Nikon is bringing RED tech to its mirrorless cameras

Well, it’s not really much of a surprise. It was pretty much always going to be on the cards that it’d happen but now it’s sort of official. Nikon Yoshiaki Tokunari has said in a recent interview with that Nikon is planning to put its newly acquired RED tech inside future Nikon Z mirrorless cameras.

It makes sense. Why bother acquiring them if you’re not going to do that? This comes not too long after Nikon’s financial report, which shows that they bought RED for $85,000,000 and are planning to make Z mount RED cinema cameras.

Industry seeing signs of recovery

It’s no secret that Nikon’s been having a bit of a tough time for the last couple of decades. Ever since Sony burst onto the scene with its Alpha series cameras, and especially since they switched from DSLR/DSLT to mirrorless in 2010, Nikon’s sales have gone way down.

The industry as a whole has also seen a massive downward shift over the last 15 years or so in general, too, compounding Nikon’s issues. Smartphone development over about the same period has all but wiped out Nikon’s Coolpix series, along with almost every other point & shoot, too.

Even interchangeable lens systems have suffered as smartphone camera technology has developed. But Mr Tokunari says that things seem to be turning a corner and NIkon is seeing signs of recovery in interchangeable lens cameras.

Nikon President Yoshiaki Tokunari said in an interview that “video performance is required in recent years” regarding the company’s main camera business, and expressed his intention to expand market share by incorporating video technology from a US movie camera company that Nikon acquired this spring. Regarding recent sales trends, he said, “We are seeing signs of recovery in interchangeable lens cameras.” By region, he explained, “China has grown to the same level as Europe, and the growth rate is large in emerging countries such as South Asia.” Semiconductor exposure equipment, which Nikon and Canon handle, is an industrial machine that burns circuits onto silicon plates. Plans for new semiconductor factory construction across the country are a tailwind, and Tokunari expressed his enthusiasm for expanding sales, saying, “There are business opportunities.”

Yahoo Japan

What will Nikon mirrorless shooters get?

It’s unclear exactly which technology will be getting carried on over from RED to Nikon. Obviously, I think we’ll see more improvements to Nikon’s RAW formats now that Nikon owns the patents it was formerly accused of infringing upon.

But as well as raw video, it seems like Nikon might be considering making their own sensors. In the interview, Mr Tokunari mentions “semiconductor exposure equipment”, which Nikon (and Canon) both also make. These are tools for manufacturing chips.

While RED didn’t appear to manufacture their own sensors, they did design them – as does Nikon. And Nikon is the only one out of the three biggest camera companies to not make their own sensors. Canon makes their own, Sony makes their own. Nikon’s have been made by Sony, Toshiba, TowerJazz and others over the years.

Manufacturing their own sensors would potentially allow Nikon to compete at a higher level and not be forced to use Sony’s hand-me-down sensors. It also means they’d be able to take advantage of some of RED’s tech for increased dynamic range in future mirrorless cameras.

One thing that would be interesting to see, although I expect it probably won’t happen, is a modern modular mirrorless camera. Cinema cameras, particularly those from RED, are modular by nature. Nikon has made a few modular 35mm film SLRs in the past, like the Nikon F3, but we haven’t got a modular mirrorless camera – yet.

Whatever comes, it might help Nikon claw back some more of that market share. With Nikon, Canon and Sony now all making both photography cameras and cinema cameras, things are sure to get interesting over the next few years.

[via Yahoo Japan]