NEW PODCAST: ARRI Goes Small, Sony Goes Big: HONOR’s ARRI Phone & Sony RIALTO 65 – Focus Check ep141 →🎙️ WATCH/LISTEN Now
Watch/Listen NowARRI Goes Small, Sony Goes Big: HONOR’s ARRI Phone & Sony RIALTO 65🎙️NEW PODCAST
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ARRI went small, and Sony went big – in the same week. In Los Angeles, HONOR launched a smartphone with ARRI’s LogC3 and color pipeline built in, for a little over €1,000, while ARRI told journalists at the event that there are no plans for a camera in the $10,000–15,000 range. In London, the Sony RIALTO 65 brought an unstitched 53.75 x 35.83 mm sensor – about 2.2 times the area of full frame – for €72,000. And you still need a VENICE 2 to use it.
Johnnie and Nino are both back from their travel – Johnnie from the HONOR × ARRI launch in Los Angeles, and Nino from Sony’s demo at Pinewood Studios. The show itself is in a new 2:1 frame instead of 2.67:1, after many of you told us the widescreen image was too narrow on a phone.
They also discuss Johnnie’s factory tour at PIXBOOM, the last days of our SmallRig x CineD OrBrella crowdfunding campaign, 18 years of Vimeo uploads locked behind a paywall, the Sigma fp2, Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro, the M6 Macs and the Creator Studio update, Instagram’s push into long-form video, Nikon’s numbers, three AI-built editing apps and a long run of hardware news from Feiyu, Sony, Cooke, Thypoch, Nikon, Hollyland, Accsoon and SmallHD, before finishing with FUJIFILM’s Fujikina NYC, the Riedel RefCam, GoPro’s close-up filters, Eurocine 2027 and the speed ramp. ´
This episode is sponsored by Hollyland – check out the Lark A1 on their website. (15:41 in the episode)
(02:44 in the episode)
HONOR’s new flagship records ARRI’s LogC3 internally, and Johnnie stresses it is not a sticker deal: ARRI worked with HONOR on the whole colour pipeline. The ARRI Cinema mode runs on the 24mm and 85mm cameras, records 10-bit 4K up to 60p (no RAW) at a base ISO of 160, and lets you shoot log or bake the look in, with peaking and false colour in a simple interface. Johnnie shot with a SmallRig cage, an ND and even a Blazar anamorphic adapter, and found the colours remarkably close to ALEXA footage.
His caveats: stabilisation cannot be fully switched off, 24p sometimes reads 24.01 in playback, and the ARRI look is not available for photos. The phone comes to Europe and parts of Asia in January 2027, but not to the US. ARRI told journalists in LA that it has no plans for a camera in the $10,000–15,000 range.
Read more: (Link will follow)
(27:00 in the episode)
Nino was at Pinewood Studios for the formal launch of the RIALTO 65, the 65mm extension for the VENICE 2. Its 53.75 x 35.83 mm sensor is a single, unstitched chip – about 2.2 times the area of full frame – with 9.6K in a 3:2 open gate and dual base ISOs of 2,500 and 10,000. Unlike the original RIALTO, the sensor sits in the head, there is no lens mount (third parties make the adapters) and 11 drop-in NDs report to the metadata. It costs €72,000 (around $80,000) and ships in the first half of 2027.
Nino’s point: if you need a VENICE 2 with its own sensor anyway, why not sell the body without one? The rolling shutter on a sensor this big is the open question for our lab test.
Read more: Sony RIALTO 65 announced
(41:56 in the episode)
Johnnie spent time with the young team behind the PIXBOOM Spark, the Super 35 global shutter camera that shoots 1,000 fps in 4K and records straight to a 2.5 TB SSD with no buffer, now at around $14,000. Co-founder Dr. Huang explained why the camera has no audio, and how a fan supplier redirected their order to AI hardware – a good reminder of why deliveries slip. Johnnie also saw a new, still-empty hall that should by now be full of people assembling cameras. Nino expects affordable super high speed to show up far more in commercials and broadcast over the next two or three years.
Full disclosure: we are working with Pixboom on a paid partnership – a free high-speed filmmaking course, with sign-up opening in about two weeks.
Read more: PIXBOOM “Spark” Factory Tour
(54:20 in the episode)
The campaign for our own soft light, built with SmallRig, ends on November 8. Until then the Orbrella costs $169; after that the price goes up by $80. Johnnie’s answer to everyone waiting for the finished product: this is not a Kickstarter, it runs in SmallRig’s own store and the light will be made either way, so waiting only costs you the discount. Shipping starts in January. The kit includes the light, a diffusion cloth, a 2 m USB-C cable, a 1.5 m mini XLR extension, a light stand adapter and a control box; it folds to 34 cm and runs at 60 W. Johnnie has been travelling with his – airport security takes it for an umbrella.
