EduPortas

Really interesting stuff from the inside in this interview with Jarred Land. As everyone can see, Nikon and RED have tremendously different working cultures. This only confirms my suspicion Nikon will slowly dismantle the RED brand and absorb them organically

Possibly, but he's seeing first-hand the HUGE shakeup in RED and he decided to cut ties before the sheet hit the fan. That in itself speaks volumes about the new Japanese work-culture that will be enforced sooner rather than later. It's Nikon we're talking about. One of the most, if not THE most, hierarchical imaging company out there.

Yep, the future will bring really interesting things to the video world. Hopefully, with less expensive gear.

They bought RED bc of their tech, not their brand recognition. And the whole lawsuit entanglement, obviously. I HIGHLY doubt they will juggle the Nikon brand with all its complexity AND a cinema line of cameras. That won't look right to investors. Nikon has been ruthless the last couple of years in trimming the fat. They finally made some gains bc the pushed new consumers upstream with the Z-Line. No way they'll let competitors (Canon in particular) use a Red camera with a Canon lens now. That's out the window ASAP. On the contrary: they'll fortify the Z-Line and keep new customers there. It's all about the Z-Line and a new video branch in that ecosystem.

Not likely. Japanese companies are famous for their anti-gaijin philosophy. They don't like foreign company work-cultures. It's not their style of business. RED has some good products but Nikon will always see them as a "lesser" brand, not comparable in pedigree to them or Canon. Give it a two years and they'll dismantle the entire thing or suffer administrative chaos. They'll dump 99.9% of the work force in RED once they show them their big-brain stuff. After that, it's one cut after another to keep their stockholders happy and fortify the Nikon--not RED--brand.

RED wil be integrated and the brand will disappear, friend. Don't be gullible. That's how Japanese companies go about these things. You may like it no, but that's the way it works. NIKON just fortified their brand with some cool video features. They don't NEED Red. Don't believe me? The Chief Design Officer at RED for 18 years just resigned. He knows practically everyone will be let go once Nikon absorbs their tech-savvy and slowly let the RED brand rot. https://www.newsshooter.com/2024/04/16/matthew-tremblay-chief-design-officer-red-digital-cinema-resigns/ As I said, Nikon has a long history as a brand and wants to capitalize on a new market (deep pocket influencers and some cinema buffs).

The plot thickens, my friends. Some Nikon excecs spoke to PetaPixel: https://petapixel.com/2024/04/15/red-will-continue-to-support-canon-rf-but-nikon-is-considering-making-cine-optics/ In summary, they don't see themselves releasing a Nikon Z-mount RED camera in the near future. So the writing is on the wall, IMO. This all but assures they will slowly let RED cinema line dwindle away and introduce new gear with their Z-Mount the tech they adquiered from RED.

Yes, that's true. However RED has been a minor player in the high-stakes Hollywood cinema production for some time. ARRI and Sony seem have an iron fist on that market. If were a Nikon exec I'd forget the Hollywood market altogether and focus 100% on the influencer kids with some new devices to make the brand cool again and throw a bone to the diehard photogs with new and improved video features in their MILCs.

Yep, but there's some precedent. Canon made a serious attempt at these pros with the C-Line. It's trying to do so and seems profitable. But the REAL market is the digital crowd using pro-equipment but posting their content exclusively on social media. Nikon wants a piece of that delicious pie. Their new products could be very un-camera like and cater to this new video market and maybe they'll even catch one or two pros in the process.

That seems possible to the very niche video guys, but I highly doubt it. Again, it's a cultural thing. Neither Canon nor Nikon are big supporters of fragmentation. They are vertical and hierarchy plays a BIG role.

Guess only time will tell, friend. I agree that Red has brand recognition, but only with a very specific subset of the imaging crowd. Nikon has A LOT more recognition from almost everybody, from the absolure noob to the hard-core pro. And, let's be honest, Nikon was already hitting home runs with their new lenses and video features with pro-photogs. Now they WILL go full-hog with the video guys. That's the new slice of the imaging pie. Integrate, fortify the brand (Nikon) and capitalize on a new growing market. Hence, my original snarky comment about Red's Dead with no sight of Redemption.

You said it man, Nikon N3 and N30 are practically a given. That's would place them in a very attractive position for these new "professional content creators".

Red's dead, bro. I highly doubt they will ever release ANY new camera. Japanese companies don't operate that way. Maybe not now, but soon enough they will start to slim the American arm until everything is 100% integrated in the new and profitable Nikon N-Line.

I think the only thing that's more or less certain is that Nikon will try to move user upstream and pay MORE for the privilege to use de RED Codec. I don't see them including this tech in their lower-end MILCs. Time to pay up.

It's safe to asume photography has taken a back-seat to video. Yeah yeah ppl take lots of (crappy) photos each day, but the real growth is basically in video: TikTok, Instagram reels, Twitch and YouTube. Those are videocentric social media platforms that people have embraced and nothing seems to be able to stop them. I think Nikon will aggresively try to capture this market with new N-Line devices. We're talking amateur and pro-gear with high-quality codecs and lenses. These devices will NOT be designed in the mold of photographic cameras of Nikon. They will be an entirely new line that will merit a new badge like the C-Line cameras from Canon. Video gear for a video centered world. In about a year we'll see the first Nikon N-Line camera.