Delighted

[icon13]

Happy day just took delivery of my new Rd1s from those nice people at Robert White, trying out the 50mm F1.4 summilux. Any suggestions, hints or tips would be welcome.
Looking forward to sharing results with my new found friends on Rangefinder forum.

Now the hunt begins to find a buyer for all my Canon gear 5d and lenses! wish me luck.
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[georgef]

I am with you there ICON. I will be posting and selling my qhole 1D series system and L glass.

 

[emraphoto]

i as well have an rd-1s in the post and if it should prove reliable the d2x and d1x goe on the block and i'm grabbin another!
i have a stable of m glass but keep eyein' that noctilux...

 

[wintoid]

Funny, if someone had offered me a 5D as some kind of trade for my RD1S, I'm not sure I could have resisted.

 

[icon13]

a revolution begins

a revolution begins

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated. Spent the day with my RD1s and the canon system is now up for grabs, including my L glass. I know some of you may think NO! but i love the feeling of getting back to what, to me, photography should be.

Now there's a comment!!
So do you think i made a good choice with the 50mm Summilux, should i in future go for Zeiss glass?

 

[mn4367]

Happy to see the R-D1 commuity is still growing, welcome!

The shortened and silly answer is, if you can afford it, go with the Leica lenses. The big 'but' is that allmost all reviews of Zeiss lenses I read state that they are simply excellent. The differences between Leica and Zeiss in many cases can be described better in the way that they have a different character of drawing rather than Leica is better than Zeiss. I highly recommend to subscribe to www.reidreviews.com, Sean discusses many lenses of both manufactures. It is really worth the anual fee!

Sean has published two public available lens reviews here:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/fastlensreview.shtml
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/rd-1-lens.shtml

I own a Zeiss 35/2 Biogon which for my eyes produces fabulous results.

 

[pfogle]

Did someone say selling L glass? I like L glass. I need L glass. If the price is right...

... funny, I've got a 5D, and after getting the R-D1, I didn't use it for a while.

Now I'm getting into it again, but with old MF lenses! Caught the bug from the R-D1

Just got a CZJ Flektogon 35/2.4 - what a lens that is

 

[pthurst]

I've *just* bought a second hand R D1s from London Camera Exchange. I'm hoping I've bagged it at a goot price (£850) for a kit with extra battery and mem card too...

I can't wait to use it as I love my R3A to bits!

I also have Canon gear which is getting dusty since I bought a *shock horror* G7 powershot! The SLR is really bulky and inhibitive while the G7 is portable and 10mpx!

I am hoping that my new purchase will prove to be a bridge format with the quality from prime lenses coupled with the portability of something more resembling a digital compact...

Lets see if my hunger is satisfied!

Paul

 

[Geo]

These cams can be compared

These cams can be compared

Can not be compared i meant.
I love my RD-1 but I will never sell my Olympus E1.
It's a different way of working and the E1 does an excellent job especially with close ups . The RD-1 is not suitable for that type of work.
It all depends what kinda photos you're making.
When I go on holiday, I'll take the RD1, no doubt.
Geo

 

[georgef]

Funny, if someone had offered me a 5D as some kind of trade for my RD1S, I'm not sure I could have resisted.

Dont know about the UK, but here in Canada I can pick a used 5D up for the same $ as an RD1; difference is the 5Ds are everywhere, whereas I had to ship my epson from the UK.

since my previous post, I went and shot a race with my 1D and 300mm IS, and no, i won't be getting rid of that set at this pont either. The Canon compliments the Epson and vica versa. But in terms of log-in time, the Epson now is used about 80% of my shooting time.

1poundVS6pounds g

 

[dee]

'' Epson makes the heart grow fonder ? ''

 

[pfogle]

Same here, but I havent tried some MF lenses on it........ Damn you for getting new ideas into my head. Do you have any pics taken with that combo that I can see??

yep, try here (link). The 200/4 super takumar cost 20 pounds, and is nicer to use on the street than my 20-200/4, which I'm now tempted to sell (along with a few other Canon lenses).

 

[foto_fool]

I love my RD-1 but I will never sell my Olympus E1.
It's a different way of working and the E1 does an excellent job especially with close ups . The RD-1 is not suitable for that type of work.
It all depends what kinda photos you're making.
When I go on holiday, I'll take the RD1, no doubt.
Geo

Thanks Geo - that is something I needed to hear. I love my film cameras but have been struggling with the digital RF question because I have a perfectly good E-300 with the 14-54 from the E-1. The E-300 is just too big to drag around with me, compared to my R3A with the 40mm Summicron or Nokton.

