Nikon, the renowned Japanese imaging company, is set to acquire RED Digital Cinema, a prominent manufacturer of cinema-grade cameras like the Red V-Raptor and Komodo. In this acquisition, RED will transition into a fully-owned subsidiary of Nikon.
For those unfamiliar, RED cinema cameras have consistently played a significant role in Hollywood productions. They have garnered a devoted fan base among leading directors and cinematographers globally due to their image quality, proprietary RAW compression technology, and other notable features.
“This agreement was reached as a result of the mutual desires of Nikon and RED to meet the customers’ needs and offer exceptional user experiences that exceed expectations, merging the strengths of both companies,” Nikon said on Thursday.
Nikon further notes that it is Nikon’s “expertise in product development, exceptional reliability, and know-how in image processing, as well as optical technology and user interface,” and RED’s “unique image compression technology and color science,” that will allow it to develop distinctive products in the cinema camera space.
To name a few, RED cameras have been used in the production of TV shows and movies such as Bollywood’s Tiger 3, Netflix’s ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Peaky Blinders,’ and Marvel’s ‘Captain Marvel,’ among others. Additionally, some of the most prominent YouTubers, including Marques Brownlee, widely known as MKBHD with approximately 18.5 million subscribers, prefer RED cameras for capturing their tech-related content.
This development is intriguing, particularly in light of the shared history between the two companies. In 2022, RED filed a lawsuit against Nikon, alleging that Nikon had violated its compression technology by replicating and implementing it in one of their professional-grade cameras through a software update. The lawsuit ended in 2023.
Established by Jim Jannard in 2005, RED.com LLC is headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California, USA.
