Nikon
Nikon Corporation
Nikon Corporation is a Japanese maker of optical and precision equipment whose businesses include cameras and lenses, semiconductor and flat-panel-display lithography systems, microscopes and ophthalmic imaging devices, industrial metrology, and metal additive manufacturing. It was founded in Tokyo on July 25, 1917, as Nippon Kogaku K.K. (Japan Optical Industries Co., Ltd.) to produce optical instruments and optical glass domestically, and took the name Nikon Corporation in 1988. Its headquarters moved to Nishi-Oi, Shinagawa, Tokyo, in 2024.
Nikon adopted NIKKOR as its camera lens brand in 1932 and released its first camera, the Nikon Model I, in 1948. The Nikon F SLR, introduced in 1959, stayed in production until 1973, and the D1 digital SLR followed in 1999. In 2018 Nikon introduced the Z mount with the Z 7 full-frame mirrorless camera.
In April 2024 Nikon acquired RED.com, LLC, the Californian maker of RED digital cinema cameras, which now operates as the wholly owned subsidiary RED Digital Cinema, Inc. Nikon describes its Z CINEMA series, which includes the ZR released in 2025, as developed in collaboration with RED.
- Founded
- 1917, Koishikawa (now Bunkyo), Tokyo, Japan
- Headquarters
- Nishi-Oi, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan — Global, Nikon Corporation
- Melville, New York, United States — Americas, Nikon Inc.
- Foothill Ranch, California, United States — Americas — Cinema, RED Digital Cinema, Inc.
- Amstelveen, Netherlands — Europe, Nikon Europe B.V.
- Parent Company
- NonePublicly traded (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7731)
- Subsidiaries
- RED Digital Cinema, Inc. — Professional digital cinema cameras (acquired 2024)
- Tochigi Nikon Corporation — Interchangeable camera lenses, microscope objectives and lithography optics
- Nikon SLM Solutions AG — Metal additive manufacturing (3D printing) systems
- Optos Plc — Ultra-widefield retinal imaging devices