Nature Photonics@NaturePhotonicsOptics industryAI score4949

New paper online: lattice light-sheet activation structured illumination super-resolution microscopy. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-026-02019-6

Dynamic Scattering Method Suppresses Speckle Noise and Aberrations in OCT Imaging

Researchers propose using dynamic scattering to control speckle noise and aberrations in optical coherence tomography (OCT). Speckle arises from spatially coherent light; removing coherence eliminates speckle but also sacrifices the interferometric imaging capability that OCT relies on. The method strikes a balance between the two to improve detail in high-resolution imaging.

Optogenetic Therapy Partially Restores Vision in Early Clinical Study

Optics & Photonics News reports that an early clinical study showed optogenetic therapy can partially restore vision in patients with severe vision loss. Most adverse events were mild to moderate, with only one transient severe event after injection that resolved within minutes. First author Jose-Alain Sahel of the University of Pittsburgh said the results show that the visual system retains the ability to process new information even in people with severe blindness.

Siloton Wins GBP 8.4 Million Innovate UK Contract for Handheld OCT Eye Imaging

Medical optical imaging company Siloton has received a contract worth about GBP 8.4 million (USD 11 million) from Innovate UK to accelerate development of its handheld eye imaging system, enabling easier detection and monitoring of eye diseases.

Siloton Secures GBP 8.4 Million from Innovate UK to Advance GiraffeOCT into Clinical Use

Siloton will receive GBP 8.4 million in funding from Innovate UK over two years to advance GiraffeOCT, an OCT technology based on quantum photonic integrated circuits, toward clinical use. The funding is expected to shorten the development timeline by about two years.

iPhone Duo boosts under-display cameras; Red Magic to launch ninth-generation solution

Under-display cameras are back in the spotlight after the unveiling of Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. Red Magic has also announced ninth-generation under-display camera technology, continuing with a true full-screen design. The article reviews how most makers returned to punch-hole designs after under-display cameras entered mass production six years ago.

VISION 2026 Machine Vision Show Draws Record Exhibitors and Over 9,000 Visitors

The 32nd VISION machine vision trade show, organized by Messe Stuttgart, took place in Stuttgart last week, attracting more than 9,000 professional visitors, up 14% from 2024. The event drew a record number of exhibitors and presented the VISION Start-Up Award.

Nature Photonics@NaturePhotonicsOptics industryAI score4848

New article online: Dangling-bond-free, chemically anisotropic semiconductors for ultrahigh-resolution X-ray imaging. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-026-02013-y

Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Support Precision Agriculture

A Laser Focus World article describes how photonics provides new measurement tools for agriculture, including monitoring crop conditions, assessing food quality and controlling plant growth.

Smartphone Market Battle Royale: The Imaging War Keeps Escalating

Smartphone makers have entered another intensive product launch cycle, with larger sensors, longer telephoto reach, stronger stabilization and computational photography remaining key launch highlights. The article argues that as performance and displays mature, imaging remains the core battleground for differentiation and winning premium users.

Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max Review: Strong Imaging, HarmonyOS Ecosystem the Highlight

Lei Technology reviewed the Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max. The phone features a new Kirin processor, a brighter display, and the Ruiying Z10 10x zoom module camera H1, with a starting price of CNY 9,499. The review found its imaging performance outstanding and the HarmonyOS ecosystem to be the highlight.

iPhone 18 Pro Max Shoots Victoria Harbour Fireworks: Apple's Imaging Approach Shifts

After shooting Victoria Harbour fireworks with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, Leikeji concluded that Apple adjusted its imaging approach on the 18 Pro series launched on September 10, making the camera capabilities worth attention.

SF-PULSE Lensless Imaging Enables Stain-Free Long-Term Monitoring of Living Cells

Researchers have proposed the SF-PULSE lensless imaging method, which can monitor living cells over long periods without staining, and successfully imaged and reconstructed glioblastoma cells.

