Nexus G1 Update – CINAF Autofocus for Any Lens, U-Mount Now Standard, Production Nears Final Stretch

According to the team, finding manufacturing partners capable of meeting their quality requirements took longer than expected, but productionization is now progressing well. The scale of the challenge is considerable for a small company: the Nexus G1 consists of almost 200 unique parts, most of them custom-designed, requiring over 20 distinct manufacturing techniques. To manage this without a large workforce, the team built its own internal systems for engineering documentation, quality control, and inventory management, while many parts went through multiple iterations of samples and design refinements.

One concrete engineering change came out of longer-term testing. The Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) coating on the camera’s magnesium alloy parts showed exceptional corrosion and wear resistance, but its extremely hard ceramic structure proved prone to micro-chipping on impact with hard objects. Nexus has therefore switched to a hybrid, multilayer PEO and polymer coating that combines chip resistance with the corrosion and wear resistance of the original process.

The headline feature of this update is CINAF, short for Cinematic, Intelligent, Natural Autofocus. Rather than relying on image analysis alone, CINAF fuses machine vision, high-density matrix LiDAR, inertial sensing, calibrated lens data, and real-time optical refinement to determine the subject, its actual physical distance, and the movement of the camera itself.

This sensor-fusion approach has some interesting practical consequences. Because the system uses sensor fusion to understand physical distance rather than relying on image analysis alone, it can maintain focus on a subject that leaves the frame and continue operating in total darkness. Nexus says the goal is deliberate, predictable, and naturally cinematic focus transitions, combined with continuous subject tracking that remains easy to use.

The system offers 76,800 focus points and can track and switch between up to five faces, follow a custom object within a selected region, or hold focus on any user-defined region. Nexus positions CINAF primarily as a tool for solo shooters and small crews working without a dedicated focus puller, while stressing that it also integrates into conventional professional focus-pulling workflows.

The claim that stands out most: CINAF works with any lens, meaning that every lens attached to the camera, whether electronic or manual, is automatically identified, and the camera applies the matching lens profile. Focus is then driven either through the lens’s internal motor or through an external FIZ motor for manual glass. Nexus name-checks a range spanning from a vintage Helios 44-2 through Sony G Master lenses up to Panavision Ultra Vista anamorphics: attach the lens, and CINAF is supposed to just work.

Autofocusing manual cinema and vintage lenses via external FIZ motors is territory that dedicated LiDAR focus systems have explored before, but building it natively into the camera body, with automatic lens identification and profiles, would remove a lot of the usual setup friction. Nexus says it will keep advancing CINAF with improved focus algorithms and additional creative controls over time. As with all autofocus claims, we look forward to testing how it performs in real-world conditions.

The second announcement concerns the lens mount. The Nexus U-Mount, the more advanced and universal evolution of the company’s original AutoLock system, will now be included as standard with every Nexus G1 instead of being sold as an optional extra.

U-Mount uses interchangeable lens mount modules with one-click operation, automatic positive locking, and push-button release, so switching between EF, E, MFT, L, PL, and other lens ecosystems requires no tools. Combined with CINAF, this turns the Nexus G1 into a notably flexible lens platform: modern electronic lenses, vintage photographic lenses, cinema glass, and anamorphic optics can all be used on the same body, with subject-tracking autofocus and FIZ control across the range.

Nexus openly acknowledges the Nexus G1 has taken longer to reach production than originally planned, with the team reporting it has been working seven days a week to get cameras shipped. Production components are currently moving through manufacturing, finishing, and validation as hardware and software come together for final validation. The company says the next update will bring final shipping dates and a demonstration of the finished camera, including CINAF and the E-ND system in action.