So now actively looking for a well cared for user RD-1...

- john

 

[pfogle]

Nice pics. 20pounds? Damn. What kind of adapter do you use? I got the 70-200 2.8 last week and theres not any chance of walking around with that on the street just for fun.

apologies to all for 'highjacking' the thread!

adapters are around for a few dollars, maybe more for a good one.

I don't get why people buy tele zooms - even though I've done it myself! A long lens shot is easy to plan for, and the primes are so much smaller. For wide angle, yes, I can see a case for zooms, as exact composition is much trickier with w/a. I nearly always use my 70-200 at 200 - or I put on a shorter lens! The 2.8 is huge - I just wouldn't take it anywhere. I don't think I've used the f4 more than a couple of times in the past 3 years. I did use it once to copy some prints I'd made for a presentation, but got horrific pincushion distortion. Bad mistake It's very sharp and all, nice bit of engineering, but first on my list of things to go...

I guess one of the best things about getting the R-D1 is that it reminded me how we get over-dependent on zooms. Primes rule, OK!

 

[pfogle]

...the Rd-1 is a great camera and I would have loved to keep it, but it really had to go. I can see a new one in the future.

R-D1 or M8?

When the eppie came out, I thought it would be a dead loss as it seemed so unreliable. Now the teething problems seem to be over, and it's turned out to be a good camera that has worked well for me for two years. But, it's close to obsolete, and not supported by Epson, so for me, its replacement will probably be the M8, a camera I'm not attracted to, although it seems to produce the goods as far as image quality is concerned. Talk about a rock and a hard place!

 

[jlw]

If by "obsolete" you're referring to pixel count, be sure to evaluate actual results carefully before deciding.

I shoot (often simultaneously) with an R-D 1 and a 10-megapixel Nikon D80. In terms of image quality, side-by-side comparisons usually are either a wash, or favor the R-D 1 (for its less-aggressive-looking noise pattern.)

Granted, the support (or non-support) issue is a serious concern, at least for people who want to consider a digital camera a "lifetime investment."

 

[pfogle]

If by "obsolete" you're referring to pixel count, be sure to evaluate actual results carefully before deciding.

I shoot (often simultaneously) with an R-D 1 and a 10-megapixel Nikon D80. In terms of image quality, side-by-side comparisons usually are either a wash, or favor the R-D 1 (for its less-aggressive-looking noise pattern.)

Granted, the support (or non-support) issue is a serious concern, at least for people who want to consider a digital camera a "lifetime investment."

good point, but no, it's not the pixel count. I've felt for a while that the race for megapixels has plateau-ed out. For my money, the optimum is around 10MP for casual use, and somewhere around 20MP for professional. There will always be a market for the big guns, but it's more to provide flexibility for post-prod than for raw quality.

My bottom line is 'can it do a double-page spread in a glossy without pixelation?'

Mags are printed at around 250 lines per inch, so 6MP just about makes it!

No, the obsolescence I was referring to is that the R-D1 won't be updated to keep up with, for instance, better batteries, faster cards, more reliable components, etc. It doesn't take long for a cutting edge technology to become a collector's item, once the design stagnates.

It's interesting - a lot of the early problems with the M8 have been the result of designing for lenses with a short back-focus. But that's it's stregnth too - there are some things that are just much better done optically with a short back-focus - wide angle lenses with low distortion being an obvious example. So I think the digital RF is still a viable competitive design.

For photogs looking for the 'Leica experience' - ie the unobtrusive, low light quality hand-held - well, it's not that small, but it certainly does the job! And you can learn to use it pretty much invisibly (well, at least you seem to be able to! )

 

[Jim Watts]

I think it is the lack of ongoing support from Epson that means I will probably end up with an M8 as the only real alternative. Luckily my R-D1 has proved reliable for over two years, but if it should breakdown it seems Epson do not want to know as many have found out. Third party repair seems possible in the US (Steve's), but I haven't heard of anywhere in the UK.

I have no arguments with the ergonomics and quality from from the 6 megapixel R-D1, but I am also tempted by the wider angle framelines built into the M8. I was severly tempted by the first secondhand Black M8 I had seen by a dealer in the UK, but it had already been reserved.