O-Film Exclusively Supplies Main Cameras and 200-Megapixel Periscope Telephoto Modules for Huawei Pura 90 Pro Series

According to reports, O-Film is the core optical supplier for the Huawei Pura 90 Pro and Pro Max, exclusively supplying the main camera and 200-megapixel periscope telephoto modules for both models. The Pro Max's external telephoto system is also supplied by O-Film, which has invested in dedicated equipment and restarted process validation for the project.

Frequency Combs and Deep Learning Enable Fast, High-Fidelity Ghost Imaging

Ghost imaging replaces pixelated sensors with correlation measurements between structured illumination and a single-pixel detector. Researchers combined an optical frequency comb with deep learning to achieve faster ghost imaging with higher fidelity.

Spatiotemporally Resolved Terahertz Emission Nanoscopy Images Spintronic Photocurrents

A paper in Light: Science & Applications uses spatiotemporally resolved terahertz emission nanoscopy to observe ultrafast charge and spin currents in spintronic devices, offering detailed insight for next-generation technologies such as high-efficiency solar cells.

Ultrashort Laser Pulse Microscope Maps Electron Interactions in Thin Materials

A paper in Optica reports a wide-field coherent multidimensional spectroscopy microscope (2DESM) that uses ultrashort laser pulses to map the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of electron interactions in thin materials.

HMI, a spaceborne high-precision greenhouse gas imager developed by AIOFM, returns first on-orbit data

The spaceborne High-precision Main Greenhouse gas Imaging instrument (HMI) aboard the Pujiang-4 satellite began imaging on September 27 and downlinked its first data. The developer team led by Xiong Wei at the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM) performed a preliminary assessment and found that the payload's functions and performance met design requirements. HMI uses an information modulation technique combining spatial imaging and spectral interferometry, acquiring hyperspectral data in a 520 km orbit with a 30 km swath, spatial resolution better than 400 m, and spectral resolution better than 0.125 nm. From the first data, the team preliminarily estimated the methane emission rate of the Bogatyr open-pit mine in Kazakhstan at about 27.52±1.70 tons per hour.

photonicSENS Wins 2026 VISION Award for Light Field Camera

photonicSENS received the VISION Award at VISION 2026 in Stuttgart for its plenoptic camera, which captures a full 2D image and metric depth information simultaneously.

TPL Vision Acquires Drew Lear Technology Intellectual Property

Machine vision LED lighting maker TPL Vision has acquired the intellectual property of Drew Lear Technology's DRX and DLX product platforms.

Giant Fluctuations of Focused Light Reveal Hidden Correlations in Opaque Materials

A Nature Communications paper uses wavefront shaping to focus light through a scattering medium onto multiple target points, revealing giant fluctuations in focused intensity and using them to uncover hidden correlations in opaque materials.

ICTER: Letting light pass through milk, controlled scattering improves optical imaging

ICTER researchers show that acquiring and combining multiple measurements while altering how light scatters can reduce speckle noise and distortion in optical imaging.

Laser-generated muon beam images a dense object for the first time

A research team used a laser to generate an artificial particle beam dominated by muons and captured the first shadow image of a stack of lead bricks, offering muon imaging a more controllable source than cosmic rays.

Huawei Enters External Optics with Ruiying Z10 Modular Camera on Mate 90 Series

Huawei announced on September 29 that the Mate 90 series will launch on October 1, and showed the Huawei Ruiying Z10 modular camera in a teaser video, marking Huawei's entry into the external optics market for mobile imaging.

Huawei to Launch Ruiying Z10 10x Zoom Module Camera with Built-In 1-Inch CMOS

According to leaks, the Huawei Mate 90 Pro Max Collector's Edition will offer an external Ruiying Z10 10x zoom module camera featuring a 1-inch sensor and a 10x optical zoom lens, with a physical focal length of 9.1-91mm and an aperture of F2.0-F4.5, equivalent to 24-240mm. It has its own CMOS, zoom and focusing mechanisms and attaches via magnets plus contacts.

