IBC 2025 – What New Cameras Should We Expect?

Opinion

by Johnnie BehiriSeptember 3^rd, 2025

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IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) is just around the corner, and we thought it might be interesting to do a quick exercise and brainstorm a bit about what to expect. After all, this event, traditionally held in Amsterdam, is the go-to place for various manufacturers to display and discuss their new offerings. This also means that some of the announcements are actually around the corner, and this should drive people to come and visit the companies’ booths. 

In our opinion, the days are gone when manufacturers could charge around $15,000 for dedicated personal cinema cameras. Maybe if you are an extremely successful DP, you might consider buying one, but looking at the current job market and economic situation, those cameras are mostly becoming a rental item. 

We would go a step further and say that even a $10,000 camera might find itself fighting to justify its price, unless it offers some unique features such as a built-in ND filter or an out-of-the-ordinary sensor size. 

The way we see it, the cinema camera market is now shifting towards the lower end of pricing, meaning that the very successful FX3 has become the benchmark for many. In a nutshell, it is a compact, very capable, sub $4,200 camera that, most importantly, is selling like “hot cakes”, making it an important source of income for Sony. 

We’ve mentioned in the past that every camera manufacturer should aim to have a well-spaced, well-priced, lower-end cinema camera that can be sold in quantities in order to allow the continuation of R&D investment alongside the development of some higher-end filming equipment. If you don’t, your camera business might suffer regardless of how good your high-end camera is (ARRI, anybody?)

Now that we’ve established that the most desirable segment for camera manufacturers might be delivering a sub-$5,000 compact cinema camera that can give a good run for the money against the FX3, the question remains open. Who will be the one to actually bring it? 

We don’t want to speculate (the Canon teaser slide is an indication that something is about to come), but we can agree that every current camera manufacturer is a good candidate to surprise us, but to succeed, it has to do better (or different in some way) than the Sony FX3. 

Speaking of which, if this is happening, such a move might put Sony under a kind of pressure, as their domination in this portable compact cinema camera segment might come to an end.

Final Thoughts

So, bottom line: We anticipate a very interesting trade show. We also think the conclusion for manufacturers will be that if you don’t do it, someone else will, and most probably even at a better price, so there is no point in delaying bringing new cameras to the market, nor limiting their performance. 

Interesting times ahead! 

IBC will open its doors on September 12th at 10 am CEST, and the CineD team will be there to bring you, our dear audience, a full and extensive coverage. But being camera nerds like ourselves, what are your expectations and requests? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.