The Nikon ZR Was In Development Prior to RED Acquisition, But Enhanced Due to Partnership
The Nikon ZR had been in development for a few years and before the acquisition of RED Cinema in 2024. Still, Nikon used its new asset to enhance the camera, resulting in a model that is significantly more powerful and versatile than what was originally envisioned.
In an interview with PetaPixel at the IBC Show in Amsterdam last month, Hiroyuki Ikegami, Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Imaging Business Unit at Nikon, explained that the ZR had been in development prior to the acquisition of RED.
“We had begun prototype development with the intention of entering the creator market, particularly those aspiring to cinematic expression before acquisition,” he explains.
Given the size and design of the ZR, the influences of that target demographic are clear. Looking at other cameras in that segment like the Sony ZV-E1 and the Canon R50 V, the price and feature set of the ZR start to make a lot of sense. Even if it wasn’t packed with RED tech, it would have competed well in this segment. Arguably, the ZR would have been a very good alternative to the ZV-E1. But Nikon had grander ambitions.
“But immediately after acquiring RED, we started technology exchanges at top speed and leveraging each other’s competencies to develop the, for example, Z-Mount RED, which we launched in February and which led to the launch of the Z Cinema line. And ZR is one of those, these cinema lineup products, and we were able to implement R3D NE and cinema industry expertise in a timely manner. As a result, it has become a product that can be used as a B Cam or C Cam for RED professional shooting.”
Once Nikon injected its RED Cinema technology assets, assets it acquired for just $85M, the final leg of the design phase for the ZR took a camera that was going to compete well in the creator space and lifted it to a camera that could cross over into the professional cinema space, too.
What’s highly unusual is that Nikon doesn’t seem to have adjusted its pricing strategy for the camera despite the additional technology, which kept it in the range of the lower-end creator-level Sony ZV-E1 while making it capable of going toe-to-toe with both the FX3 and FX2 cinema cameras.
Nikon says it makes cameras with the intention of pricing them in such a way that more people can experience them, and the ZR is proof positive of that culture, since it had every opportunity (and rationale) to raise the asking price of the ZR, but did not.
Image credits: Nikon, header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