O-Film Wins Xiaomi Flagship Periscope Telephoto Module Orders for Two Consecutive Generations

Xiaomi launched the 18 Pro series on September 23, featuring a Leica optical triple-camera system with 200-megapixel main and periscope telephoto cameras. The periscope telephoto captures up to nearly 280% more light than the previous generation. The key periscope telephoto module is supplied by O-Film and uses an inner-focus design; O-Film also supplied the previous Xiaomi 17 Pro series.

IDC: DJI and Insta360 Together Claim 93% of Global Handheld Smart Camera Market

An IDC report shows that global handheld smart camera shipments exceeded 5.88 million units in the second quarter of 2026, up 57% year on year, with sales nearing RMB 15.7 billion, up 50% year on year. DJI and Insta360 together held a 93% share. IDC expects shipments to approach 41 million units by 2030.

Bangqizhou Technology Named Silver-Level Outstanding Supplier by North Night Vision Group

Hangzhou Bangqizhou Technology, a company incubated by the Hangzhou Institute of Optics and Mechanics, was named a 2025 Silver-Level Outstanding Supplier by North Night Vision Technology Research Institute Group.

Niantic Spatial Signs Visual Positioning System MOU with Singapore Land Authority

Niantic Spatial and the Singapore Land Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the technical feasibility of building Singapore's first national-scale Visual Positioning System (VPS).

200 Million Yuan High-Precision Smart Optical Camera Structural Components Project Lands in Lianzhou

Foshan Hui'an Digital Technology and the Lianzhou municipal government signed an investment agreement for a high-precision smart optical camera structural components project in Lianzhou, with a total investment of 200 million yuan.

The Post-GoPro Era: Smart Imaging's Three-Way Battle Becomes a Two-Horse Race

In September 2026, GoPro was acquired for $285 million by an optical communications company, down from a peak market value of about $13 billion. Using GoPro's rise and fall as a lens, the article examines the smart imaging market now dominated by DJI and Insta360.

Insta360 Shares Fall Below RMB 100, Standing at a New Valuation Starting Point

Insta360 shares have fallen from RMB 377 to about RMB 100. Revenue for the first half of 2026 reached RMB 5.517 billion, up 50.29% year on year, while net profit attributable to shareholders was only RMB 30.4073 million, down about 90% year on year.

Insta360 Invests One-Fifth of Revenue in R&D

Insta360 posted revenue of RMB 5.5 billion and profit of RMB 30.4 million in the first half, with about one-fifth of revenue invested in R&D, the main reason for the profit decline.

Why Strong Sales of Insta360's New Products Are Not Translating into Profit

New products such as Insta360 Luna and X6 posted strong debut sales, but the volume failed to convert into profit.

Insta360's Selling Expenses Rise 61%, Outpacing Revenue

Insta360 posted first-half revenue of 5.517 billion yuan, up 50.29% year on year, but selling expenses rose 61% and profit fell sharply.

Insta360 Shares Fall Below 100 Yuan as Market Reassesses

On September 9, Insta360's share price fell below 100 yuan, prompting investors to question the reasons behind its sustained decline.

Insta360's 'Yellow Bag' Marketing Draws Crowds at IFA

Insta360 drew attention at IFA 2026 in Berlin with a marketing campaign featuring yellow tote bags.

Is Insta360 Still Overvalued?

Insta360's share price has fallen more than 70% from its peak. Comparing it with Anker and others, the article argues the valuation remains high and that lock-up expiration selling pressure has yet to fully unwind.

Insta360 Revenue Surges but Profit Plunges; Earnings Forecast Cut

Insta360 posted its weakest half-year profit in years, with its share price down more than 50 percent year to date.

DJI, Insta360 and Hohem Steal the Show in Imaging at IFA

Chinese imaging companies DJI, Insta360 and Hohem were in the spotlight at IFA 2026, while Canon and Sony had a lower profile.