Calling all R-D1 Owners, Survey for Article

S

Sean Reid

Guest
I'm working on a article about how the Epson R-D1 has performed long term. I'll be writing from my experience with two bodies but want to also include the collective experience of other R-D1 owners. If you decide to reply (and I hope you do), please answer all questions. You can reply on-list or directly to my e-mail: sreid@sover.net

Questions:

1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?

Thanks!

Sean
 
Here goes:
1. just one

2. 0010xx

3. 13 months

4. yes

5. weddings, magazine articles, on Reprovit IIa for image capture. Use it non-professionally for everything else.

6. primary, except that will use medium format for wedding formals. Don't own a digital slr; haven't felt the need.

7. no

8. all the strengths of a Leica M plus the multiple ISO's, except the shutter is noisier.

9. needing to buy new lenses for wide nagle work, the short Rf base, and having only 6mp.

10. Rf calibration

11. no

12. n/a

13. DAG plus my own ministrations. Corrected the problem.

14. Rf base, sensor resolution, wish histogram was available immediately on each shot as needed.

15. definitely.
 
1. Only one
2. 0024xx
3. 9 months
4. No
5. Everything from candid to landscape - its my carry (opportunity) camera
6. N/A
7. No. Use RD-1 and Olympus E1
8. Size, availability of some fantastic lenses, unobtrusiveness
9. Quality of fit and finish of the rangefinder in particular
10. Minor - rangefinder adjustment issues, but only recently
11. Never needed to send it away
12. N/A
13. Did it myself and its fine - RF adjustment (thanks to RFF)
14. Better QC and a more stable RF. A more accessible price (then I could have two). To wish for more would be greedy.
15. You bet. This is a unique and wonderful camera.

Regards

Gid
 
1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?

1

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx

0024

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?

1 year

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?

no

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?

general walk around camera and people shots. I tend to use film for landscape and travel still.

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

n/a

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?

no

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?


Image quality when procesed by Epson's raw programme.
Precise focus
Excellent lenses
Small and discrete
'Classic rangefinder' feel

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

lack of 75 frame line

changing the shutter speed dial from aperture priority requires two hands

vignetting at wide angle. The raw software can deal with this aslong as one takes care with exposure.


10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?

shutter release sometimes goes dead


11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.

no

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)

n/a

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?

n/a

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?

more pixels (without an increase in noise), 75mm framelines, auto bracketing

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?

yes
 
1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?

One

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx



3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?

approx 10 mos.

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?

No.

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?

Portraiture

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?

No. Supplements Lecia Ms, Canon 5D

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

Digital use for Leica glass. Digital use for screw-mount lenses.

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

Certain user-interface features (the double shutter button press comes to mind).
Short EBL leads to limitations with fast/long lenses (and with lenses that are particularly great in the Leica line-up 50/1, 75/1.4, 90/2 etc.) Because RFs are available-light tools, you shuold be able to use these lenses wide-open. Hope to see this corrected on an RD-2. . .


10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?

First camera front-focussed with certain lenes. Replaced by Epson.

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.

Yes. See 10.

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)

Second body was spot-on.

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?

Had DAG check out the RF of the second camera after a hard knock; it was as well-adjusted as it could be according to him.

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?

Longer EBL. Better dynamic range (I'd like to retain more highlights). A Raw+Jpg feature would be nice too. Use of larger SD Cards. Better noise characteristics at high ISOs.

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?

Absolutely. It is a great tool.
 
1. How many: one
2. Serial: 17xx
3. How long: 10 months
4. Pro use: Not really.
5. Subjects: varied. Travel, portraiture, things.... i.e. general use.
6. N/A
7. Not "replace", but it is used more than either my D1x or M6TTL now.
8. Strength (to me) is all the standard rangefinder vs SLR strengths (primarily size and quality of lenses) combined in one package with all the digital vs film strengths.
9. Weaknesses: standard rangefinder weaknesses, but that doesn't apply specifically to the RD-1.... I guess just some desired features (see below)
10. Probs: none. Well, there are some hot pixels, but that doesn't bother me.
11. N/A
12. N/A
13. N/A

14. Featurewise I'd like 75/90 framelines, and an option for a smaller mag viewfinder that includes 21mm. And framelines that select themselves. And an auto-cocking shutter. And a longer rangefinder base would be nice too...
15. Yes.

j
 
1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?

One

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx

0017xx

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?

Since early January 2005.

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?

Yes.

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?

Dance performances; studio photos of dancers and companies; documentary photos of events e.g. museum workshops, dance classes.

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

Primary

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?

It has largely replaced my Nikon D100, except when very long lenses are needed.

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

-- It's a rangefinder camera. I prefer to use an RF camera and find I do better work with one. However, most of my clients demand digital end product, so until the R-D 1 appeared I was forced to compromise.

-- Handling is very intuitive and "transparent." I can forget about the camera and concentrate on the subject.

-- 1:1 finder image is a big advantage for stage photography -- I can view with both eyes open.

-- Ability to use a wide range of M and LTM lenses lets me create a variety of "looks."

