Celebrating 100 Episodes: A Look Back, A Look Forward | FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55 First Look Review – Focus Check Ep 100

January 22^nd, 2026

by Felix TappeinerJanuary 22^nd, 2026

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. We also dive into Johnnie’s brand-new first look review of the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55. Let’s dive into “Focus Check 100”!

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 produce every week.

We also genuinely thank NANLITE for supporting our podcast studio with their beautiful lights. Without their support, the relaunch of the podcast look a few months ago would not have been possible! We will give you a deeper “tour” on the studio light design and how we operate them in the next weeks during the podcast.

In this milestone episode, we also cover a long-anticipated review. Johnnie shares his experience shooting with the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55, along with insights and footage from a recent mini-documentary he shot using the camera.

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FUJIFILM GFX Eterna 55: Beautiful Images, Difficult Questions

Johnnie traveled to the UK to put FUJIFILM’s first dedicated cinema camera through its paces, shooting a mini-documentary about Malcolm and Amber — a couple building their own drift car. The location at Drift Limit provided the perfect stress test for a camera many worried would suffer from rolling shutter issues given its large sensor size. The mini-documentary was shot with an early release version of the camera firmware.

The verdict on rolling shutter? Not a concern in practice. Johnnie emphasized that viewers should watch the background in his panning shots rather than the subject — the sensor handles motion well enough for real-world use.

The FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55 equipped with the SIRUI Iron Star anamorphic lens for our review. Image credit: CineD

The GFX Eterna 55 gets plenty right. The electronic ND filter works beautifully. Dual 3-inch LCD screens on both sides make menu navigation easy for operator and assistant alike. A clever backup battery system lets you hot-swap from V-mount to a standard FUJIFILM battery, buying 22 minutes of recording time in a pinch. And the image itself — shot in 4K Open Gate as Fujifilm recommends — is genuinely beautiful, with the large format aesthetic that drew so many to request this camera in the first place.

Johnnie paired the camera with Sirui’s 35mm and 60mm anamorphic lenses from the Iron Star series. At $999 each, they proved capable partners for the larger sensor, though he noted that 40mm and above avoids any vignetting in Open Gate.

But as a documentary filmmaker who thinks in terms of a “holy triangle” — price, specifications, and target audience — Johnnie found the pieces don’t quite align. At $16,500, the GFX ETERNA 55 lacks internal raw recording and limits high frame rate to 120fps in HD only. With the industry trending toward smaller, more affordable boxes like the Sony FX3, Nikon ZR, and Canon EOS C50, the economics become harder to justify for independent work.

Johnnie’s conclusion was measured rather than dismissive. For production houses, rental facilities, and cinematographers who specifically need large format, the GFX Eterna 55 delivers. For independents, it’s a tougher sell. But perhaps more importantly, FUJIFILM has gained invaluable experience building their first cinema camera — and the hope is that within the next product cycle or two, something more accessible will follow.

Sony and TCL Form Joint Venture for Bravia TVs

In industry consolidation news, Sony and TCL have announced a joint venture for Sony’s Bravia TV business, with TCL taking a 51% majority stake. Sony hasn’t manufactured its own display panels for years, relying on LG and Samsung, but ceding control of the Bravia brand marks a significant shift.

TCL acquired a majority stake in Sony’s BRAVIA TV business. Image credit: CineD

The TV business operates on razor-thin margins — the quality available for a few hundred dollars today is remarkable, but leaves little profit after manufacturing and shipping. This move follows a pattern seen a decade ago when Sharp sold its TV division to Foxconn, a development that shocked Japan at the time.

The podcast noted a silver lining: despite political tensions between China and Japan, business partnerships continue, suggesting commerce may yet operate above geopolitics.

Also in this Episode

The news roundup covered Google’s Veo 3.1 update bringing native vertical video generation and improved character consistency to their AI model, new Godox LED panels with multi-zone pixel control and adjustable diffusion, PolarPro’s Cineflow filter that simulates motion blur in-camera, and the Viltrox Nexus Focus F1 Kickstarter — an adapter that converts manual PL lenses to autofocus on Sony E-mount cameras.

CineD has the Viltrox adapter in hand for review, though some software issues are still being ironed out with the manufacturer. When it works, it’s impressive — and at $700–800 with two motors, the price is right for what could be a game-changing tool.