Focus Check

The I'm Back Roll goes APS-C on Kickstarter, Videndum's near-bankruptcy and what it means for Teradek, SmallHD, and Manfrotto, Apple's 50-year impact on filmmaking, why camera batteries fail, CVP expanding into the DACH region, the AutoCut 2.0 Premiere Pro plugin, and a new AI pre-production lesson on MZed.

Sponsor of this episode is NANLITE. Check out the section at 20:40

Chapters and Articles in this Episode:

(00:00) Intro & ...

Episode 110 of the CineD Focus Check is a packed news week. Nino and Johnny cover a major update to the CineD Camera Databases, an escalating patent dispute between DJI and Insta360, Sony's dramatic suspension of nearly all memory card sales, a new shot listing course on MZed, the Panasonic LUMIX TZ300 compact camera, a new affordable pancake lens from SG Image, DNG becoming an ISO standard, a Fujifilm GFX100 II firmware update, ne...

In this week's episode of the Focus Check podcast, Nino and Johnnie cover a remarkably packed week of filmmaking news. They dig into the brand-new DJI Avata 360 drone, which arrived at the CineD office literally the day before recording, discuss OpenAI's surprise decision to shut down the Sora app and the collapse of its Disney deal, break down what GoPro's patent case against Insta360 actually resulted in, and touch on the strange...

In this episode, we sit down with Helena, founder of Harlowe (previously Hobolite) and CEO of AEC Lighting Solutions, calling in from her Shanghai office fresh off a trip through Europe. Helena’s story is anything but ordinary: raised in the Chinese countryside, self-taught in art from age five, trained as a mechanical engineer, and now running a globally recognized premium lighting brand with 26 years of ma...

In this week’s episode of Focus Check, Nino and Johnnie cover a packed week of filmmaking news. The headlines include an in-depth DJI RS 5 review tracing a decade of Ronin evolution, new Blazar Viper 1.5x full-frame anamorphic lenses, Fujifilm’s community-voted X-mount lens concepts, smartphone camera highlights from Mobile World Congress 2026 (Vivo X300 Ultra and TECNO concept devices), a new lesson in the “Ethical AI Video for Fi...

Nino and Johnnie reunite after Johnnie's trip to CP+ 2026 in Yokohama. This week's episode is one of the busiest of the year so far — covering Japan's biggest photo show, a candid Panasonic executive interview, an ARRI smartphone partnership nobody saw coming, the new Apple MacBook Pro M5 lineup, Sony a7 V lab results, a raft of Sigma announcements (in...

AI video has gone from novelty to noise — and Jeremy Carrasco has been watching every step of it. In episode 105 of CineD Focus Check, the live streaming veteran turned AI video educator walks us through what the latest generation of diffusion models can and can't do, why every model still has a detectable fingerprint, and why the bigger threat isn't fake videos fooling people — it's real videos being dismissed as fake. From the "A...

In this week’s Focus Check episode, Johnnie and Nino celebrate two years of the podcast, discuss their recent experiences at BSC in London, and engage with their community through poll results on content preferences. They delve into the impact of AI on filmmaking, networking within the industry, and the latest camera technologies showcased at the Winter Olympics. The episode also covers Blackmagic’s r...

In this conversation, David Bross shares his unique journey from being a director of photography to woodworking and app development. He discusses the creation of his free iPhone app Digilog, which simulates Kodak film looks, and his philosophy of open-source software and teaching the next generation of filmmakers.

David walks us through the technical challenges behind the Digilog app (free in the App Store h...

Imagine this: YouTube has paid over $100 billion to creators in the last four years. That’s an enormous sum — far more than most TV networks spend on content today. In this episode, we take a closer look at what that means for creators and the platform as a whole.

Further in this episode, we talk about plenty of other highlights, including two brand-new Hohem gimbals (which Nino reviewed), a range of innovat...

In this episode, we break down our Canon EOS C50 Lab Test results and explore the gap between specs and real-world performance. We also cover the Nikon ZR firmware update, Vimeo's mass layoffs under Bending Spoons, rumors of a potential Leica sale, SmallHD and Iodyne product updates, this year's Oscar cinematography nominees, and Google's $2 million partnership with Sundance to train filmmakers on AI tools. Plus: why Adobe's 20% st...

This week, we celebrate the 100th episode of the CineD Focus Check show—a perfect opportunity to look back at the episodes that stood out and became truly special over time.

It is also the right moment to thank our community. Your continued support, engagement, and passion for the show mean a great deal to us. We are genuinely grateful to have such a strong audience that shares our enthusiasm for filmmaking and the content we produ...

This week’s episode dives into Apple’s newly announced Creator Studio – now offered as a subscription model. Johnnie and Nino also take a closer look at the rise and fall of Vimeo, discussing what changed over the years on this once filmmaker-focused platform. Plus, FUJIFILM has announced a… let’s say, very unique cinema camera.

So don’t miss out on the latest updates from the world of cine tech!

Chapters and Articles in This Episo...

This week on CineD Focus Check, CineD's Nino Leitner sits down with cinematographer Oren Soffer, co-cinematographer on Gareth Edwards’ The Creator—the $70M sci-fi feature that sparked industry conversation for its minimal, agile approach to big-scale filmmaking.

But this episode is not about camera specs. It’s an honest, wide-ranging discussion about generative AI and what it’s doing to culture, trust, and creative work. Oren share...

In this episode, we break down all the camera lab tests of 2025 and give you a clear overview of which cameras stood out — and which ones fell a bit short.

Nino and Gunther go through all seven cameras we tested, sharing key insights, surprises, and takeaways from this year’s results.

Hit play and join us for a deep dive into the cameras that shaped 2025.

Chapters and Articles in This Episode

(00:00) - Intro

(03:18) - Evolut...

In this special episode of the CineD FocusCheck Podcast, host Nino welcomes back filmmaker, educator, and author Tal Lazar for a wide-ranging conversation about what cinematography really is — and what it needs to become in an age of rapidly evolving technology.

Tal’s new book, Cinematography: Beyond Technique, challenges a long-standing assumption in filmmaking: that mastering cameras, lenses, and lighting is enough. Drawing on ov...

For this week's episode on the CineD Focus Check podcast, Nino speaks with special guests Timothy and Thomas Boland from Nexus Camera about how the Nexus G1 came to life — and what it’s trying to solve for solo operators and small crews.

They share their background in industrial design and filmmaking, why rigging and workflow friction pushed them toward building their own camera, and how they approached key features such as a modul...

As many of you have probably heard, two giants in Hollywood are now competing to merge with one another. Netflix is attempting to acquire Warner Bros., while Paramount has also submitted its own bid for the company. But what does this actually mean, especially for filmmakers? Nino and Johnnie break it down in detail in this episode, along with a range of other compelling topics.

Chapters and Articles in This Episode

(00:00) - In...

As the year slowly comes to an end, so do the camera releases—but there was one last long-awaited announcement that just hit the market. Sony has officially unveiled the newest successor in the Alpha 7 series: the Sony A7 Mark V.

Nino and Johnnie take a closer look at this newly announced camera, and alongside the news, they dive into a discussion about what might become the Camera of the Year 2025—plus many more exciting topics.

S...