Nikon is acquiring RED Digital Cinema, a company founded by Jim Jannard (Oakley founder) and known for digital cinema cameras including the RED One 4K and V-Raptor X. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed in Nikon’s press release. Outlined how RED will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the camera company.
Nikon hopes to use the deal to expand into the professional digital cinema camera market by leveraging RED’s “cine camera knowledge, including unique image compression technology and color science.” RED claims that its cameras have been used to shoot numerous major movies and TV shows, including several Marvel titles such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and captain marvelnature documentaries such as Earth Pulse 2and similar television programs squid game, Mindhunter, Peaky Blinders, and The Queen’s Strategy.
RED President Jarred Land announced the news on Instagram, posting a picture followed by the words “Hey hey hey…”
Founded in 2005, RED currently has approximately 220 employees and is headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California, according to a Nikon press release.
Rand shared the following in a press release posted on its Facebook page:
The acquisition marks a major milestone for Nikon, bringing together its rich heritage in professional and consumer imaging with RED’s innovative capabilities. Together, Nikon and RED are poised to redefine the professional digital cinema camera market, promising an exciting future of product development that will continue to push the boundaries of film and video production.
The acquisition comes less than a year after RED’s lawsuit against Nikon for infringement of its video compression patents was dismissed. RED sued Nikon in 2022, accusing it of copying its data compression technology in a firmware update for Nikon Z9 cameras. Nikon responded by challenging the legality of the RED patent, and the case was dismissed in April last year.
Although RED is best known for its digital cinema cameras, it tried to enter the smartphone market in 2018 with the release of the RED Hydrogen One. The phone had a holographic display and supported modular add-ons, but it failed so badly that it was discontinued after a year.