CineD 2025 Recap – Gear Highlights, Stories, and Insights from Our Team

Year-in-review

by Mascha Deikova14 days ago

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As 2025 is coming to an end, it’s time once again to pause and look back. What stood out this past year? What changed the way we work, think, or tell stories? Continuing a tradition we’ve grown quite fond of, the CineD team of authors – filmmakers, cinematographers, educators, and creators from around the world – sat down to reflect on the past twelve months. From gear and software highlights to industry shifts, AI discussions, and the films that stayed with us, here’s our collective look and 2025 recap.

All of our authors actively work in the industry, and as you know, we always try to keep you up to date with fast-moving developments on the gear side, as well as with news and broader trends. (Check the CineD cameras of the year 2025 article here.) That said, each of us brings personal preferences and individual perspectives to the table. Please keep in mind that the subsequent text is a compilation of subjective opinions. They may be similar to yours, or completely different – so, chime in in the comments and share your 2025 highlights with us! 

Game-changing tools and shifts

On the technical side, seasoned cinematographer and co-CEO of CineD and MZed, Nino Leitner, highlighted autofocus adapters from Viltrox and Tilta as potentially game-changing tools. By making all manual cine lenses effectively “AF-capable,” these products may finally put an end to the long-running debate about whether autofocus belongs on professional sets. In Nino’s view, it will simply always be there as an option that works well. He adds, though, that both products are still very new, and we have yet to review them.

Nino’s second highlight from the 2025 recap is the Pixboom Spark camera. Its launch reflects a broader trend: Making niche tools like high-speed cinematography accessible to more productions. (Head over here to read more about this camera.)

For some, the highlights weren’t even specific products. Thus, our campaign manager and marketing expert, Jackie Schwarzinger, pointed out how important industry gatherings like NAB and IBC have become in this increasingly digital world. Meeting colleagues, partners, and readers face-to-face served as a reminder of why we do what we do in the first place, and I couldn’t agree more.

Zooming out even further, documentary cameraman and co-CEO of CineD and MZed, Johnnie Behiri, mentioned a more structural shift: the growing dominance of Chinese manufacturers. What started as cautious imitation has clearly turned into innovation, with many of these companies now shaping entire segments of the market.

What some of those Chinese companies are also doing right is building a solid fan base community, and when you have the customers behind you, nothing will stop you from growing.

Johnnie Behiri

On the software side of things

If 2025 was a quieter year for cameras, it was anything but for software.

For Florian Milz, the creator of the CineD Databases, Blackmagic Design’s decision to add Apple ProRes RAW support to DaVinci Resolve was a turning point he greatly appreciated. It ultimately led him to switch completely from Final Cut Pro to DaVinci Resolve “without looking back.”

French freelance director, editor, and colorist Jeff Loch spent a significant amount of time exploring and reviewing the last HAL Picture Diachromie and Diaphonie plugins. (You can find his entire overview here.) Beyond their aesthetic appeal, in Jeff’s words, the experience deepened his understanding of color theory and color spaces.

For me, personally, there wasn’t a specific software update or tool from 2025. I was rather glad to witness the growing tendency among NLE developers to incorporate more advanced AI tools to support and accelerate mundane workflows. With this focus in mind, we even launched an educational course series, “The Efficient Filmmaker” on MZed (our educational platform with 65+ filmmaking courses), and will continue to expand it in 2026.

Omri Keren Lapidot – content creator and teacher, based in Amsterdam, mentions the AI post-production tool he enjoyed writing about. Namely, Imagen AI’s new video model, because the company takes the LLM trend differently.

Instead of using intellectual property to replace creatives, using AI to learn each creator’s specific workflow to enhance the creative process.

Omri Keren Lapidot

Recap of our favourite CineD articles and reviews in 2025

When it comes to writing, several of our authors found themselves gravitating away from pure gear coverage and toward deeper analysis in 2025.

Nino, who wrote more than ever this year, highlighted his BILD Expo presentation “Ready Creator One,” where he shared an optimistic, creativity-driven outlook on AI workflows for filmmakers. The one that focuses on augmentation rather than replacement.

Seasoned photographer Alexandra Thompson really enjoyed writing about Netflix’s mini-series “Adolescence” and its impactful single-take approach to cinematography and storytelling. This show clearly resonated across the team, and you’ll see this title pop up again down below.

Johnnie’s favorite piece was his Canon EOS C50 review and mini-documentary, shot in Japan’s Kiso Valley. Beyond the camera itself, the human connection (particularly the conversation with Kana, who was featured in the film) turned the review into a story that felt personal and engaging.

Omri singled out his article promoting the adoption of flexible aspect ratios on cine cameras, an approach that further blurs the line between motion and stills practices.

