News roundup: Apple, Flanders Scientific, Fujifilm, Laowa, Samsung, and Superman via way of Panavision

This week, news from Apple, Flanders Scientific, Fujifilm, Laowa, Samsung, and with added Superman from Panavision.

It's been a busy week once more in industryland, with no obvious sign of the summer break happening just yet. Of course, IBC is just around the corner and a mere eight weeks away, and it will be interesting to see if companies are looking to dominate the news cycle ahead of it or are content to wait for it all to kick off and surf the wave of interest.

A few years ago we would have said that the trade show release cycle was dead. Now we're not so sure, and we suspect that many companies are sitting on their stories ready to drop them at the start of September. Saying that though, we know of at least one decent camera being announced next week, and we'll keep monitoring the news over the depths of summer and bring you all the stories that occur. Holidays? Shmolidays!

Smartphone smörgåsbord

Obviously the new iPhone 17 announcements coming in September exert their own gravitational influence, but there are a decent clutch of important Android announcements on the way. Google has earmarked August 20 for a launch event in New York when it is widely expected to introduce the latest Pixel 10 phones. Rumours also point to a wholly dust-proof Pixel Fold too, with foldable phones undergoing another surge of interest this year.

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 7 last week, which has all sorts of spec bumps over its predecessor, as well as the clamshell form factor Z Flip 7.

There's definitely a sense that foldables have addressed many of the problems with the hinge mechanism and screen creases that bedevilled their early iterations. The stumbling block now is the price. The Z Flip 7 comes in at $1099 and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will set you back $1999. That's a big premium over even the current top of the range flat phones. 

We may be going even higher than that soon though. Persistent rumour says that the iPhone Fold will arrive next year with a 7.8 inch OLED screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. What's more, apparently Apple has managed to eliminate the crease between the two displays entirely. Sounds good; sounds expensive.

Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine now in PL mount

Laowa has announced the addition of a PL mount option for the Laowa 10mm T2.9 Zero-D VV Cine lens.

This widens the options for the lens out to ARRI PL, ARRI LPL, Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, L Mount. Laowa claims it is the most compact rectilinear 10mm lens for Full-Frame/VistaVision sensors on the market, and features a 'groundbreaking' 130.3° angle of view for realizing formerly impossible creative freedom. The 12cm close-focusing distance enables detailed close-ups, while a lightweight 516 g (1.14 lbs) design ensures versatility for gimbals, drones, and handheld setups. 

Fujifilm releases IR version of GFX100II 

Turns out, that Fujifilm has a bit of a track record of releasing specialised infrared versions of its cameras. It did it with the GFX100 back in 2020, and now it's doing it again with the GFX100II. 

The GFX100II IR is destined to be a rare beast, however. The camera is designed for forensic, scientific, and cultural preservation applications, and will not be made available to general customers for personal use. Indeed, the company says that sales of IR version cameras may only be completed if they are accompanied by a signed IR User Agreement, which sets out the terms of use for the camera. More details here.

The best selling cameras in Japan

All of that makes it highly unlikely that it will ever make it onto any camera bestseller lists. Despite a lot of sniffiness about it, however, another Fujifilm camera, the X-Half, has. Despite only being released at the end of June, it topped Map Camera's chart ahead of two other Fujifilm models, the X100VI and the X-M5. Here's the (machine translated) Top 10.

Less liquid for Apple

Apple's forthcoming Liquid Glass UI design seems to have been dialled down a bit judging from new iOS beta releases. As announced at WWDC25, it gave a fairly pronounced transparency effect to navigation bars, tabs, and buttons, but in beta 3 of iOS 26 these appear to be far more solid. The following screenshot from The Verge (sorry, the slider is their's, it's static here) contrasts beta 2 on the left with beta 3 on the right

Screenshot: The Verge

There were some definite questions about ease of use and accessibility with the first looks at Liquid Glass, so it's not a a surprise that it's being watered down. The level of transparency doesn't seem to be consistent across all apps, though, even leading to some speculation that the effect will be user definable, which would be interesting in a glass on / glass off manner.

Flanders Scientific 55" QD-OLED HDR Mastering Monitor

The new XMP551 is Flanders Scientific's latest 55" UHD resolution HDR and SDR reference mastering monitor, built around an all new 4th generation QD-OLED panel. That lets it feature a frankly staggering 4000 nits peak luminance capability, 8,000,000:1 contrast, and the company's widest color gamut to date.

The 4K monitor supports full coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and more than 99% of the Rec.2020 color space, qualifies as a Dolby Vision mastering monitor, costs $20,995, and starts shipping in September. Pre-orders currently take $2000 off the price, but shipping costs start at $450.

You're really super, Superman

Finally, a brief case study from Panavision looking at the cinematography of Superman with Henry Braham BSC. Braham primarily worked with Panavised RED V-Raptor [X] cameras.

Unit photography by Jessica Miglio SMPSP. Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

"The intent is for the visual style to be grounded while taking the audience through a huge visual journey," he says. "That may sound like a contradiction, but it means that the shooting style on the one hand is very structured and prepared and on the other hand intuitive. This is the philosophy behind the way I shoot almost entirely handheld but totally stabilized. It allows the audience to be present in the scene and, I hope, not be aware of how the movie is photographed or what the camera is doing — an intuitive conduit for the director’s voice to the screen."

Read the full piece here.