Nikon has announced its purchase of RED Digital Cinema – makers of the legendary cinema cameras RED One and the Red Epic, which was used to shoot The Amazing Spider-Man, The Hobbit, Prometheus, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Great Gatsby as well as many other feature films.

RED Digital Cinema was founded in 2005 by Jim Jannard.

In the statement released by Nikon it reads, “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.

“Nikon will leverage this acquisition to expand the fast-growing professional digital cinema camera market, building on both companies’ business foundations and networks, promising an exciting future of product development that will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in film and video production.”

RED Digital Cinema, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nikon, released a similar statement, adding “The agreement with Nikon, reached with Red’s Founder Jim Jannard and President Jarred Land, signifies a new era of innovation and excellence in the professional filmmaking sector.

“This strategic partnership brings together Nikon’s extensive history and expertise in product development, know-how in image processing, as well as optical technology and user interface, with RED’s revolutionary digital cinema cameras and award-winning technologies.”

The Red Komodo 6K cine camera on a black background

The RED Komodo 6K cine camera features the Canon RF lens mount. Future RED cameras are more likely to feature Nikon’s Z-mount.  (Image credit: RED)

What can we expect in the future?

Nikon makes some of the best cameras you can buy. Recently, increasing video performance and image-quality in cameras such as the Z8. What we should watch for is Nikon’s ability to take advantage of the RED’s patented video codecs and color science, match it or develop it to fit some of their newer products, then hit the world with something completely remarkable.

Only time will tell, but this may be the beginning of something amazing.