Today seems to be about buyouts. Just a few hours ago we shared a report that said Nikon has acquired Samsung’s NX camera technology.
Now, Phase One has announced it’s bought out Mamiya Digital Imaging, giving Phase One full control of all Mamiya assets, including camera and lens production facilities.
The two companies have a short, but tight-knit relationship. Since 2009, Phase One has owned 45% of Mamiya’s shares, an investment used to help develop and manufacture high-end medium format cameras and optics.
This complete acquisition paves the way for even further control over products, with the press release specifically mentioning improved optics as a focus.
Phase One Image Professor Niels V. Knudsen said in the press release, ’Phase One is now the only medium format camera company that has full internal control of all critical components in a world class imaging system.’
Considering almost all Phase One products are manufactured by Mamiya, not much should change in the short-term. But development and more precise control should make for better improvements down the road.
It’ll be interesting to see if Phase One decides to add better support for Mamiya cameras in its latest Capture One Pro 9 update. Considering a few Phase One and Mamiya cameras are almost identical but in name, it would only make sense now that Phase One owns Mamiya outright.
[via DPReview]
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