Who takes the financial/ PR hit?

Bill58

Bill58

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With all the many, expensive warranty claims on the RD-1 all over the world, one has to wonder who (Epson or Cosina) takes the financial hit? Will either be able to eke out a profit from this fiasco? Have their market images irrepairably suffered too?

I wonder if both now wish they never began the endeavor in the first place?
 
For a company the size of Epson, making a loss on 10,000 or so R-D1s produced is hardly likely to be a big deal, and given that it is aimed squarely at a small niche market I doubt there will be any serious PR issues either. Besides which, for those who get a camera with no significant issues, there's not a lot to complain about, as long as it keeps on working at least...

Ian
 
endustry said:
Epson has no name in the digital camera manufacturing market and few people who buy their printers and office supplies even know what an R-D1 is. Canon's camera business is also a much smaller component of their overall company and, even though they have a lot of success with cameras, most of their money comes from selling office products, printers, etc. as well.
Click to expand...

The difference being that Canon uses its digital camera business to drive a positive brand perception...something I'm sad to say will likely never happen for Epson.
(I don't mean to imply that the R-D1 is not a good product, only that Epson's camera presence is very small and not going anywhere.)
 
I think it's unfortunate Epson did not get into this and keep it going, the RD1 is completely unique. It's the only digital camera that behaves like a film camera, I want mine to keep going for a long time.

Tim
 
It's a shame really. I think there's room for a sub-Leica digital rangefinder. It would have to sport a pretty nice spec and come in at less than half the price of the Leica product to make it though.
 
CV should consider making and marketing the R-D1 themselves. Put a 10MP Fuji sensor in it perhaps if Epson wants out totally. An updated R-D2 would be a cool thing. Heck call it the R-D8 ;-)

I don't think I've heard of an s/n above 0046xx yet, so maybe Epson never even made the promised 10K units.
 
It would be a great idea for mega-company, such as Samsung or Sony, who want to establish credibility in the high-end camera market, to buy the rights to the R-D1 and remarket it as a high end prestige camera.

It would make a lot of sense. With a price of around $1500 and a good service organization, it would be a huge hit, I think. The market is there.
 
Hold it...is the RD-1/1s officially out of production? People seem to be referring to the camera(s) in the past-tense here.


- Barrett
 
It's a current product as far as Epson's website is concerned, i.e. you can purchase it direct for the full retail price.

That said, I bet you Epson would entertain outsourcing the entire project. Even if going so meant taking a loss, it's an easy write-off for them and it might get them some more positive PR, especially if it's invisible to the customer until end of sale.
 
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