-- APS-size sensor means a 50mm lens is a medium tele, by far my most-used focal length for stage and studio work. This means the lens I need most can be very sharp, wide in aperture, and compact.

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?

-- In large theaters I often need a longer lens than 50, forcing me to use an accessory viewfinder (inconvenient.)

-- Buffer fills up quickly when shooting in raw mode.

-- Faster X-sync speed would be nice for studio flash work.

-- Although 6-megapixel count is enough for most assignments, there are some (e.g. posters) for which 10 megapixels would be better.

10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?

Rangefinder vertical alignment drifted slightly out.

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.

I adjusted the vertical alignment myself, using instructions I found on RFF. Eventually I sent the camera to Don Goldberg just to make sure the RF was calibrated correctly; he touched it up a bit, but said it was already pretty good when he received it, and I couldn't see any difference when I got it back.

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)

Not applicable; no replacement needed.

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?

Don Goldberg (DAG); see above.

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?

Top priority (improvements that I don't think would require a major redesign):

-- Larger raw buffer
-- Firmware update to allow use of SD cards greater than 1 gb
-- 75mm frameline in viewfinder

Future (requiring redesign):

-- Longer RF base
-- Sensor with higher pixel count
-- Shutter w. higher X-sync speed

Nice to have, but not urgent:

-- Option for shutter cocking via motor or trigger (sometimes thumb lever is not convenient)

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?

Yes. Now that I've owned one, I don't think I could get along again without a digital RF camera.
 
1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?
one.

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie:
0046xx

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?
forgot, quit early when it was available in new york, was it january?

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?
no.

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?
people, urban landscape, travel

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?
Leica M7, Canon 20D

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
size, quality, lens characteristics, focus accuracy, look, CCD (vs. CMOS), safety (traveled in places where you don't want to show with an expensive looking cam. as with Leica, when don't feel comfortable, slide it under my jacket)

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
crop, quality control, weather prone.

10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?
rangefinder alignment, hot pixels,failed needle calibration (battery)

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.
Yes, more than one body. Final result: good results.

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)
Second body was worse. Final was 4th body. had bad luck with focus calibration. (one, according to Don from DAG was impossible to fix), Hot pixels were horrible at one of the bodies.

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?
DAG. Very good results. However, that was the Hot pixels body so was replaced.

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?
First- not chage but: Keep CCD, do not move to CMOS. hope for a smaller crop factor (if not FF at least 1.3). But would live with 1.5 for the mean time. Above 10mp Hope to see the new D200 sensor inside if no crop change. other- simply more quality control. Maybe inner hot pixel mapping,
15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?
definitely.
 
Thanks for responding and being so thorough everyone, please keep the responses coming.

Cheers,

Sean
 
1. One

2. 0012xx

3. 11 months

4. No

5. Street photography and my dog

6. NA

7. M6 TTL

8. Instant gratification. Faster digital workflow- no more scanning. Much lighter than digital SLRs. Can use M and LTM lenses. Most essential functions accessible without the need to work through complicated menu system. Manual focus.

9. Low buffer size. Relatively short battery life. Cost.

10. Malfunctioned battery gauze. Occasional shutter freezes.

11. Just sent the camera in to fix the battery gauze, but haven't heard from Epson yet

12. NA

13. NA

14. Larger buffer. Longer battery life. Full frame. Bodies with different finder magnifications.

15. Yes
 
Sean, I've sent an email.

the one answer I'd like to share is to question 15... I answered I don't know if I'd buy another one, and the main reservation I have is that I really don't like depending on a camera that is so short on a) replacement if it fails in the field, and b) has such poor support/service. To my mind that makes it unsuitable for a professional tool.

Phil
 
1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?
One

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx
0015xx

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?
13 months

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?
No

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?
Landscapes, portrait

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?
Leica Ms

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
Respect of lens signatures, color rendition, B&W rendition, grain like digital noise, manual operation, flippable LCD, Epson plug-in for Mac

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
Short RF base length, small raw buffer, quality control, shutter noise, no 1/4000s, 1/8000s shutter speeds, no 1/500s sync speed

10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?
Weak paint, poorly cut and stuck rubber coating

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.
No

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)
No replace

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?
No repairs

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?
See § 9 above

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?
Yes
 
My experience with the R-D1

My experience with the R-D1

1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?
One.

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx
0045xx

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?
7months

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?
No.

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?
For low-light candid photos of people. For a general walk-around camera for sketching my life. I do social "event" photography for a couple of non-profit organizations with this camera.

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?
I was using a Nikon D2h for this work.

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
Typical rangefinder system strengths: small size, small fast lenses, short shutter lag, positive focussing in dim light.
The colors from the camera are notably better than what I get from my Nikons, and highlights are less likely to be blown.

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
Shutter sometimes mysteriously freezes (especially if you have just used the LCD panel to examine the last shot). Rangefinder base length is a little short to reliably focus the Noctilux. Because of the 1.5 focal length factor, you lose the availability of fast wide angle lenses. There is excessive vignetting with my Cosina Voigtlander 15mm lens. Focussing is inconsistent with 90mm lenses.


