"The most powerful tech event in the world", CES 2025, is taking place this week in Las Vegas, Nevada, and from January 07-10. But while it's a haven for the latest tech in other sectors, there has so far been little to entice camera users.
Admittedly, CES isn't geared towards photography and videography in specific. Although, with the biggest players in imaging taking part at the show – Sony, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Insta360 and Adobe to name a few – I would have liked to see a little more.
At last year's show, Panasonic launched the "world's smallest" macro lens, and in 2019 Sharp unveiled the first ever 8K consumer camera (which sadly never made it to market), so cool stuff has been revealed in the past – but right now, it seems that CES 2025 isn't one to watch for camera gear.
Here's a quick rundown of interesting imaging stuff so far – along with things we might from some of the big brands in imaging…
CES 2025 announcements
Nikon
Nikon has some pretty cool things on display this year. The one most obviously of interest to DCW readers will be the updates to the company's lunar camera – the modified Nikon Z9 being supplied to NASA for the upcoming Artemis III mission, which Nikon has dubbed "Mirrorless goes to the Moon" for its CES presentation.
The Nikon Z50 II is being used to offer showgoers a free portrait / headshot / profile pic taken by a professional photographer, and the nifty-looking Nikon dual lens in-car camera system is also on show – which captures wide and telephoto video simultaneously and has been co-designed with Mitsubishi.
Then there's the Robot Vision System / Intelligent Actuator Unit, which features Nikon's 2D / 3D cameras mounted to a robot's fingers for faster and more flexible learning. The intriguing-sounding CES showcase is called "The Restaurant of the Future".
The second is Studio Extreme, a demonstration of the virtual production technology by Disguise – a company with whom Nikon has partnered, and which employs technology from Nikon-owned Red (Komodo X) and Mark Roberts Motion Control (StudioBot LT).
Finally, the company won a CES Innovation Award for the Nikon Z6 III – the only other camera to receive one being the GoPro Hero13 Black.
Sony
ABOVE: Watch the Sony press conference
Despite all the camera rumors about new bodies like the Sony A7 V, A7S IV and FX3 II, as I expected Sony instead focused on mainstream entertainment stuff like turning its PlayStation franchises into movies and anime. Oh, and it launched a car (the Afeela 1, an EV with a PlayStation 5 in it).
The only real nod to camera tech was the Xyn spatial capture stuff, which cited "using images captured by a mirrorless camera" to "convert real objects and spaces into high-quality 3D CG assets".
And, in a broader sense (and an excuse to put NFL logos in its presentation), the use of Sony's Hawkeye tech to power the recent Simpsons Funday Football virtual NFL altcast (following 2023's Toy Story Funday Football, which remains "the biggest live event to date on Disney Plus").
It was nice seeing Bob Martin's photography at the start of the presentation, at least!
Birdfy bird feeder cameras
Birdfy unveiled a slate of new products, led by the Hum Feeder Pro (above) – the world’s first smart hummingbird feeder with 4K 30p / FullHD 120p video recording, set to launch in March.
My favorite is the Birdfy Bath Pro, which comes with or without a station to free stand in your garden. There was also the Bird Feeder Metal, with an upmarket and super-robust metal finish that's rust-and chew-proof.
The Birdfy Hum Feeder is a smaller and more affordable version of the Hum Feeder Duo, while the Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo packs a pair of dual-lens cameras for portrait and wide-angle shots from primary and secondary perspectives.
Panasonic
ABOVE: Watch the Panasonic press conference
While Panasonic launched the Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro at last year's show, this year there wasn't much about cameras besides a photo booth. The company was more interested in its AI initiatives, carbon neutrality and helping support a circular economy.
Leave it to camera rumors, then, to do a bit of guerrilla PR in revealing that the Panasonic Lumix S1R II is on the way soon.
What to expect at CES 2025
Canon
Canon's offerings at CES tend to be a little more… esoteric. Have a click through the YouTube playlist above to see what last year's booth looked like.
While there was a camera area, it was more like a museum than a showroom, and the company was focused more on things like AMLOS (its hybrid virtual meeting system), Free Viewpoint System (enabling you to take a virtual camera anywhere on a sports court or field), Kokomo (a VR tech that even I don't properly understand) and mixed reality applications.
So what are we likely to see this year? Well, while the Canon EOS R6 Mark III is apparently due in the next couple of months, I think we're going to see more esoterica (think the Matrix-style Bullet Time setup from 2021). But we're almost certainly going to see more of the VR, AR and MR gear in which Canon has invested so heavily.
Which means that we could see the much-teased two-in-one 360° and VR 8K PowerShot camera that I first saw in person at The Photography & Video Show last year…
Fujifilm
My best guess as to what Fujfilm might have on show in Vegas is the GFX Eterna medium format cinema camera. On the one hand it feels a bit niche for the show, given that pure cine cameras aren't really CES' thing, but then again it's a prestige product that you can put in a glass case and not let anybody touch – which is always guaranteed to generate interest.
I don't think the playground of the most advanced technology on the planet is necessarily the right place to launch an instant camera, but Fujifilm confirmed that it's planning to drop more Instax stuff this year – so maybe we'll get something wacky like the Instax Mini Pal…
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While there's a chance that we'll see one of the best mirrorless cameras appearing at the show, but my money is on new AI features being announced for the best photo editing software and the best video editing software.
