Nikon Jumps Into Pro Video Scene After Buying Red Digital Cinema

Nikon is jumping into the pro video scene by buying Red Digital Cinema, an ultra-high-end video camera company,

The Japanese corporation issued a press release where it said that "RED will become a wholly subsidiary of Nikon." The deal, which featured an undisclosed sum, comes as Nikon is typically more of a still-image camera company. It is looking to use Red to expand the fast-growing professional digital cinema camera market.

Nikon Buys Red Digital Cinema

Nikon, a Japanese camera company, has just bought Red Digital Cinema, an ultra-high-end video camera firm, in an effort to expand the market.
(Photo : Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

The founder of the Oakley sunglasses company, Jim Jannard, founded Red in 2005 and has since become a big player in digital film production. At the peak of its movie market share in 2016, more than 25% of the top 100 grossing domestic films were shot using Red cameras.

There are also plenty of high-profile YouTubers who use the company's products which means that there is still plenty of room for growth. During Red's early days, it was a pioneer in 4K digital filmmaking. However, since then, the competition has made its way to rival the company and there was also a time when Red made a terrible smartphone product, according to ArsTechnica.

In a statement, Jarred Land, Red's president, said that Nikon's acquisition of the company marks a significant milestone for the Japanese firm. It would meld the latter's rich heritage in professional and consumer imaging with Red's innovative prowess in the industry.

In his Facebook post, Land noted that together, Nikon and Red are set to redefine the professional digital cinema camera market. They promise to bring an exciting future of product development that will continue to innovate and push the boundaries of what is possible in film and video production.

The acquisition deal comes after the two companies have just finished suing each other a couple of years ago. Red has a wide-ranging patent that covers compressed RAW video and has been filing lawsuits over it. This affected Apple, Nikon, Kinefinity, and Sony.

Red has touted that its cameras have been used in the past to film numerous major movies and TV shows, including multiple Marvel productions such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Captain Marvel, said The Verge.

Expanding the Digital Cinema Camera Market

The lawsuit that Red filed against Nikon was in 2022 and was made because the Japanese company allegedly copied Red's data compression tech in a firmware update for Nikon's Z9 camera. In response, Nikon challenged the legitimacy of Red's patents and the case was later dismissed in April 2023.

Red had worked to develop a sensor that could rival the high-quality performance of DSLR cameras without compromising frame rate. The sensor's physical size was comparable to analog film and bridged the gap between digital and traditional film production.

The first results of the endeavor were showcased during the 2006 NAB Show. At the time, Jannard announced the Red One camera. It immediately captured the attention of the industry and was open for pre-orders.

The company further demonstrated the potential of the camera in 2007 with director Peter Jackson's short film "Crossing the Line." It was shot using the prototype Red One camera. It convinced director Steven Soderbergh to use Red technology to shoot his film "Che," marking a significant milestone in digital cinema, according to TechCrunch.