As for me, I found myself torn between two educational articles: one on method directing and another on different approaches to coverage. Both pushed me to think more intentionally about directing and visual storytelling. In general, 2025 has been a year in which I enjoyed focusing on the “story first” approach, learning from the renowned filmmakers by analyzing classic and modern films, and diving deeper into such topics with the huge help of MZed.

Industry trends that worried us in 2025

When reflecting on the past year, “uncertainty” was a recurring theme across a lot of answers I gathered for this 2025 recap.

Several CineD authors pointed to shrinking budgets, reduced production volume, and an overall contraction in traditional film and commercial work. Nino described a noticeable shift toward lower-budget productions, alongside growing uncertainty about AI’s impact on many production roles. Or as Jackie puts it: while reshaping some workflows might be an exciting step, it also raises big questions about sustainability, originality, and how independent creators can keep up.

Florian went as far as to suggest that 2025 may mark the end of Hollywood as we’ve known it. After strikes, lawsuits, and financial turmoil, it seems likely that new players will drive future content production – and possibly from new geographical centers. (Not a bad thing per se).

Alexandra expressed concern about shortening attention spans and the risk of prioritizing quantity over meaningful storytelling. For her, the biggest question isn’t how we produce content, but what kind of stories will still be allowed space to exist. This is also where Omri shares the feeling of unease:

I held the rather naive hope that the cinema giants would fight the intellectual property war against AI firms, and have a chance to win. Now, with the Disney-OpenAI $1BN deal, this fantasy faded.

So, as you can see, AI, unsurprisingly, hovered over nearly all concerns. While few of us fear the technology itself, many worry about its misuse, resulting in both unethical and even dangerous content, and work that feels generic and soulless.

What excites us about looking toward 2026

Despite the challenges and concerns, there are a lot of things we are optimistic about and looking forward to.

On the gear side of things, Florian is hopeful that the relatively slow pace of camera innovation in 2025 means manufacturers have been holding back for something more substantial. So, he is excited about new products that could be on the horizon for 2026.

One development that gave Jackie hope is Disney’s plans to return to traditional hand-drawn animation. To her, this is a sign that even major studios still see value in human craft:

I hope this inspires the rest of the industry to find a balance between keeping up with the times and using AI where it makes sense, while still valuing human-created filmmaking as a craft.

Nino believes that the current disruption could necessitate a redefinition of how we work. Questioning long-established processes may open the door to more efficient and creative workflows in 2026, and he is excited about the new opportunities that arise.

In line with this, Florian shared a personal insight that I resonated with as well. He was, and still is to some extent, very hesitant and skeptical about the rapid and forceful entry of AI into most aspects of our digital lives. But at some point this year, he stumbled upon Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl’s keynote speech during SXSW 2013. One of his messages was: “Use it! Don’t be afraid of technology. Make it work for you.” This inspired Florian to look for ways to make AI work for him where it makes sense. Maybe this will inspire you, too?

After all, as Nino simply and beautifully summed it up: Intent matters most.

Films and series from 2025 that stayed with us

When it comes to watching films and series, our authors appear to share similar tastes, with several titles mentioned more than once.

As I mentioned above, “Adolescence” left a strong impression thanks to both its important subject matter and unconventional storytelling approach. The absolute leader from released films has been “One Batter After Another.” It stood out as a sharp, high-energy commentary on the current state of the world and blew some of our minds.

Alexandra and I also really enjoyed watching the finale of the “Andor” series with its exemplary storytelling and great visuals. Francesco highlighted “Stranger Things 5” for its scale and meticulous attention to detail. He adds: “The series has also come a long way, evolving into a true cult phenomenon that’s worth watching even if you don’t normally enjoy the genre.”

From lesser-known works, Florian featured Apple TV’s “Pluribus,” which deeply moved him. The way the main character, Carol, is written brought out many mixed emotions in him. I can only wholeheartedly agree and recommend it, thanks to its brilliant screenwriting and controversial topic approach. (Don’t read about the plot beforehand, or you may spoil the biggest twist for yourself.)

We wish you a Happy New Year!

This is how we recap and wrap up 2025! Our authors wish you a year full of curiosity, new ideas, solid collaborations, good surprises, a giant bag of positivity, and the courage to keep evolving.

On behalf of the CineD team, thank you for reading, engaging, and being part of this thoughtful community. We hope 2026 brings you inspiring projects, strong stories, and the space to tell them with intention. Happy holiday season and all the best for 2026!

What about you? What defined your 2025? How have your workflows evolved? Which films and series impressed you most? Let’s continue the recap and exchange further highlights in the comments below!

Full disclosure: MZed is owned by CineD.

Feature image: a background, generated and expanded with the help of AI, combined with images by Canon, Nikon, AppleTV+, Blackmagic Design, and Warner Bros.