From AI pipelines and immersive cameras to lighting gear and keynotes from Roger Deakins, here's our essential guide to NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas.
So here we are, NAB Show 2026. Our inbox is flooded with press/PR updates on new features, tools, products, upgrades and (interestingly this year) mergers and acquisitions. 2025 was dominated by talks of tariff implications, this year there seems to be nothing serious going on in the world that could possibly affect business,? Okay, maybe not, however there are signs that NAB 2026 will be well attended by film, TV and moving image professionals, enthusiasts and (increasingly) creators.
This is our annual RedShark guide to things we are excited to see and do in Vegas at the NAB Show. It’s supposed to be a top 10 but I usually get carried away and add a few more items, so keep coming back to this. Also if you see something I have missed that is a must-see add it in the comments and we will update the article.
2026 is definitely the year AI stops being a side feature and becomes embedded across the entire production pipeline. You will see it *everywhere*. We’ve seen it coming and it’s here for good. From mundane tasks like automated logging and transcription to (sometimes) intelligent editing and versioning, AI is now actively managing projects, not just assisting with them.
Tools like Eddie AI (N1672) are pushing this further, acting as assistant editors that can organise timelines, suggest cuts, and streamline workflows. Eddie even works overnight using its new Night Shift features and responds to text messages. Expect to see a wave of AI-driven asset management from vendors like Editshare (N1251), search, and collaboration tools on the show floor, all aimed at helping teams move faster and focus on storytelling rather than process. You will even see it in hardware, just look at the vast array of lav mics with AI noise cancellation built into them, and that’s just scratching the surface!
However, the news that will make the most noise not just at the Adobe booth but potentially across NAB is the new Color Mode feature in Premiere. This move into professional color grading using a workflow for editors (not necessarily colorists) is essentially the opposite to what Blackmagic did with Resolve. Will it keep more people in the Premiere/ Creative Cloud eco system? Yes. Will it make more people choose Adobe over Resolve? Who knows. What we do know is that Premiere and Resolve are the de facto NLEs of choice for younger editors and increasingly post houses, the market is growing, the pie is getting bigger, and the software features are getting bigger which is good for everyone.
I should also add that the Adobe team do killer demos and workshops, their team are awesome, and you can learn a ton from their on-booth team so absolutely check them out.
Speaking of demos, the Blackmagic stand is usually the busiest at NAB with a large section dedicated to them. Long-time friend of RedShark, internationally respected colorist and now one of Resolve’s top YouTube channels, Darren Mostyn, will be demoing Resolve 21 along with several other industry professionals. You can see and test all their cameras, cards, consoles and switchers with great real-world demo setups.
Companies like Saramonic are lowering the barrier fast, and it shows. There are a bunch of other great lav mics out there across various stands. Whatever one you choose just remember to please clip it on, it still works and you don’t have to hold it to your mouth TikTokers!
Head to the Central Hall and you’ll find one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds at NAB. DJI, Insta360 and GoPro are colliding across cameras, drones, gimbals and now audio. The teased Insta360 Luna, a dual-lens pocket vlogging camera set to rival DJI’s Osmo Pocket 4 (releasing today), is a perfect example of how fast this space is moving. Meanwhile GoPro is gearing up for a new generation of Mission cameras built around its GP3 platform. Add ongoing patent battles into the mix and this feels less like competition, more like an arms race! With the creator economy now worth an estimated $250 billion plus globally, the prize is huge and creators are the real winners.
What’s interesting here is the bigger picture. Atomos already covers on-camera and on-set monitoring with the Ninja, Shinobi, and Sumo ranges, and now it’s building a true end-to-end ecosystem that stretches from capture all the way to final delivery. I wanted to recommend Atomos even before the FSI acquisition news, that’s because it’s a fun stand and the Aussies always put on a great show with brilliant demos and (top tip this) a great place to see all the top cinema cameras side by side in one place.
Expect a strong showing on the stand, with monitor-recorders, new Studio Pro displays and a clear push into higher-end post workflows. This is Atomos moving up a gear in my opinion and great to see the impact new CEO Peter Barber is having there.
What’s new this year is a serious push into on-set production. ASUS entered this space recently with a 24” display (PA24US) but now with 12G-SDI monitors like the 16” PA16USV and the 27” rugged PA27USD, ASUS is no longer just a post-production player; it’s now firmly on-set too, so expect these models to come to a DIT cart near you soon.
The new more portable ProArt PX13 and PZ14 models (announced at CES) deliver a similar experience in a smaller form factor, perfect for creators working on location. And then there’s the ProArt RTX 50 series graphics card series, a major step forward for AI acceleration across video, VFX and 3D.
On Monday April 20 ASUS is also hosting a creator event at the Flamingo (sign up here) where you can get hands-on with all of this along with food and drinks! Back on the stand there is a series of excellent Master Talks sessions featuring industry pros like Brett Danton. Both are well worth your time, so check them out.
Whatever you do though, please be polite and don’t mention the Olympics Men’s Ice Hockey Final to our Canadian friends — it’s their birthday, remember!
What used to mean bulky kits and big spend is now portable, affordable and ridiculously capable. That’s a huge deal for both pros and creators. There are a bunch of great lighting companies out there all in the Central Hall, so check them out.
It wouldn’t be NAB without massive crowds around the Sony and Canon stands. Whether you’re a “Canon person”, a “Sony person”, or neither, these are still two of the most important players in the industry and always worth spending time with.
It’s easy to get lost on the show floor, but don’t skip the keynotes and conference sessions. This is where you actually get a sense of where the industry is heading, not just what’s being sold today. NAB 2026 has a seriously strong lineup, from creators like Markiplier through to legendary cinematographers like Roger Deakins, alongside technologists and media leaders shaping the future of broadcast, AI and streaming. You’ll also find deep-dive sessions on everything from, of course, AI workflows to cloud production and live sports delivery.
This is a classic case of do as I say, not as I do as every year I try and do more sessions but get sucked in by the gear! If you take the time to sit in on a few of these, you’ll come away with something far more valuable than bags of (let's be honest) crappy swag; actual insight into what’s coming next.
Remember when The Cloud was going to be a super solution to storage and remote workflows? Actually it kind of has been There is less focus on it thanks to AI, but cloud is still a huge part of NAB, especially at the enterprise level. Broadcasters and streamers are now running large-scale, distributed workflows across AWS, Azure, and private infrastructure, handling everything from live production to global content delivery. The big players here are companies such as Editshare, Avid, Telestream, Lucidlink, and also now Blackmagic and Adobe too.
But there’s a growing pushback, and that’s where things get interesting. Tools like Strada (above) and the new Frame.io Drive are rethinking the model entirely. Instead of uploading media to the cloud, they let you access and stream files directly from local drives, effectively turning your own storage into a secure, shareable cloud.
Strada is led by the industry’s most effective communicator IMO, Michael Cioni (follow their social channels and thank me later), and this “be your own cloud” approach is exactly the kind of disruptive thinking NAB is all about.
Soooo many other things are happening already. Our Editor Andy and I will populate this section as more news gets released. Not actually something to go see, but his week we've already had ARRI getting acquired by Thomas Riedel and AJA buying Comprimato, and we wouldn't bet against there being more M&A activity at the show. Buckle up, people, news looks like it will come thick and fast this year!