Taking advantage of Cine Gear Expo’s ability to draw industry professionals from around the world to the backlot at Universal Studios, the Digital Cinema Society conducted interviews with several prominent exhibitors. DCS Founder James Mathers was able to gain insights and find out about new products from leading technologists and industry experts, including:

FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA with John Blackwood — CANON 40-1200mm Cine Servo Zoom with Paul Hawxhurst — ZEISS HORIZON ANAMORPHICS with Sundeep Reddy — CARTONI with Chris Lobos — LEITZ CINE LENSES with Seth Emmons — STRADA with Michael Cioni — BLACKMAGIC DESIGN with Dan May — ARRI Lighting with Forest Liu — LAOWA with Owner and Lens Designer Dayong Li — BAND PRO with Daniel Band — SIGMA LENSES with Aaron Norberg and Graham Sheldon — OWC with Jon Hoeg — DEDOLIGHT CALIFORNIA with Sean Boyriven — MID49 Camera Accessories with Ryan Schorman

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FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA with John Blackwood

James Mathers interviews John Blackwood from Fujifilm to find out what’s new with the GFX ETERNA 55 camera. The camera features a very large 44x33mm sensor, which previously made it a challenge to find lenses to cover it. However, now they have released their own lenses with proper coverage, which also feature internal FIZ controls, but the big news is that many other lens manufacturers, including Panavision, have stepped up with a plethora of suitable spherical and anamorphic lenses.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200503131

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/1Y9vxyAl04o

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CANON 40-1200mm Cine Servo Zoom with Paul Hawxhurst

Canon’s Paul Hawxhurst shows James Mathers the new 40-1200mm Cine Servo Zoom, which replaces the popular 50-1000mm, but is now both wider and longer at the same size and weight. Plus the new RF mount version allows for new features such as auto-focus with most Canon C Series RF cameras, and Auto Exposure Ramping Compensation when paired with the C400 RF camera. It also features a built in 1.5X extender, which effectively makes the lens a 60-1800mm in S35 and can also allow it to cover a Full Frame sensor.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200596027

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/mPx_84MiMPw

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ZEISS HORIZON ANAMORPHICS with Sundeep Reddy

James Mathers interviews Sundeep Reddy to find out about the new ZEISS Horizon Anamorphics, a seven lens set of full frame 2x anamorphics spanning 35mm to 200mm across seven focal lengths. They are a fast T2.3 stop and feature internally motorized focus and iris which integrate seamlessly into ARRI and Preston LCS workflows. Dual displays and touch panels are also directly on the lens barrel to allow quick focus and iris checks.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200612355

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/0ud2rEYvWlk

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Cartoni with Chris Lobos

James Mathers visits the Cartoni booth where Chris Lobos shows him their newest camera support products including the HyperRoll, a small and versatile wheeled camera platform, the Maximo 5.0, the Maximo 30, and the Focus 22 Cine fluid heads, as well as the extremely solid, yet lightweight Ragno Tripod Riser.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200257506

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/WgK316ahcbA

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LEITZ CINE LENSES with Seth Emmons

James Mathers visits with Seth Emmons who shares the latest from Leitz Cine. He points out that although 65mm sensor coverage is the talk of the show, their THALIA lenses have been covering that format for quite some time. Seth also shows off an LPL mount designed for Sony’s new Rialto 65 with full metadata and adaptors to PL. Other Leitz series of lenses include the HEKTOR, the ELSIE, the SUMMILUX, and the SUMMICRON, along with their full frame Zooms.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200563876

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/aNGhwgQqBRQ

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STRADA with Michael Cioni

Strada Co-founder Michael Cioni gives James Mathers a demonstration of Strada version 2, the latest iteration of their remote post production collaboration and editing platform.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1199901698

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/ckBbAGh85F8

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Blackmagic Design with Dan May

James Mathers meets with Blackmagic Design’s Dan May to get his perspective on industry trends including Immersive Live, AI, and their continuing commitment to Cinema.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1199942246

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/tLWfQTeOJGE

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ARRI Lighting with Forest Liu

James Mathers visits the ARRI booth where Forest Liu gives him a deep dive into their newest light — the Omnibar — a battery-powered IP65 linear LED fixture. The Omnibar is available in either 2 ft or 4 ft lengths, has several different mounting options and contains a 5 color LED Light engine.

VimeoLink: https://vimeo.com/1199901520

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/ZKDUM2B7zX4

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LAOWA with Owner and Lens Designer Dayong Li

James Mathers visits the LAOWA booth to interview company Owner and Lead Lens Designer Dayong Li, (kindly interpreted from Chinese to English by Kevin Yeung.) Mr. Li covers their extensive lens lines, from the many macros and zooms, including the Nanomorph and Proteus, to the new 25-600mm Ultima, designed to serve larger sensors that are now being used for broadcast and live applications.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200843803

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/7kMEWXHu42U

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BAND PRO with Daniel Band

James Mathers stops by the Band Pro booth to interview Daniel Band, who lists some of their extensive product lines, from Angénieux, TLS, Gecko, and Cooke lenses, to Easy-Rig, TV Logic monitors, and a really fun Hammer Head arcade game style cabinet that plays interactive simulations to practice remote camera operating with wheels.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200821803

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/Ta5tye9fjKM

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SIGMA LENSES with Aaron Norberg and Graham Sheldon

James Mathers visits with Sigma’s Aaron Norberg and Cinematographer Graham Sheldon to find out more about their latest lens innovations including the new 28-45mm T2 and 28-105mm T3 Auto-Focus Cine Zooms for mirrorless cameras. They also mention the very high-end new Aizu Primes, the popular High Speed Primes, Super35 Zooms, and a variety of new lenses aimed at the still photography market.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200592766

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/Jjw0d8l8SVk

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OWC with Jon Hoeg

James Mathers visit the OWC booth and talks with Jon Hoeg about OWC’s storage products, including their newest DIY Thunderbolt 5 External Storage Enclosure — the Express 4M2 Ultra. Jon also shows James their camera media line, which includes their Atlas Pro and Atlas Ultra memory cards, and their ThunderBlade X12 Thunderbolt 5 RAID Array.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1199901841

YouTube: https://youtu.be/rCpC5q_90bw

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DEDOLIGHT CALIFORNIA with Sean Boyriven

Dedolight California’s Sean Boyriven shows James Mathers the CineVeam™, a new line of lightweight, umbrella-style deployment, versatile, bi-color and full-color Soft Lights.  Without any LEDs in the center this unique design creates a large evenly illuminated surface without the dreaded central hot-spot.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1199901986

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/fIrImyq1oTQ

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MID49 Camera Accessories with Ryan Schorman

James Mathers visits camera accessory guru Ryan Schorman whose new company, MID49, is coming up with lots of unique accessories including a new XLR handle and power distribution module for Sony’s FX6, as well as many others for a variety of new and legacy cameras.

Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/1200483963

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/8b5fgRqg_wI

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These interviews were conducted on June 5th and 6th, 2026 at Cine Gear Expo held on the Universal Studios Hollywood Backlot. Special thanks to our DCS crew including Cinematographers Cameron Cannon, and Jon Tucker, with Christopher Scott Knell of Fireline Studios handling all post production. Charlene Mathers, Executive Director of DCS served as Producer.