Nikon To Acquire US Cinema Camera Manufacturer RED (nikon.com) 36
Nikon, in a press statement: Nikon hereby announces its entry into an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding membership interests of RED.com, LLC (RED) whereby RED will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nikon, pursuant to a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement with Mr. James Jannard, its founder, and Mr. Jarred Land, its current President, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions thereunder.
Since its establishment in 2005, RED has been at the forefront of digital cinema cameras, introducing industry-defining products such as the original RED ONE 4K to the cutting-edge V-RAPTOR [X] with its proprietary RAW compression technology. RED's contributions to the film industry have not only earned it an Academy Award but have also made it the camera of choice for numerous Hollywood productions, celebrated by directors and cinematographers worldwide for its commitment to innovation and image quality optimized for the highest levels of filmmaking and video production.
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's expertise in product development, exceptional reliability, and know-how in image processing, as well as optical technology and user interface along with RED's knowledge in cinema cameras, including unique image compression technology and color science, will enable the development of distinctive products in the professional digital cinema camera market.
Since its establishment in 2005, RED has been at the forefront of digital cinema cameras, introducing industry-defining products such as the original RED ONE 4K to the cutting-edge V-RAPTOR [X] with its proprietary RAW compression technology. RED's contributions to the film industry have not only earned it an Academy Award but have also made it the camera of choice for numerous Hollywood productions, celebrated by directors and cinematographers worldwide for its commitment to innovation and image quality optimized for the highest levels of filmmaking and video production.
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's expertise in product development, exceptional reliability, and know-how in image processing, as well as optical technology and user interface along with RED's knowledge in cinema cameras, including unique image compression technology and color science, will enable the development of distinctive products in the professional digital cinema camera market.
O.o (Score:4)
Land? (Score:2)
"Mr. Jarred Land, its current President"
That is an unusual name. The only other Land I heard of was Edwin Land, inventor of the Land camera, and founder of Polaroid.
But Edwin had no sons. Any relation?
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"Land" isn't that unusual of a name. According to the U.S. Census [census.gov], it was the 1704th most common last name in the USA in 2010 (the most recent census for which they have tabulated the data), with about 21,000 people having that name. It was about as common as Zhu, Irvin, Gagnon, Spivey, Patino, Marrero, Hager, or Lanier.
It doesn't sound that common, but last names have a very long tailed distribution in the US. The Census-provided list includes every name with at least 100 people, and it has more than
March 2024 - Red is dead (Score:2, Insightful)
Red has been a leader in so many technology and use cases. Nikon is Yet Another Japanese Camera Company (YAJCC) and contributes nothing to the ecosystem. This statement isthe DEATH OF RED and nothing more.
Nikon isn't "a bad actor" any more than any corporation is who purchases their rival and then fades the superior product into oblivion. However, they are the latest.
Red products are good. Nikon makes cheap crap. Figure out how this ends up on your own, or just watch the market (and I mean the sales ma
Re:March 2024 - Red is dead (Score:4, Insightful)
This got labelled a troll but Nikon buys all its sensors from Sony and has third-rate subject detection compared to Canon and Sony, which trade back and forth for superiority in that area. It's basically a lens company that hasn't given up on camera bodies yet in the way that Sigma has. There is some validity to the idea that it's a very pedestrian company. Maybe buying Red is its trip back to full relevancy, but I know a lot of enthusiasts who migrated to Sony or Canon when they went mirrorless and the only people I know are still on Nikon bodies have done so because Nikon is the system with the best overall selection of long zooms for wildlife photography or are still shooting on older SLR bodies.
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Red cameras crash frequently and aren't physically tough. They were first to market with digital cinema cameras, but Arri is better in just about every way now.
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Maybe this will be a good thing. Nikon needs cinema cameras that are on the Netflix approved list, and Nikon isn't on that list.
A Netflix approved camera is the difference between having a video approved, perhaps even bought, versus something ignored. The camera is critical, due to needing to have enough video resolution to handle everything from 4k on displays on down.
IMHO, my favorite cine cameras are Blackmagic, because they not just provide a strong bang for buck (Panasonic is the best), but provide t
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Panasonic definitely wins for video features overall but someone used to shooting on a contemporary hybrid mirrorless camera from another manufacturer will definitely have a "WTF is this?" moment for dealing with its contrast-based autofocus system.
