Epson R-D1 review and pics

[peter_n]

Here is a recent review of the camera that points out some shortcomings, particularly with wide-angle CV lenses, and some pictures taken with it. Also an article on it's release in the U.S. on Monday, Nov. 1:

R-D1 - a user review

Photos taken with the R-D1

More photos

Epson announces U.S. availability

 

[nwcanonman]

Should be interesting when some of our members give their own reviews. Thanks

 

[Designer]

It seems vignetting is a bit obvious w/. 15mm & 12mm lenses.

 

[Doug]

The corner light fall-off doesn't look unusual to me. This is not "vignetting" in the sense of a physical obstruction, just the laws of physics becoming more noticeable as the view angle increases. From the 12/15mm shots in the links the fall-off looks pretty much the same as with film cameras. See 15mm example below. Fortunately, the corner darkening is reasonably normal-looking to viewers; indeed it's not uncommon in the darkroom to burn-in the corners a bit darker for pictorial reasons!

 

[jfbell20]

Since this is a digital camera, it should be possible to devise photoshop filters to correct the light-fall off with the 12mm and 15mm lens. I think I saw an article on how to do this sort of correction somewhere.

 

[Designer]

The corner light fall-off doesn't look unusual to me. This is not "vignetting" in the sense of a physical obstruction, just the laws of physics becoming more noticeable as the view angle increases. From the 12/15mm shots in the links the fall-off looks pretty much the same as with film cameras. See 15mm example below. Fortunately, the corner darkening is reasonably normal-looking to viewers; indeed it's not uncommon in the darkroom to burn-in the corners a bit darker for pictorial reasons!

Hi Doug,

I got your points, but I expect a non-full frame digital camera could have better corner light-fall-off performance than a film (full frame) camera w/. the same lens. The report photos seem a bit worse than the 15mm photos from yours & mine.

Keven

 

[Pherdinand]

It also matters where you focus. Focusing closer the image circle can considerably increase in diameter... Stopping down the aperture helps too...

 

[Taipei-metro]

Check out August, 2004 issue of Asahi Camera page 139-145 test shots and review of RD-1 w Nocton 50 1.5, Cron 50 f2, Canon 50 1.2, Super Rokkor 50 1.8,Ultron 35 1.7,Skopar 25 f4, Ricoh GR21 3.5.
You can "play" w lots of combinations.
Don't quite understand RF digital.
Last weekend I was shooting with Sony DSC-W1 w Zeiss 38-114( equiv) f2.8-5.2, a 5 meg camera, and w my all time favorite A-1 w 28 2.8,35 2.8 FD, plus a Canon WP-1 w a 6-element 32mm f3.5, let's see which produces better image.
A RD-1 w a Leica M28 f2.8 will be around $3,000, expensive? or like one poster said,"Nice camera,nice lens...nice nice nice..."