SmallRig Conference in Shenzhen Charts Imaging Industry's Shift From Devices to Scenarios

The conference theme was "Connection, Symbiosis, New Boundaries." It had a main venue and three parallel sessions: Imaging Scenario Talent·Future, Imaging Scenario Products·Cultural Creativity, and Imaging Scenario Technology·New Boundaries. Participants included imaging brands, technology companies, creators, cultural IP representatives, industry service providers, investment institutions, universities and research institutes, covering content production, product innovation, commercial validation and talent training.

The report selected 12 creation scenes for annual observation: life recording, instant livestreaming, intangible cultural heritage and folk customs, leisure sports, extreme sports, interest communities, performance scenes, story performance, micro short dramas, public welfare documentaries, ecological photography and special imaging. It identified four annual keywords: mobile movies, professional institutions moving downstream, universalization of creators, and AI imaging creation. It cited data showing that by the end of 2024, China had 1.62 billion short video creator accounts, with more than 130 million short videos uploaded daily. 36Kr Research's 2026 China Imaging Scenario Study said China's imaging hardware market would grow from 116.5 billion yuan in 2025 to 177.2 billion yuan in 2030, with peripheral equipment expected to grow 9.2 percent, faster than main devices. The report proposed "AI for efficiency, humans for warmth," arguing that as algorithms generate more realistic content, real experience, on-site judgment and creators' responsibility for results become scarcer. Zhou Zhichen, vice president of Caixin Media and chairman and producer of Caixin Creative, summarized the 12 scenes as different relationships between people and themselves, the present, culture, community, nature and boundaries.

Zhou Yang, founder and CEO of Leqi Innovation SmallRig, said at the event that the professional imaging market is overlapping with the mass imaging market, and the imaging scenario industry is entering its best era. He said technology and scenarios meeting each other are pushing shooting devices, equipment and software and hardware tools into a faster innovation cycle, drawing more production factors and innovation activities into the industry. He added that without major scenario development there would be no major industry development, without a large industry there would be no large companies, and without a major productivity explosion there would be no scaled value creation. According to the report, SmallRig has averaged about 30 percent annual growth over the past five years, helped by both its own innovation and the development of the broader imaging scenario industry.

Li Ge, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of the China Photographers Association, said in a written address that the digital intelligence era is moving artistic expression from an era of "writing" to an era of "shooting and viewing." The subjects of imaging creation are no longer limited to professional institutions; ordinary people's life scenes, aesthetic experience and desire to express are entering the industry's view. Li said the imaging industry is moving from a single growth model based on technological iteration, equipment renewal and market competition into a new growth cycle driven by scenario innovation, cross-border integration, ecological symbiosis and all-domain expansion. The key question is not only how much larger the existing market can become, but whether more cross-border subjects, new forces and innovative scenarios can be absorbed.

Zou Ping, dean of 36Kr Research, said national support for imaging and AI industries is shifting from giving plaques and titles to giving scenarios, orders and funds. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places have supported the implementation of generative AI services through computing power subsidies and one-time incentives after filing. She concluded that China's imaging industry is moving from a "battle of lenses" to a "battle of scenario ecosystems," and that imaging can become an important foundation for digital and intelligent transformation across industries.

At the main venue, representatives from Insta360, vivo, Sony, Nikon, Honor, Sigma, OBSBOT and Leqi Innovation SmallRig shared product paths including panoramic cameras, mobile imaging, professional equipment and AI automatic tracking. Blue Arrow Aerospace and Hypershell brought aerospace launch and exoskeleton scenarios into the discussion. The presentations pointed to a change: products no longer first have a fixed set of capabilities and then look for ways to use them; real scenes are entering the R&D and validation process earlier. A fourth roundtable, hosted by Liu Xiang, general manager of Visual China 500px, returned the topic to the front lines of creation. Around "how imaging content coexists with scenarios in the era of universal creation," representatives from film and television creation, news editing and art curation discussed a simple question: when imaging brings people to a place, the responsibility of a work does not end with traffic; creators must also answer for the real experience and long-term impact of the scene. The main venue's four roundtables reached a consensus that the vitality of imaging creation comes from scenarios, and only content innovation embedded in real scenes can build long-term value in the era of universal creation.

The three parallel sessions broke the main theme into more specific questions. The technology session, Imaging Scenario Technology·New Boundaries, discussed AI vision, intelligent tracking, robotics and innovative hardware, and the demand validation, supply chain organization and global market entry needed to move technology from concept to mass production. Xia Weiji, a partner at Langhan Technology, used AI hardware going overseas as an entry point to describe the role of overseas crowdfunding in product validation and global market entry. Xia said the value of overseas crowdfunding is no longer only financing; it also includes testing whether users are willing to pay, collecting product feedback, building early brand awareness and providing a basis for later channel expansion.

The product and cultural creativity session discussed how aesthetics and cultural expression affect product value from the perspectives of investment, art, industrial design and IP. It also launched the Co-creation Blind Box Lab, jointly built and operated by Leqi Innovation SmallRig and the Shenzhen Copyright Association, to place IP incubation, product co-creation, copyright protection and market promotion on the same platform. The talent and future session moved the question to the organizational level, discussing how universities, companies and research institutions can train interdisciplinary talent who understand technology, products and content. At the session, Leqi Innovation's Shenzhen postdoctoral innovation practice base was unveiled, with representatives from relevant Longhua District departments attending.

Zhou Yang said Leqi Innovation SmallRig will continue to connect users, industry partners and creators through openness and co-creation. It will open supply chain capabilities from concept validation, pilot testing, prototyping to mass production to R&D entities, support product validation, joint marketing and presales through its brand DTC platform, and connect innovative projects through an angel fund and an industry fund.

Editor's Summary

The third Global Imaging Scenario Industry Conference in Shenzhen brought together imaging brands, technology companies, creators, investors and universities to discuss how real-world scenarios are reshaping products and content. SmallRig released a TOP12 report on imaging scenarios and cited forecasts that China's imaging hardware market will reach 177.2 billion yuan by 2030, while speakers described a shift from device competition to scenario ecosystems. The event also launched a co-creation lab and a postdoctoral practice base, signaling more open collaboration across the industry.