Nikon has had a hard time breaking into the mirrorless camera space, but now the company is rumored to have acquired Samsung’s camera technology to catapult itself into the market.
Nikon has acquired all of Samsung’s NX mirrorless camera technology and it could make a major announcement in January at CES 2016, Mirrorless Cameras reports. Supposedly some of the biggest acquisitions from the Korean imaging division included Samsung’s sensor technology, video capture and processing engine.
Samsung has shuttered its camera business in the UK due to declining demand, and it could be doing the same in the United States. If the rumors are true, Nikon’s purchase seems to tie in perfectly.
Multiple sources at Samsung have said Nikon plans to become Sony’s biggest competitor. In the last few years, Sony’s full-frame A7 camera lineup has started to nip at the toes of DSLR, and Nikon may be planning on introducing a mirrorless solution of its own.
Beyond full-frame cameras, the rumored purchase could help bolster or reinvent Nikon’s existing mirrorless cameras, including the J, V AW and S-series. One thing we’re personally hoping for is for Nikon to make new models with APS-C sensors without an annoying 2.7x crop factor.
It’s a change that could dramatically improve image quality and open up Nikon’s mirrorless system to many more lens choices of which Samsung has an extensive family of glass to support its NX cameras.
We asked Nikon and Samsung for comment, however, both companies declined to do so, noting they “do not comment on speculation or rumors.”
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