10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?
This is my second body. The first one had it's shutter die completely after about 100 exposures.
The current body had a vertically misaligned rangefinder that made it hard to detect coincidence.

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.
Because of the dead shutter the first body was replaced.

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)
Further repair was necessary.

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?
I adjusted the rangefinder vertical alignment myself, using information gathered from this forum.

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?
Larger rangefinder baseline, smaller focal length factor (say 1.3 instead of 1.5), less vignetting, more reliable QC on the rangefinder, no unpredicatable shutter time out, bigger RAW buffer.

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?
Yes, given that it is still the only M-mount digital camera.
 
R-D1 suevey

R-D1 suevey

1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?
One

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx
0046

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?
One month

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?
No (not a pro)

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?
N/A

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?
N/A

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?
Canon EOS 20d

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
Compact, manual controls, availability of many quality lenses, very good image quality

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
Built-in framelines for 28 hard to see with glasses, cost

10. Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?
None yet!

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.
N/A

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)
N/A

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?
N/A

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?
Eye-glass freindly viewfinder, higher ISOs, more built-in frame lines, KM-style in-body stabilization, a lower crop factor to use more WA lenses

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?
Yes!
 
Survey

Survey

1. One

2. 0045XX

3. One month

4. Yes

5. All kinds of editorial work when the convenience of digital is appropriate. Also use it for documentary-style experimental work.

6. As far as 35mm and digital is concerned it is a primary camera.

7. No, it complements my Leica M tools.

8. It integrates well with my Leica equipment and a digital sensor for my M lenses is its main strength. Cool design and very fun to use! Quirky but endearing, I like cameras with distinct personality like this.

9. Hot pixels are a concern, but the real problem with this camera is the lousy rangefinder! Too short and imprecise. I'm already experiencing focusing problems with wide angle lenses wide open. Not the case when new only a month ago. Also I don't think the frame lines are square but I'm still looking into that.

10. I'm just now starting to but I'm still testing. See 9.

11. My current dilemma. Things are pointing in that direction.

12. Scary question I'll probably be facing. Most important is that I do not want to be without this camera for an extended period of time and I also do not want to buy a second body.

13. N/A... yet!

14. Better QC particularly regarding the viewfinder/rangefinder. Adobe DNG (like Leica) instead of proprietary RAW. More megapixels, of course. Reliable professional level repair service program in place.

15. Absolutely but the R-D1 is meant to be a secondary body to the hopefully forthcoming digital M. Because of spotty QC and nonexistent repair service I cannot rely on it as my primary professional camera. I really hate the prospect of having to send it back to Epson just to get a new camera many weeks later. I'm a huge fan of the R-D1 and I would indeed buy an R-D2 even if the digital M arrives, but I would not buy a second R-D1 unless Epson can get its act together.

-Carlos Loret de Mola
 
1. How many R-D1 bodies do you own?
ONE

2. What are the serial numbers, minus the last two digits. ie: 0016xx
0022

3. How long have you owned the camera(s)?
10 month

4. Do you use the camera for professional work?
NO

5. If for professional work, what type? If for non-professional work, what subjects mainly?
Street / Urban

6. If used for professional work, is it a primary or secondary use camera?

7. Did your R-D1 replace another camera? If so, which one?
NO in a strict sense ..... because i still have not sold my 1Ds .... but in practise i did not shoot the 1Ds a single time since i use the R-D1

8. What are its strengths, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
It's small and gives the most film-like output i ever got from any digital camera, including D30, 1D and 1Ds. Fantastic B&W conversion too.
The metering used in the R-d1 is very good .. ... puts the 1Ds to shame.

9. What are its weaknesses, in your personal experience, as a camera and as a system?
I wished for a faster shutter to use the fast lenses wide open without filtersin daylight, a body that did not show wear as soon. I miss iso 100 and missed a LOT of "decisive moments " because i forgot to reload the shutter or had reviewed the LCD before so i had to push the shutter twice ....... i also miss a timer some times .
THe Automatic White Balance needs improvement
Another point would be to improve the PhotoRaw software. I would be helped with 2 minor improvements ... showing real file-names istead of serial numbers and an option to delete files in Photoraw .. this would improve filehandling greatly.

10 Have you experienced any defects/problems with your R-D1? If so, what were they?
A few hot pixels .. nothing serious.. so i knock on wood

11. If you did experience defects/problems, were they sufficient to send the camera in for repair/replacement/adjustment? If yes, what was the end result of that process.
No .. nr of hotpixels were within toleranve levels

12. If the body was replaced, was the second body acceptable or was further replacement necessary? (ie: How many replacements were needed before the camera was acceptable?)

13. If you have had an R-D1 repaired or adjusted by anyone other than Epson, who did the work and what was the result?

14. What features, improvements, changes would you most want to see in a successor to the R-D1?
10 -11 MP, faster shutter (1/8000) and iso 100.
MOre friendly software: see my answer to Q9

15. Would you buy the camera again if you had to do things all over?
Without hesitation!


Sean[/QUOTE]

Good luck with the article Sean!
 
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