Am I mad?

Dralowid

Dralowid

Michael
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Jul 5, 2006
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Help!

I am on the verge of buying and R-D1. I have 21 mmCV, 35 2.8 Summaron, various 50's including Elmar M, an Elmarit M 90mm and 135 Tele Elmar.

I accept that 135mm may be a bit much but guess the 90 would be OK?

I've been using an M6ttl for years...will I enjoy the Epson or am I mad???

And before you ask there is no way I can justify to myself the cost of an M8/9 etc.

...and what is worse, all my lenses are chrome!

Comments and opinions gratefully received.

Michael
 
I've bought and sold four of them. I sold the last thinking if it broke I would have a $1600 paperweight on my hands and bought a Leica M9.

I miss the R-D1 and if I can get another good one cheap (around $600), I might buy another one.

The camera has a unique color signature, and in my opinion is more fun to use than the M9. Too bad it is not full frame.
 
Before I started reading these types of forums I would never have believed that people took mismatched lens colors seriously.

Ditto for camera straps, "red or black" dots, bags, leather cases, etc. etc.

It's like a bunch of teenage girls dressing their Barbie dolls.
 
I was always convinced that the crop factor would bother me on the RD-1 because it bothered me on my M8 when I had it. There's two points to consider here though ... the RD-1 is pretty decent at 1600 ISO which the M8 certainly wasn't and the Epson is a very nice handling camera and to me seems very intuative to shoot with which wasn't a shining quality of the Digital Leica for me.

Those lenses you have will be pretty good on the RD-1 where a 50mm becomes a 75mm portrait lens, the 35mm becomes a fairly normal 50mmm and your 21mm becomes a 32mm or there abouts. The 90mm would be stretching it a little because the camera does have a fairly short rangefinder base length ... though the 1:1 viewfinder helps here.

I've had numerous M's and the RD-1 is right up there with them IMO. The rangefinder is very good making the camera extremely quick to focus and the shutter is much quieter than any Bessa I've owned ... not much louder than my M2 in fact. Supposedly the rangefinder is a bit flakey and may require the odd adjustment but if your reasonably handy it's not hard to DIY. I'm a new RD-1 owner and I love the thing ... but we all have different priorities in a camera so try before you buy if it's at all possible. :)
 
I Love Film said:
Before I started reading these types of forums I would never have believed that people took mismatched lens colors seriously.

Ditto for camera straps, "red or black" dots, bags, leather cases, etc. etc.

It's like a bunch of teenage girls dressing their Barbie dolls.
Click to expand...

hey man, remember 'its better to look good than to feel good'!:)
 
The below $ 1000 I've seen were not in good shape. I have an R-D1 and an R-D1s and they were both mint when I bought them second-hand in Japan, respectively for $1600 and $ 1800. The R-D1 from Matsuiyatore/Ebay, and the R-D1-s through a camera service which is now managed by RFF's sponsor, www.japancamerahunter.com
 
Right. My silver collapsible 1957 Elmar looks so cool on my R-D1, that people sometimes can't stop staring.

And to the TO: No, you are not mad. The R-D1 is a very fine camera, which has much more character and style than the M9, which I also have. IQ is incredible given its age, colors are just wonderful. If it were FF and would have a higher resolution, the M9 would be gone in a blink.
 
Agree that Epson is crazy not to re-release the R-D1 with a larger sensor.

But then again Leica had major issues to overcome regarding vignetting etc. I understand it's a huge R&D sinkhole.
 
paradoxbox said:
Agree that Epson is crazy not to re-release the R-D1 with a larger sensor.

But then again Leica had major issues to overcome regarding vignetting etc. I understand it's a huge R&D sinkhole.
Click to expand...

We can always petition Cosina/ Epson to release a R-D2 with the Fuji XP1 sensor :D
 
Under $800, i have never seen but i'm sure it has happened. $950-1075 is a safe price for an R-D1 today, paying a bit more if its more minty. R-D1s command a slightly higher price, though, it adds no significant benefits so long as you upgrade your R-D1 firmware.

i think the R-D1 will suit your M6ttl quite nicely. The R-D1 has been a fellow companion to my m6 for a year now. the limitations are clear, but you just wont know what hte hype is until you try one
 
I don't think it would even need to be full frame. If the same camera had a sensor of the current generation that was comfortable up to 6400 ISO the slower wides that are available without selling your kids would be much more usable.

Imagine if Epson/Cosina did release a full frame version for $3000.00 ... add that to the current crop of toy digitals using M mount lenses via adapters and see what happens to the prices and availability of M mount glass!

I aplogise for the 'toy digitals' remark ... sort of! :D
 
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