Focus Check

ep113 - NAB 2026 Wrap-Up: Biggest Trends, Camera News & Hard Truths About the Industry ft. Michael Cioni - CineD Focus Check

Focus Check

Show Notes

Live from NAB 2026 — Nino Leitner, Johnnie Behiri, Graham Sheldon, and Michael Cioni break down four packed days on the show floor. AI is finally landing inside tools you actually use, a new wave of affordable Chinese cameras is threatening Japan's dominance, and the ARRI acquisition raises big questions about the future of cinema cameras. We also get into the GoPro effect, the sunk-cost fallacy killing established brands, and why NAB itself might be at a dangerous inflection point. Plus our show floor favorites: 4D video & Gaussian Splatting, Profoto 3x2, NanoLux 5C, Kinefinity Vista, and the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive. 📍 Recorded at NAB 2026, Las Vegas — B&H boothTopics and chapters in this episode: (0:00) Intro — NAB 2026 special episode(0:06) Welcome & meet the guests(1:30) Overview: 50 videos, staggered releases(2:19) Michael Cioni: AI integrating into real tools (Resolve 20.1)https://www.cined.com/davinci-resolve-21-hands-on-at-nab-2026-photo-page-intellisearch-and-cinefocus-in-action/(4:36) AI assisting editors, not replacing them(5:00) Graham: cinema glass, anamorphics & T1 primes(6:39) Johnnie: Chinese cameras challenging Japanese dominance(8:00) Kinefinity & Bosma — affordable full-frame cinema camerashttps://www.cined.com/kinefinity-vista-teased-at-nab-2026-sub-3000-full-frame-6k-open-gate-in-a-palm-sized-body/(10:21) DJI, Insta360 & finding niche markets(11:31) PixBoom high-speed camera — making slow-mo accessible(13:00) Japanese companies: conservative culture vs. fast-moving rivals(14:00) GoPro as a cautionary tale — fads, trends & standards(16:00) Why companies stop listening to customers(17:00) How to synthesize real user feedback(19:00) Steve Jobs on why sales culture kills innovation(20:09) Marvel sequels, peak TV & the overbuilding problem(21:40) The ARRI acquisition — who bought it & why it mattershttps://www.cined.com/arris-new-owner-thomas-riedel-with-chris-richter-and-david-bermbach-exclusive-nab-2026-interview/(25:00) ARRI's decline: writer's strike, peak TV & the ZERP era(27:44) Alexa 35 pre-orders, layoffs & the lighting division(29:04) Thomas Riedel — a safe pair of hands?(31:00) Why private equity would have been the worst outcome(33:31) Red sold to Nikon — smart exit or low price?(34:09) Should ARRI have built a consumer camera?(35:20) Adobe's multi-front war — Canva, CapCut & Evoto(38:00) ARRI's Germanic perfectionism vs. iterative releases(40:10) Canon in the high-end: lessons learned(40:32) Sony Venice — succeeding where others haven't(41:01) ARRI pivots to broadcast — collision course with Sony?(42:12) Alexa 35 Live at Eurovision 2026 — CineD media partnership(45:19) Is broadcast the new lifeline for cinema camera makers?(47:10) Blackmagic Design — going all-in on ethernet & broadcast(49:31) Small HD, Evoto & attacking one vulnerability at a time(51:31) Michael Cioni on building Strada in public(53:20) Sunk-cost fallacy — knowing when to change course(55:00) Tiny product teams & the power of iteration(57:12) NAB show floor highlights — what inspired us(57:39) Graham: GoPro's Hail Mary & entrepreneurs taking risks(1:00:43) Michael: quality of NAB attendees is up, numbers are down(1:02:44) Nino: fewer international visitors, missing creators(1:04:04) Johnnie's red flag — is NAB heading for an inflection point?(1:06:00) Michael: NAB needs to find its ideal customer profile(1:08:14) The great American mall analogy — cascading effect(1:09:38) IBC, South Hall & the shrinking show floor(1:11:30) Streamers buying live sports rights — what it means(1:12:01) Blackmagic immersive camera & the Vision Pro(1:13:37) Nino's favorite: 4D video & Gaussian Splatting studios(1:18:00) Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive — 16K for VR(1:19:20) DaVinci Resolve 20.1 photo page — bad news for Adobe(1:20:00) Michael's favorite: Suno AI music composition(1:28:46) AI as a creative superpower, not a replacement(1:31:33) Graham's favorites

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