Epson Will Finally End Support for its More Than Two Decades Old Cameras

Epson is finally set to end support for its line of digital cameras next year. While it signals the end of an era, some of these still-supported cameras haven’t been seen on store shelves for more than 20 years.

The announcement comes from Epson’s Japanese support website, spotted by Digicame Info, and includes not just Epson’s line of digital cameras but also a selection of prints, scanners, and other similar devices from a bygone era. But perhaps most notable to photographers is the end-of-life timeline for service support for Epson’s line of digital cameras.

17 total cameras are listed on Epson’s website, including some that were released before the turn of the millennium such as the CP-800 — a 2.1-megapixel point-and-shoot originally launched in 1999 — as well as its predecessors the CP-100, 200, 500, 600, and 700Z. Some of these cameras are so old they predate the only western websites that dedicated coverage to them like DPReview and Imaging Resource.

Also on this list are Epson’s R-D1 series cameras — the R-D1, R-D1s, and R-D1xG. These cameras, while quite old as they were released in the early 2000s, are perhaps more known since in 2021, Epson found 30 unopened R-D1s cameras in a warehouse and offered them to fans of the brand instead of just throwing them away. The cameras still worked.

The R-D1 series was initially announced in 2004 and remained available to purchase as late as 2014. Epson later revealed that it had plans to continue the series but scrapped them late in the development cycle due to the company’s shrinking share of the digital camera market.

What most photographers might at first be surprised by is the sheer number of cameras that Epson had on the market through its history in digital camera manufacturing, but what is perhaps more fascinating is that the company technically still supports them. And while that is finally coming to an end, this announcement serves as a significant “heads up” since the end of support date is scheduled for March 31, 2024 — more than a year from the time of publication.

Technically, those lucky 30 photographers who were gifted those “new” R-D1s cameras in 2021 could and for the next year still can reach out directly to Epson for support, which showcases a dedication to customers that is downright unusual for any consumer technology manufacturer.

A full list of all products that will have service discontinued can be found on Epson’s website.

Image credits: Header photo by Rama, Creative Commons