jlw
Rangefinder camera pedant
This evening I was out in my garage working on my car when my cordless phone rang. I picked it up, still holding a length of dirty exhaust pipe in the other hand, and found the caller was from a market research company and wanted to ask me some questions about my experience as an owner of an Epson R-D 1.
Needless to say, I put down the exhaust pipe -- which was a good thing, because the interview lasted about 25 minutes! It was pretty much a typical market-research interview: the lady asked me how long I had been interested in photography, what other brands and types of cameras I owned, what lenses I owned, etc.
Then she asked me to name the things that I especially liked about the R-D 1 (to which I replied: the fact that it's a rangefinder camera; the fact that I can use the rangefinder lenses I already own; and the picture quality) and what things that I disliked most (my choices were lack of a 75mm frameline, hot pixels, and no bundled batch raw utility for Mac computers.)
She read a long list of features of the R-D 1 and asked whether or not each feature had played a role in my decision to buy it (features I specifically remember saying yes to were the fact that it's a rangefinder camera, the 1:1 viewfinder, and the folding LCD.) As I said, pretty standard stuff.
One question that I did find interesting: she said that the design goal of the R-D 1 had been to capture the rangefinder photography experience in a digital camera, and how well did I rate Epson's success in achieving that goal? What interested me was not so much the question itself (I said I thought they had achieved excellent success, because using the R-D 1 really is just about exactly like using a Bessa) but that, although it was obvious that Epson had something like this in mind, this was the first time I had ever heard this officially articulated as THE design goal of the camera! Kind of heartwarming to find that evidently Epson realizes that the rangefinder experience is something special...
They also asked me to name my favorite photographer (Lois Greenfield); what photo magazines I read regularly; where I had received the information that led me to buy an R-D 1 (I said Internet reviews -- probably should have mentioned Sean by name, but didn't think of it); and whether I had ever participated in photography training activities such as classes or workshops.
The survey finished with the usual demographic questions (education level, income level, age bracket etc.) and then the lady asked me to name my favorite charity, noting that to thank me for participating in the survey, they were going to donate $25 in my name -- so, Doctors Without Borders gets another little cha-ching in their cash register.
As I've said, nothing too surprising -- but I thought people might like to know that evidently Epson is making an effort to find out what R-D 1 owners think of it.
Anybody else gotten "The Call"? Just curious...
Needless to say, I put down the exhaust pipe -- which was a good thing, because the interview lasted about 25 minutes! It was pretty much a typical market-research interview: the lady asked me how long I had been interested in photography, what other brands and types of cameras I owned, what lenses I owned, etc.
Then she asked me to name the things that I especially liked about the R-D 1 (to which I replied: the fact that it's a rangefinder camera; the fact that I can use the rangefinder lenses I already own; and the picture quality) and what things that I disliked most (my choices were lack of a 75mm frameline, hot pixels, and no bundled batch raw utility for Mac computers.)
She read a long list of features of the R-D 1 and asked whether or not each feature had played a role in my decision to buy it (features I specifically remember saying yes to were the fact that it's a rangefinder camera, the 1:1 viewfinder, and the folding LCD.) As I said, pretty standard stuff.
One question that I did find interesting: she said that the design goal of the R-D 1 had been to capture the rangefinder photography experience in a digital camera, and how well did I rate Epson's success in achieving that goal? What interested me was not so much the question itself (I said I thought they had achieved excellent success, because using the R-D 1 really is just about exactly like using a Bessa) but that, although it was obvious that Epson had something like this in mind, this was the first time I had ever heard this officially articulated as THE design goal of the camera! Kind of heartwarming to find that evidently Epson realizes that the rangefinder experience is something special...
They also asked me to name my favorite photographer (Lois Greenfield); what photo magazines I read regularly; where I had received the information that led me to buy an R-D 1 (I said Internet reviews -- probably should have mentioned Sean by name, but didn't think of it); and whether I had ever participated in photography training activities such as classes or workshops.
The survey finished with the usual demographic questions (education level, income level, age bracket etc.) and then the lady asked me to name my favorite charity, noting that to thank me for participating in the survey, they were going to donate $25 in my name -- so, Doctors Without Borders gets another little cha-ching in their cash register.
As I've said, nothing too surprising -- but I thought people might like to know that evidently Epson is making an effort to find out what R-D 1 owners think of it.
Anybody else gotten "The Call"? Just curious...
