Red Digital Cinema
Red Digital Cinema is an American camera manufacturer specializing in digital cinematography headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California. The company became a subsidiary of Nikon in 2024.
Red has studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and has offices in London and Beijing, as well as a retail store in Hollywood. Additionally, Red has various authorized resellers and service centers worldwide. The company was founded by Jim Jannard in 2005 out of a side interest in digital photography, previously Jannard had founded the eyewear company Oakley which shares a similar industrial design language.
History
Red Digital Cinema was founded by Jim Jannard, who previously founded Oakley, Inc.. As a self-described "camera fanatic" owning over 1,000 models, Jannard started the company with the intent to deliver a affordable 4K digital cinema camera. Jannard dates the idea to a time when he bought a Sony HDR-FX1 video camera and learned that the files had to be converted with software from Lumiere HD and were not viewable on Mac OS. Lumiere HD's owner Frederic Lumiere collaborated with Jannard on developing an alternative and introduced him to Ted Schilowitz who became Red's first employee.The early team members engaged in undisclosed research on how to make a digital camera feasible for Hollywood productions. Part of the process involved using 4K resolution instead of 2K, which was most common at the time. Another technical hurdle was to achieve the focusing quality of DSLR cameras without sacrificing frame rate. Part of Red's solution to this problem was developing a sensor with a physical size comparable to that of analog film. At the 2006 NAB Show, Jannard announced that Red would build a 4K digital cinema camera, called the Red One, and began taking pre-orders.
In March 2007, director Peter Jackson completed a camera test of two prototype Red One cameras, which became the 12-minute World War I film Crossing the Line. On seeing the short film, director Steven Soderbergh told Jannard: "I am all in. I have to shoot with this." Soderbergh took two prototype Red Ones into the jungle to shoot his film Che. A short documentary, Che and the Digital Revolution, was made about the Red camera technology that was used in the film's production. The Red One first shipped in August 2007. One of the first television programs to shoot with it was the medical drama ER.
In 2010, Red acquired the historic Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood, and renamed it "Red Studios Hollywood". By 2011, it had over 400 employees. 2011 was also the year in which Panavision, Arri, and Aaton announced that they would no longer be producing analog cameras. Red Digital Cinema and the Red One were widely credited with accelerating this transition in the industry. Schilowitz responded by saying "It was never our goal to kill film. Instead, we wanted to evolve it."
In 2010, 5% of the top 100 grossing domestic films that were shot on digital video used Red cameras as their primary system. Their share increased to over 25% by 2016, but has declined since then.
On August 19, 2013, Jim Jannard announced his retirement from Red, leaving Jarred Land as president.
On March 7, 2024, Red Digital Cinema accepted a takeover of the company by Japanese camera equipment manufacturer Nikon Corporation for an undisclosed amount; this may be part of a growing interest of Nikon to expand into the digital cinema camera market. On April 12, 2024, Nikon announced that it had acquired 100% of the outstanding membership interests of Red Digital Cinema. Keiji Oishi, of Nikon's imaging business unit, assumed the role of CEO and Tommy Rios, the executive vice president of Red Digital Cinema, became co-CEO. Red's former president, Jarred Land, and James Jannard, Red's founder, remain as close advisors to the company.
On May 9, 2024, Nikon Corporation released their financial results report of the year ended March 31, 2024 and disclosed the amount paid, reported as "the deal of the century" in the camera industry: 13,167 million yen, approximately $87 million US dollars, which represents 1-2% within the Nikon Group Companies.
Cameras
Red One
The Red One first debuted in 2007 was Red Digital Cinema's first production camera. It captures up to 120 frames per second at 2K resolution and 60 frames per second at 4K resolution. Its "Mysterium" sensor was acquisitioned for use with the proprietary RAW format called Redcode. By 2010, Red began selling upgrades to a 14 megapixel sensor called the "M-X". The Red One has been reviewed as having effectively the same quality as 35 mm film. The Red One was made out of aluminum alloy, and the body alone weighs.It was used to shoot Che, The Informant, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In 2010, Red released the Red Epic, which was used to shoot The Amazing Spider-Man, The Hobbit, Prometheus, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Great Gatsby as well as many other feature films.