I've never seen a Blackmagic camera in the wild, but I do have a couple Panasonic MFT cameras and every time I use one, I'm reminded that I have to be so much more deliberate in my shooting compared to the "point in vaguely the right direction" of my newer gear.
8k digital right now so where is 150 megapixels ? (Score:2)
great so they do 8k right now and figure thats enough sell out... where is the IMAX / 70 mm equivalent ?
Re:8k digital right now so where is 150 megapixels (Score:4, Informative)
Implying you need IMAX / 70mm equivalent? Firstly film doesn't directly translate to megapixels. The grain and quality vary greatly with lighting and exposure. Secondly at 150mpxl you start to have some serious problems with lenses. Not the glass, but the operation of the camera. You can see that in movies such as Oppenheimer where Nolan's masturbation over the 70mm film format has at best shown us just how frequently his camera operator missed critical focus creating a lovely distracting depth of field in the wrong place.
More megapixels != more better.
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Firstly film doesn't directly translate to megapixels. The grain and quality vary greatly with lighting and exposure.
It does, but that doesn't mean you can't make general comparisons in similar lighting conditions for a given film stock. For example, I was comfortable that my color film was broadly matched with 12MP FF, and my 35mm slide usage in good light was broadly matched when we got to 20+MP with the EOS 1DS III. YMMV.
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Implying you need IMAX / 70mm equivalent? Firstly film doesn't directly translate to megapixels. The grain and quality vary greatly with lighting and exposure. Secondly at 150mpxl you start to have some serious problems with lenses. Not the glass, but the operation of the camera. You can see that in movies such as Oppenheimer where Nolan's masturbation over the 70mm film format has at best shown us just how frequently his camera operator missed critical focus creating a lovely distracting depth of field in the wrong place.
More megapixels != more better.
How does this garbage get modded up? The cinematographer, Hoyte Van Hoytema has a rather impressive body of work. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm08... [imdb.com]
You're telling me he doesn't know how to do his job?
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How does this garbage get modded up? The cinematographer, Hoyte Van Hoytema has a rather impressive body of work. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm08... [imdb.com]
You're telling me he doesn't know how to do his job?
Not at all. He's great at what he does, and despite his expertise the ever increasing chase for quality is showing more and more of the flaws in people's work. Hoyte Van Hoytema remains a human being and he's not alone in his discipline. Makeup artists also suffer this. The higher the quality of the film the more you can spot errors that were previously masked. This isn't me saying this, they will all tell you this themselves.
Try and understand what people are saying before you call their posts garbage out
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Fuji and Hasselblad have "medium format" sensors that aren't crazy-exotic. You can get a 100MP GFX100 with a 44x33 sensor for about $6500, although it's primarily a still camera.
Beyond that, you really have to look at Arri, Sony and Red cine cameras for large format digital. Even then the digital output will be 4.5k to 8k, something you can also get on pretty mainstream Canon (R5), Sony (a1) and Nikon (z9) cameras.
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without global shutter....
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Calling 44x33 medium format is really a stretch though. Before digital, medium format generally meant at least 56x41.5, and full frame is 36x24. So those 100-megapixel sensors have a diagonal only 27% longer than a full frame sensor and medium format film is another 27% longer. IMAX uses a 70.4x52.5 frame which is a further 26% longer on the diagonal.
So the patent disputes are now resolved? (Score:3)
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> including unique image compression technology and color scienc
Reading between the lines this was purely a patent acquisition.
That is not substantially advancing the arts and sciences - total shakedown scam at this point.
Somebody said that a 2023 Sony Alpha has as good dynamic range and resolution as a $200K RED camera did when it was revolutionary.
It sounds like RED's market advantage had evaporated with the march of progresss?
Hopefully Nikon will do the right thing and donate the patents to a pool rat
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As I understand it, the best you'll get out of a prosumer body like a Sony a1 or Canon R5 is 14 stops of dynamic range, while the state of the art for cine cameras is more like 18 stops. 14 stops is still pretty insane, but cine cameras have continued to improve as well.
