Nikon buys Hollywood darling Red, maker of digital cinema cameras

Today Japanese camera behemoth Nikon announced that it's buying Red, maker of a series of Hollywood-beloved digital movie cameras. Red will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nikon once the deal is finalized.

This is a very interesting addition to Nikon's portfolio - for all of its brand recognition and general market share in the consumer and prosumer space, it didn't have anything nearing Red's penetration and prestige in the professional space, especially not for movie shooting. So this will propel Nikon straight into Hollywood.

On the other hand, we assume Red founder Jim Jannard and President Jarred Land will get a nice big paycheck from Nikon - the sum hasn't been disclosed, unfortunately.

Nikon says:

The 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.

The Japanese company also mentions Red's "industry-defining products" in the digital cinema camera space, its various contributions to the film industry, its Academy Award, and praises it for being "celebrated by directors and cinematographers worldwide for its commitment to innovation and image quality optimized for the highest levels of filmmaking and video production".

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