After so long as sworn rivals and an independent pirate spirit, RED have been sold to Nikon. I had to check the date when I saw the news. The possibilities that can now spring forth from this deal are very interesting, and I’ll look at these here… I’ll also get into whether Nikon thinks the timing is right, on the verge of an AI revolution, to buy a traditional cinema camera company. RED have previously had a close relationship with Canon and as the defender of a certain very successful RAW recording patent, it was a very rare sight to see RED enter a licensing agreement rather than litigation in court. But that is exactly what RED had with Canon, allowing Canon to offer a form of compressed RAW internal recording, while the Komodo got the Canon RF mount. Now it seems to me, that is all up in the air (or should it be… completely in the trash?) with Canon’s biggest rival Nikon purchasing RED. The billion dollar question is whether Nikon will close down Canon’s use of compressed RAW, or allow it to continue, or even license REDCODE to other Japanese camera companies. If they keep it exclusive, it spells trouble for Canon’s Cinema EOS ambitions. Either way, it’s hard to see Canon coming out of this well – they may well have to stump up hefty license fees to continue with Canon RAW internal recording, or license BRAW instead. I think it’s safe to say this...
Published By: EOSHD.com blog - Thursday, 7 March, 2024