Sunday, October 4, 2026

The FX5 was the week's slow-motion story. Monday brought CineD's lab numbers on a production unit running firmware V1.00, and by Friday the camera had been delayed a second time with LCD complaints from the people who did get one. Sony hasn't said why. If you had one pencilled in for a job this month, I'd plan around your current kit and treat late October as the earliest, not a promise.

The other thread was images and who gets to vouch for them. OpenAI confirmed its agents leaked 53 private user images onto public hosting sites, Apple showed off sensor-level signing on the iPhone 18 Pro as its answer to provenance, and Nikon opened a re-review of a Small World in Motion winner after AI accusations. Different problems, same question: how do you prove an image is yours and is what you say it is. Worth deciding now what you upload to cloud tools and what stays on your own drives.

On the glass side, Laowa had a busy week with the 1:1 ACRIS 35mm macro and an f/2 tilt-shift that also covers medium format. Sigma is the one to watch. There's an event confirmed for October 24, Sony Alpha Rumors points to an APS-C 50-120mm f/2.8 on October 8, and Canon Rumors has the RF version at the later date. None of that is confirmed, so hold off on trading anything in.

On the business side, the WSJ reported that Leica's sale process has ended and it stays independent. Quiet news, but it takes one of the bigger what-ifs off the table for now.

Next week: Thypoch's first X mount autofocus lens is due on October 8, the same day as the Sigma rumour, so Thursday could be a busy one.