Epson mulls future digital camera launch

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tapesonthefloor

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The most important statement in this interview:

Clark claimed Epson is 'expert at commoditising a niche market and said the firm would re-enter the digital camera arena if it felt such a product was 'commercially viable'.
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Thanks for the new information.
 
Sony is non-mainstream? You must be kidding - it's a behemoth of consumer electronics.
 
The dollar has been in free fall with respect to the yen for some months, so there is no yen debacle... a dollar disaster for sure. Of course, this makes for a more expensive product in dollars. I bet the reception for the X100 has them thinking. They will want to see if it translates into sales.
 
bwcolor said:
The dollar has been in free fall with respect to the yen for some months, so there is no yen debacle... a dollar disaster for sure. Of course, this makes for a more expensive product in dollars. I bet the reception for the X100 has them thinking. They will want to see if it translates into sales.
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The yen's strength is the "yen debacle." Japan's economy depends heavily on exports, which suffer when their currency is strong.
 
behemoth it may be, but Sony is taking a beating these days on all fronts though.... televisions from Samsung... computers & music from Apple... Sony Ericsson is on the retreat as well. I have a feeling they sat too long on their laurels.
 
Eric L said:
behemoth it may be, but Sony is taking a beating these days on all fronts though.... televisions from Samsung... computers & music from Apple... Sony Ericsson is on the retreat as well. I have a feeling they sat too long on their laurels.
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Ran over their laurels with a Humvee is more like it. Sony has always produced good products, but they're not a company which respects their customers. I don't like them. Their products, yes. Them, no.

I hope for a digital rangefinder with a thumb lever to cock the shutter. I still don't know why Leica - the king of old school design - put an electric staple gun into the M8/M9 instead of a rewind lever.
 
Does anything stand in the way of building a non-RF mirrorless digital that accepts M lenses without an adapter?

Not that I think there's sufficient market to make such a thing profitable.
 
wgerrard said:
Does anything stand in the way of building a non-RF mirrorless digital that accepts M lenses without an adapter?

Not that I think there's sufficient market to make such a thing profitable.
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There must be respectable opportunities for someone willing to fill the current $1K-$7K gap in the marketplace.

There's a more than reasonable chance Ricoh will make a M mount sensor for their GXR modular camera.
Ricoh's UI and handling is very good, so I think they would make a far better job of such a hybrid than say Sony.

The down side is that it will probably be APS-C -still that's a better crop factor than µ4/3 and no worse than the RD-1.
 
Am I missing something here? I thought that Epson had decided against further involvement with a digital RF (and probably told Cosina the same thing).
Cosina/Fuji have in recent times produced or signalled a couple of really innovative cameras like the Fuji GF670, the Fuji GF670W and the now the Fuji X100. What exactly, will the X100 NOT do that you think a new Epson DRF would do, even if Cosina were willing to ditch Fuji in favour of Epson again or produce competing designs and brands alongside each other? Who's going to make a new DRF camera for Epson given their track record?
My take on it is that Epson have now realised they might have made a missed the boat and are trying to keep an option open with their "announcement" (which isn't an announcement at all, really).
My money says Epson will never produce a new DRF and that the Fuji X100 is the camera that Epson now wish they'd developed.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
...What exactly, will the X100 NOT do that you think a new Epson DRF would do, even if Cosina were willing to ditch Fuji in favour of Epson again or produce competing designs and brands alongside each other?
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Well, the X100 as introduced is a fixed lens camera. Pretty much eliminates the use of any M glass. An interchangeable lens version; especially in M mount, would be a whole different story.

My money says Epson will never produce a new DRF and that the Fuji X100 is the camera that Epson now wish they'd developed.
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Most people have felt that Epson was done with cameras but the leak/rumour/announcement mentioned in the first post suggests that they're at least thinking about something. Someday someone is going to produce an entry-level (read: affordable) M-mount digital camera and the first manufacturer to do so stands to sell a lot of cameras and make some decent money...
 
Michael Tyler said:
Ran over their laurels with a Humvee is more like it. Sony has always produced good products, but they're not a company which respects their customers. I don't like them. Their products, yes. Them, no.
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Sony? Once they were Sony, in times of "it's a Sony!", but then they became strangers, just "like no other" but this days it's not enough.
 
The so called Epson announcement was all over the place...more like a rambling by low level salesman caught short. Unless Epson is in receivership, something is always being looked at.

Fact is, Epson had long announced mass production of EVF panel...a state of the art 800 x 600 x RGB sequential, 1.44M dot equivalent unit. This panel was first being used in the Oly EP-1 EVF, and now in the X100. Why would Epson develop this component if not having some interest/knowledge in the market, directly or not?

Then Nikon president talked EVIL...and most believe Canon cannot be far behind.

In RFF, reactions to anything remotely resembles an old M were:
  • No RF, not interested...yet many embraced the X1.
  • No OVF, not interested...yet many embraced the the Oly EP or NEX.
  • No M-mount, not interested...but many are closet SLR users.
  • No interchangeable lens, not interested...but could only afford one lens...
With the introduction of M8/9..., M-lovers lust for one just because, but hated it because of the "let them eat cake" pricing...while denouncing the R-D1 and rejecting the notion that someone else could/might do better, in technology and/or pricing.

Cosina is undoubtedly bound by a time-termed non-compete clause in the subcontract building the R-D1 or various big Fuji RF's. However, such non-compete clauses cannot include all forms of imaging devices existing or not.

I looked at the X100 as the first conceptual breakthrough in a loooong time. The O/EVF finds the range, the view, displays datasets...without flopping mirror, momentary black-out, and other SLR traits so abhorred by RF aficionados.

If Epson were smart, a fresh look at all camera forms has to be happening, and starting from its own EVF panel, as would all other manufacturers...except perhaps Leica, who has its head firmly buried in the RF sand for half a century.
 
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