Nikon, one of the most well-known and highly regarded players in the photography and optics world, is set to acquire RED Digital Cinema. While Nikon has continued to bolster the video features on its latest mirrorless cameras, the brand has yet to make any true digital cinema cameras. By acquiring RED, Nikon will now be able to expand into the digital cinema market.
This news is intriguing for many reasons. Nikon has been showing a growing interest in digital cinema production, with each new camera offering more and more "pro" features. The Z9, for example, brought with it 8K raw video recording, as well as ProRes. Plus, we had already seen the development of the N-Log gamma profile for advanced post-production workflows. By joining forces with RED, Nikon is now in a great position to deliver high-end digital cinema devices.
Combining Nikon and RED's respective expertise should result in some incredible new products in the coming years. Nikon has a storied history with quality optics, product development, and reliability, while RED is often at the forefront of innovation in the cinema space.
It will be interesting to see how the current product lines will evolve and change due to the acquisition. RED currently uses the Canon RF mount on recent releases like the V-RAPTOR and KOMODO, so while that won't change tomorrow, we can probably hope for additional compatibility with Nikon glass in the future. Perhaps this will result in completely new offerings that we haven't seen from either company before.
Digital cinema is a small but highly competitive industry and, with Nikon now seriously throwing its hat in the ring, it is poised to become even more exciting.
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