fixed AI mask generation producing 0 results on non-GPU / older GPU environments (auto-fallback to CPU).
• Fixed freeze when opening LZW-compressed TIFF files.
• Fixed cases where airplane removal did not complete properly.
• Improved to prefer the bundled Python runtime (_runtime) over system Python.

New "About" page (about.html) added. On the origin behind the photography and Sidekick development.

Site-wide improvements and user flow redesign

• Airplane trail removal comparison video added to top page and LP (compressed 337MB → 9.3MB)
• Workshop page redesigned around: pain → Star×Workshop relationship → what you'll be able to do
• Workshop page: photo illustrations added for each workshop
• Top page and LP: Workshop bridge section added
• Workshop page: Sep 5 "Star Landscape Spinoff — Finishing Star Photos Beautifully in Photoshop" added

Bug fixes

• Minor bug fixes

Download infrastructure improved · Workshop page launched

• Download links migrated from Google Drive to Cloudflare R2 (resolves download failures)
• New Workshop page (upcoming sessions and past history)

Bug fix

• Fixed issue where directory selection for light-stacking target was not working

index.html conversion-rate redesign

• H1 changed to pain-question format: "Still removing airplane trails by hand?"
• Hero rebuilt with B/A pair as the main visual
• Stat bar added: "1 week+" (red) → "Overnight" (green)
• Pain section compressed to 3 short inner-monologue quote cards
• New FAQ section (generative AI use, auto-billing, PS version support, no cloud upload)
• Other products area: vertical cards → horizontal compact layout
• CTA hierarchy reorganized: Try → LP detail → Examples → Buy (ghost)

lp-star.html Round 3 redesign

• H1 changed to direct pain-question
• Full-width B/A hero section placed immediately after the hero
• Pain section rebuilt: quote-wall (4 cards) + pain-details (4 cards)
• Developer section: award photo large on left, AI clarification block on right
• Header CTA changed to direct DL link

lp-star.html full redesign

• Page structure overhauled: pain points placed early, Before/After as main feature
• Milky Way Before/After (uncorrected vs Sidekick Star) featured prominently
• Airplane trail removal Before/After incorporated into features section
• Light-stacking Before/After added (1 frame vs 3800 frames)
• Explicit "no generative AI" section added (AI detects; same pixel-replacement logic as manual work)
• Award-winning photographer section made standalone
• Manual link updated to PDF (from old HTML page)
• Hero image changed from CSS pseudo-starfield to real Milky Way photo

Bug-fix release for all tools · DL links updated

• Sidekick Star: replaced with bug-fix version
• Sidekick Portrait: replaced with bug-fix version
• Sidekick Sky Effect: replaced with bug-fix version (3 updates)
• Sky Effect: 3 style names changed from "Preset" → "Intent"

Page enhancements · Manuals published

• Portrait: real-photo gallery of 14 styles added (click to enlarge)
• Sky Effect: example gallery expanded from 2 to 6 scenes
• Japanese and English manual PDFs linked on all product pages
• lp-star.html: OGP tags added (Twitter/X card support)

Clear Sky intent added

• Added "Clear Sky" intent to SkyEffects
• Sky WB: 4800K / -15, Ground WB: 5500K / 0 for vivid blue sky
• Blend mode set to COLORBLEND to further emphasize the blue

Sky Effect & Portrait sales pages launched · Purchase flow set up

• sky-effect.html updated from "coming soon" to full product page
• buy-sky.html and buy-portrait.html added (email collection → Stripe)
• thanks-sky.html and thanks-portrait.html (post-purchase pages) added
• buy-star.html: email collection flow added (integrated with Stripe Payment Link)
• Portrait and Sky Effect hero CTA changed from "See examples" → "Buy"
• index.html: "coming soon" badges removed, pricing and trial periods shown
• index.html: "Changelog" link added to nav and footer

LP redesign · New pages

• Hero copy refreshed
• Before / After section added
• 1X Award winning works section added
• Gallery page (gallery.html) added
• Changelog page (changelog.html) added
• Images reorganized under images/awards/

Manual bundled with Sidekick Star download

• Manual PDF included in the trial download package
• Script operation confirmed; Photoshop Beta compatibility verified

Site first deploy (Vercel)

• index.html, star.html, legal.html, privacy.html published
• Stripe payment flow setup started

Sidekick Star initial release (trial)

• Light-stacking script implemented
• Sky mask and star mask auto-generation
• Light pollution correction workflow integrated
• Released as 3-month trial license