You also have to consider that the big boys use sensors that deliver uncompressed 444 chroma subsampling while consumer mirrorless cameras generally only offer 422.
Even a "crappy" secondhand $10000 Arri Alexa FHD camera is going to have tha
Hmmmm (Score:2)
Not happy about this. Nikon make great lenses, but I've not been impressed with their digital cameras. I was a Nikon fanboi in the film days, but not so much in the digital realm.
Perhaps this is an effort to regain market share. RED's products are great, but I'm skeptical about the future under Nikon.
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Nikon is buying acceleration here. They have been very laggard in the move to mirrorless format, with the likes of Fujifilm and Olympus driving most innovation. They are trying to play catch up in some key technology areas and spending money here is one option. I doubt you'd need to worry about RED. This isn't a merger for customers, it's a merger for technology and R&D. I suspect RED will keep being run as its own partially autonomous business unit.
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Nikon ... have been very laggard in the move to mirrorless format, with the likes of Fujifilm and Olympus driving most innovation.
Shame then that the camera division of Olympus went bust and they make cameras no longer. Their factories and existing designs were taken over in 2021 by Japan Industrial Partners, a finance company with many interests who use the name OM Digital Solutions for the camera division. What OMD holds for the future of that camera business, no-one knows.
In fact, Sony started the move to mirrorless cameras, which cost less to make than DSLRs because they do not have have the mirror mechanism or pentaprism : th
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In fact, Sony started the move to mirrorless cameras
Err no, your history is completely off. In fact Sony only beat Nikon's announcement into entering the mirrorless market with the Nikon 1 system by a matter of months. The difference between them is that the Nikon 1 was rubbish and incidentally so was Sony's RX format for mirrorless.
The first micro 4/3rds came from Panasonic and was followed shortly after by the Olympus PEN which actually popularised the format. It would be another 2 years after that before Nikon or Sony even consider mirrorless cameras, and
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I doubt you'd need to worry about RED. This isn't a merger for customers, it's a merger for technology and R&D. I suspect RED will keep being run as its own partially autonomous business unit.
Modern business doesn't work that way. Once Nikon has the IP they need the rest will get sold off. One less competitor in the market.
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RED wasn't competing with Nikon. And you're describing a typical process for merger for customers. By saying that everything is the same and bundling everything under "modern business" you're clearly demonstrating you have no idea what you're talking about.
Re:Hmmmm (Score:4, Interesting)
Nikon got itself into almost irrelevance.
In the "early" youtube era, "pro" creators were using Canon as it had far better suport for video than Nikon. Sony saw the writing on the wall and pivoted their Alpha line to focus more on video. TBF, Sony had far more experience in video than in photography. Practically everything you've seen on broadcast TV passed through some sort of Sony device at some point. They had to buy Minolta to get into the serious camera business. Then they took their video and cine expertise and put it on small consumer cameras.
This year I got myself a Sony system (a6700) after a decade with Nikon. I won't be selling my Nikon gear anytime soon but I have to admit Sony mirrorless is a different experience.
If Nikon can catch up with Sony for video it'll be interesting. But it will take at least 5 years so i'm not holding my breath.
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> I won't be selling my Nikon gear anytime soon but I have to admit Sony mirrorless is a different experience.
A different experience than Nikon Z? Or in what sense?
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A different experience than Nikon F.
I didn't buy into Nikon Z as I have no need for it. I did but into Sony Mirrorless because I wanted the video features, which I know Sony has but Nikon "may or may not"
Camera of choice? (Score:2)
I'd say not so much. I work in the post production side of the business and from my anecdotal experience we don't see much material shot on RED anymore compared to Sony or Arri.
Nikon RIP (Score:2)
Nikon is coming in last among the big 3 in still cameras, not to mention all 3 losing to cell phones. Apparently, they see the writing on the wall and have decided that they can do better in cinema. Of course, Nikon has lots of industrial optical products, but consumer and professional photography is currently a loser for them.
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but consumer and professional photography is currently a loser for them.
It's a loser that makes 57billion yen annually. Not being the biggest doesn't make you a loser. This isn't the Olympics. There's not one gold medallion to be handed out, rather millions of little golden coins.