• Nikon has announced that it has acquired 100 percent of RED’s shares.
• As the new owner of RED, Nikon now has a fleet of digital cinema cameras and proprietary REDCODE RAW Codec.
• The Japanese camera maker says the acquisition will allow it to expand the digital cinema camera market.

One can either work for years to build a business, establish a reputation and eventually find oneself with a seat at the big person’s table. Or, you can do what Nikon just did, and pay some money for a seat.

The Japanese camera maker announced today that it had acquired the makers of cinema cameras, and that “holographic” phone that failed, RED. You thought we’d forgotten about that phone. We’ll never forget it.

RED was established in 2005 and it has worked hard to make its cameras the first choice for cinematic productions. Cameras from RED have been used to film the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Squid Game and Peaky Blinders. Granted, these cameras will usually be used alongside other brands but being good enough to be placed in that bracket isn’t something to scoff at.

“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 wrote in a press release.

With RED under its wing, Nikon plans to expand the digital cinema camera market. That signals that even without a line of cinema cameras, Nikon is hoping to hit the ground running.

We are curious to see if future Nikon products feature influences for RED and vice versa.

Nikon is getting all of RED’s software and its proprietary REDCODE RAW Codec with this deal. Of course, the acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions so it could all come undone, unlikely as that may be.

We have to say this was a surprising announcement and we have to wonder how Sony, Canon and other camera makers feel on the back of this news.

The amount Nikon paid to acquire RED was not disclosed.