Read more: Orbrella crowdfunding ends November 8 | Get yours now
(58:27 in the episode)
Our colleague Jeff joined Vimeo in July 2008. Today his account shows six videos, and a pop-up asks him to renew a Plus membership he says he never bought. New free users now get unlimited storage, but legacy free accounts keep the old 5 GB cap, and videos over it can no longer be played, embedded, edited or downloaded – unless the owner pays, or makes them public with embedding switched off.
Johnnie is downloading everything and closing his account; Nino keeps paying so that years of embedded CineD reviews stay online. Our advice: download what you can while you can, follow the 3-2-1 backup rule, and don’t treat a video platform as an archive.
Read more: Held hostage by Vimeo
(01:07:40 in the episode)
Sigma’s follow-up to the fp leans further into video with 6K open gate, ProRes RAW and a 24.5MP partially stacked sensor; the DNG modes are gone, which many commenters miss. Nino points to 70 GB of internal storage and dual base ISOs of 1,250 and 10,000. Johnnie likes the size but is sceptical: the fp and the BF peaked at launch, and he has yet to see anyone shooting one in the field – if you do, tell us in the comments. SmallRig already has a cage with a wooden grip for around $80, plus a $50 L-plate.
Read more: Sigma fp2 announced
(01:12:03 in the episode)
Sixteen years after Steve Jobs argued against touchscreens on laptops, Apple has put one on the MacBook Pro. Touch adds $400 / €400, does not work with the Apple Pencil, and macOS is still built around keyboard and trackpad – window buttons simply grow when you touch them. Neither host sees touch as a reason to upgrade; Johnnie sits an arm’s length from the screen while editing. What Nino finds more compelling is the tandem OLED with a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and that both the 14- and 16-inch models are about a pound lighter.
Read more: Apple touchscreen MacBook Pro announced
(01:20:18 in the episode)
Apple also brought the standard M6 chip to a 14-inch MacBook Pro and the iMac. A higher number does not automatically beat an M5 Pro or Max, which have more bandwidth; Nino expects M6 Pro and Max models next year. For now, the M6 14-inch is the option if you want power without touch.
Read more: MacBook Pro M6 and iMac M6 announced
(01:20:59 in the episode)
Apple’s Creator Studio subscription now puts the full MotionVFX library inside Final Cut Pro, Motion and Pixelmator Pro, while the one-time Final Cut Pro purchase remains available without it. Nino likes the split – a subscription should add benefits over time rather than being the only way to use the software, and he wishes Adobe worked the same way. Pixelmator Pro also gains Generate Fill, and Final Cut Pro can now change the focus point of iPhone 18 Pro Cinematic Mode footage in post.
Read more: Apple Creator Studio update
(01:24:45 in the episode)
Instagram now takes horizontal videos of up to 90 minutes, and Meta is offering selected creators between $50,000 and $500,000 to post their YouTube long-form videos on Instagram the same day – without exclusivity. Meta has only confirmed the deals in general terms, and there is no ad revenue share yet, while YouTube passes 55% of ad revenue to creators. Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the company is exploring ways to pay long-form creators. Nino remembers IGTV, shut down in 2022, and hopes Instagram won’t make linking out even harder.
Read more: Instagram pays creators for long-form
(01:30:14 in the episode)
Nikon has raised its profit forecast but lowered its camera sales plan for the second half. Nino’s suggestion: the best way to lift camera numbers is new products and better support for existing ones like the ZR – and according to a reader comment, Nikon is now inviting ZR owners to a closed firmware beta.
Read more: Nikon raises profit forecast
(01:31:16 in the episode)
Johnnie compared three new editing tools that all lean on AI: cinemaOS, CUTROOM and invideo. His takeaway is less about any single app than about how AI now lets individuals build their own editing platforms – we get three or four emails a day about coded filmmaking apps. Nino expects a genuinely usable one soon, following the vibe-coded Adobe alternatives from Artcraft we covered in episode 139.
Read more: cinemaOS, CUTROOM and invideo compared
(01:33:36 in the episode)
Feiyu’s Pocket 4 takes on DJI with a 1/1.55-inch 50MP sensor, a fixed-focus 100° f/2.2 lens, a square 480 x 480 touchscreen and built-in storage, at around $300 for the standard kit. Nino’s comparison: the €480 Osmo Pocket 4 adds a 1-inch sensor, autofocus, D-Log, higher frame rates and microSD, so it remains the better choice unless you are strapped for cash.
Read more: Feiyu Pocket 4 announced
(01:35:11 in the episode)
Sony’s LYTIA 720 is a 50MP 1/1.56-inch smartphone sensor with 4K 60p HDR. It is not one of Sony’s LOFIC sensors, but its low-light and HDR comparisons with the LYTIA 700 show how fast mainstream phone sensors are improving – and as the largest smartphone sensor maker, Sony’s chips tend to reach phones quickly.