DSMC system
In 2009, Red began releasing new cameras with an updated form factor compared to the Red One. Designed to facilitate either still images or video, depending on the mounting setup, Red called the concept DSMC for "Digital Stills and Motion Capture". The first camera released for this system was Epic-X, a professional digital stills and motion-capture camera with interchangeable lens mounts. After this a new camera line called Scarlet was introduced that provided lower end specifications at a more affordable price. Initially equipped with a 5K imaging sensor, upgrades were later offered to a 6K sensor with higher dynamic range called the "".DSMC2 system
The DSMC2 family of cameras was introduced in 2015 as the new form factor for all cameras up to 2020. The Weapon 8K VV and Weapon 6K were the first two cameras announced within this line. They were followed by the Red Raven 4.5K and Scarlet-W 5K. Third-party capture formats, namely Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD, were made available for these cameras.In 2016, an 8K sensor called "Helium" was introduced with the two cameras Red Epic-W and Weapon 8K S35. In early January 2017, this was given the highest sensor score ever, 108, by the DxOMark website. Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was the first film to be released that was shot on the Weapon. The film was shot at the camera's full 8K resolution, and featured an equivalent workflow, supplanting director David Fincher's Gone Girl as the film with the highest-resolution post-production workflow.
DSMC3 System
In 2019, Jared Land from Red announced the Red Komodo Camera. In 2020, Red started to ship the "beta" stormtrooper white models of the Red Komodo to customers on the waitlist. The price for the beta cameras was US$6,995, with the regular black shipping models for US$5,995, body only. The Komodo camera features 6K video, super 35 sensor, a Canon RF lens mount, a dual BP battery plate, and a global shutter.In 2021, Red announced the Red V-Raptor camera, the current flagship model in Red's lineup of cameras, and the first camera that officially belongs to the DSMC3 family of cameras. Like the Komodo, the Red V-Raptor also has an active Canon RF lens mount, but unlike the Komodo, the V-Raptor is capable of multi-format recording.
The V-Raptor features a VistaVision 8K sensor with the ability to crop to smaller formats like Super35. It is capable of recording full sensor 8K at 120 FPS, and high frame rates of up to 600 FPS in 2K. With an advertised dynamic range of 17 stops. It was launched priced at US$24,500, body only. Red would later release the V-Raptor XL in 2022, featuring a larger body with an expanded range of ports, internal ND filter, additional aux power, interchangeable lens mount, among other features.
In November 2022, Red announced the V-Raptor Rhino, a limited edition version of the V-Raptor, but featuring an 8K Super35 sensor and a light grey color scheme. It was launched priced at US$19,500. In March 2023, the V-Raptor and V-Raptor XL S35 was launched. These cameras were identical to the previous V-Raptor and XL models and, like the V-Raptor Rhino, have Super35 sensors instead of the original VistaVision sensor.
In February 2025, the company released its first two cinema cameras using the Nikon Z-mount, the V-Raptor and the Komodo-X. On 9 September 2025, Red announced the V‑Raptor XE, also offering a Z-mount version besides the RF-mount variant.
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Other products
Lenses
Red has offered S35 PL mount prime and zoom lenses for their cameras.Primes
Zooms
Hydrogen One modular smartphone system
In 2017, Red announced their intentions to enter the smartphone market including planned features such as a 5.7" holographic display and integration with existing camera products. On May 18, 2018, Red announced the Hydrogen One, with a release date in August 2018. Promised features included a holographic display, spatial sound, compatibility with the Red camera program, the launch of a streaming service, and modular add-ons similar to the "Moto Mods" feature of Motorola's Moto Z. Especially the announced camera sensor module received attention, with Red founder Jannard claiming: "If you were shooting an 8K Weapon on set as your A camera, this could certainly be your B camera."On release, the smartphone was a critical disappointment and was even cited as a contender for the worst technology product of 2018, arising from outdated hardware and a lack of capabilities. Similarly, the phone was a commercial flop, and in 2019, promised modular add-ons vanished from Red's website, with Jannard announcing the company was "currently in the middle of radically changing the Hydrogen program". In late 2019, the company discontinued the product line.