Read more: Sony LYTIA 720 announced
(01:36:24 in the episode)
Cooke’s S4 FF/i is a six-lens full-frame set – 18, 25, 35, 50, 75 and 100mm – all at T2.0 in PL or LPL with a nine-blade curved iris. Cooke says it is not a rehoused S4/i, includes /i metadata with shading and distortion data, and describes the look as a gentleness on faces akin to light filtration. There is no test footage yet. CVP lists the lenses at £11,000 each or £66,000 for the set, back-ordered, with no US price or ship date.
Read more: Cooke S4 FF/i announced
(01:37:41 in the episode)
At the other end of the price scale, the Thypoch Simera-C 100mm T1.9 completes a seven-lens full-frame set from 16 to 100mm. It shares the 75mm’s barrel length, filter thread and gear positions, so follow focus and gimbal setups carry over, covers a 43.2 mm image circle and focuses to 85 cm. The lenses cost around $900–1,000 each and are shipping now.
Read more: Thypoch Simera-C 100mm T1.9 announced
(01:38:40 in the episode)
Nikon’s NIKKOR Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S has a built-in 1.4x teleconverter for 168–420mm at f/4 – Nikon calls it the first interchangeable zoom with a constant f/2.8 and a built-in 1.4x. Aimed at wildlife shooters, it costs $14,000 and ships in mid-November.
Read more: NIKKOR Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S
(01:39:41 in the episode)
The LARK M3 is a 2.4 GHz wireless system with 9 g transmitters, 24-bit or 32-bit float recording at 48 kHz and three levels of AI noise cancellation. You can pair several USB-C and camera receivers: the first becomes the primary and controls noise cancellation, while gain and channel mode are set per receiver. The LARK MAX 2 remains the choice if you need internal backup recording or timecode. Pricing is $99 with two transmitters and one receiver, $120 with two receivers. When 2.4 GHz is the right choice over UHF is the subject of last week’s special episode with Sony’s pro audio lead.
Read more: Hollyland LARK M3 explained
(01:42:04 in the episode)
With Johnnie off to an appointment, Nino carries on alone. Accsoon’s CineView Master 4K II now transmits DCI 4K and UHD up to 60p in H.265 across 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz at once, with latency under 25 ms at 1080p60 and under 35 ms at 4K60, not counting the camera’s own delay. Range is up to 2.5 km with clear line of sight. New are USB-C video output on both ends, up to 10 monitoring devices and camera control via USB-C. The kit costs $900 – only $50 more than the first generation.
Read more: Accsoon CineView Master 4K II introduced
(01:45:06 in the episode)
SmallHD’s new entry point is a 5-inch, 1080p, 1000-nit monitor with 3G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 in and out with cross conversion, Sony L-series batteries and a weight of 300 g – no recording. Nino still rates PageOS as the best monitor operating system, but notes the price: around $1,000 (€915), double the original 5-inch Focus. Above it sit the 2000-nit Cine 5 at $1,650 and the 3000-nit Ultra 5 at $2,250.
Read more: SmallHD Focus 504 announced
(01:47:26 in the episode)
Nino’s video from Fujikina NYC is online: free camera loans up to a GFX100 II, workshops, photo walks, a street fair and exhibitions with the International Center of Photography and Magnum Photos, plus an extended cooperation with World Press Photo. What stayed with him is that nobody talked pixel counts or AI images and that it was not a sales event – and it reignited his passion for street photography. You don’t need a FUJIFILM camera to attend.
Read more: Fujikina NYC 2026 recap
(01:50:09 in the episode)
The referee’s-eye shots from this year’s World Cup came from the Riedel RefCam, a tiny head-mounted camera built into the referees’ intercom system – and it has now entered the Deutsches Museum. The footage is shaky, Nino admits, but no broadcast camera has been closer to the action, and he would like to see stabilisation in the next version.
Read more: Riedel RefCam enters the Deutsches Museum
(01:52:27 in the episode)
The GoPro MISSION 1 has no autofocus, so close-up diopters from +0.5 to +2, made by PolarPro, are GoPro’s answer for getting nearby subjects sharp. They should be available soon.
Read more: GoPro close-up filters for MISSION 1
(01:53:33 in the episode)
Eurocine returns to Budapest’s HUNGEXPO from April 29 to May 1, 2027 – a day longer than this year, free to attend and now open for exhibitor applications. We missed the 2026 edition but heard a lot of good feedback, especially compared to the earlier editions in Munich, and plan to be there.
Read more: Eurocine 2027 dates announced
(01:54:29 in the episode)
Masha’s educational article this week covers the speed ramp – a change of frame rate within one continuous shot – with examples from The Matrix, 300, Watchmen, Sherlock Holmes and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Her test: if you can’t say in one sentence what the ramp does for your story, it hasn’t earned its place. Nino’s practical advice is to plan ramp shots and shoot them at a high frame rate rather than relying on interpolation.
Read more: Bending time mid-shot
What do you think of the new 2:1 frame – and of this week’s topics? Let us know in the comments below or on YouTube, or email us at [email protected]. And don’t forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.
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Videographer with a deep audio background — including 7 years at a microphone manufacturer. Currently working in broadcast production and specialized in video podcast production. Co-founder of Yon.studio