Is the RD1 the "Perfect Leica"?

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Vickko

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I readjusted my RD1 RF and now it is aligned. I love it. I shot today with a 3.5cm Elmar with a LTM-to-M mount. The whole kit is very compact and quiet.

I'm thinking this is the perfect digital camera for M/LTM's. Quiet, not much bigger than an M, film wind lever just like an M.

Okay, so I used to gripe about the finder. Now that it is aligned, I like it more.

...Vick
 
I have had mine about 5 months now. After a few bad experiences buying used lenses, from both RFF members and camera stores, I bought a new 35mm Konica Hexanon (a Summicron copy) and all of a sudden I'm sure this really is a great camera. I traded a D70 plus a lot of cash for a used R-D1, despite all the negative things I read. Somehow I came to the conclusion that these posts were just a vocal minority, and that I had a shot at a positive experience. I had heard of the R-D1 when it came out, but 3 grand was out of the question and I had never used a rangefinder anyway. Coincidence, I didn't know what that was. I wanted a small kit, and I am sticking to that philosophy. I bought into the large viewfinder (D70 was dim). I have not had any problems with the camera and have enjoyed getting back to basic compose, focus, and shoot photography. If I'm sounding pompous, I should say I am just an amateur. Truth is I would like a digital rangefinder with little auto focus lenses, and auto ISO, with 2 or 3 frames per second. It won't be 5 grand. What does Leica have to do with anything?

This is OT, but have you guys (and girls) seen this photo by Eric C on photo.net?
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2042179
The first critique says it all🙂


Vickko said:
I readjusted my RD1 RF and now it is aligned. I love it. I shot today with a 3.5cm Elmar with a LTM-to-M mount. The whole kit is very compact and quiet.

I'm thinking this is the perfect digital camera for M/LTM's. Quiet, not much bigger than an M, film wind lever just like an M.

Okay, so I used to gripe about the finder. Now that it is aligned, I like it more.

...Vick
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It's a good camera, but far away from being perfect. The handling and balancing is less good than with a classic M6, and the one cm more height makes it a bit less pocketable. The rangefinder tends to get disaligned by very small knocks, a fact that sometimes stresses me when carrying it around. But it has a digital sensor (though it's an outdated, consumer-level-dslr one), and can carry M/LTM lenses, that makes it useful for me (allowing me to realize a PAW project, for instance). But perfect? No.
Didier
 
Deed we have never spoken, I don't know you at all but I KNEW you would be on this thread shortly! I was actually THINKING of you when I made my post! Your posts are informative and I read them with interest but you must be the RFF member MOST identified with R-D1 remorse! How many posts! Yet you still have one I believe! One centimeter! Didier forget the R-D1 problems for a moment. You have NOTHING TO SAY about Eric C's photo? She is lovely and so is the R-D1🙂

Didier said:
It's a good camera, but far away from being perfect. The handling and balancing is less good than with a classic M6, and the one cm more height makes it a bit less pocketable. The rangefinder tends to get disaligned by very small knocks, a fact that sometimes stresses me when carrying it around. But it has a digital sensor (though it's an outdated, consumer-level-dslr one), and can carry M/LTM lenses, that makes it useful for me (allowing me to realize a PAW project, for instance). But perfect? No.
Didier
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galavanter said:
Deed we have never spoken, I don't know you at all but I KNEW you would be on this thread shortly! I was actually THINKING of you when I made my post! Your posts are informative and I read them with interest but you must be the RFF member MOST identified with R-D1 remorse! How many posts! Yet you still have one I believe! One centimeter! Didier forget the R-D1 problems for a moment. You have NOTHING TO SAY about Eric C's photo? She is lovely and so is the R-D1🙂
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Galavanter,

I think the thread is about perfection of the R-D1, less about it's problems. The fear of knocking it too strongly and thus disaligning the RF is not a big problem, but it's a permanent threat - that's not what I would call perfect. The centimeter matters (a very little) as I usually do not carry a camerabag but the camera in a pocket. That's all. Nothing to do with remorse!

No one has said the Epson cannot make great pictures. Eric C's picture is great. I have seen other great pictures made with the Epson. I have even done some myself. The same pictures could have been made with many, many other cameras too. Which are mostly unperfect, too!

The Epson is something particular because it's one of 2 digital RF bodies on the market only, and it's natural it's compared to it's Leica ancestors.

Didier
 
you know , it makes me more content with my antique Canon G2 !!!
all it does is what it says on the box !
we seem to e getting into de-rangedfinder territory !
with auto everything , it's amazing that there is ANY digital solution to all those old lenses ...
I could never justify an M8 ... but may be able to manage an RD2 ... but logically ?
It would be less expensive to create a digi-slr outfit...
but , then logic doesv't abide here , does it ?
crazee dee
 
The RD-1 is definitely an adequate camera, but perfect is not:

The BAD:
1) Big size, an M6 is significantly smaller
2) Short base RF, a summilux 50 or a nokton 50 wide open are very difficult to reliably focus, and forget about the Noctilux or, even worse, the summilux 75!
3) Crop factor does not help at all in the RF world, you really want full frame, and your wides to be wide.
4) Support from Epson and QC cannot be accurately described without using words unsuitable to a forum that can be seen by minors.

The good:

1) Depending on the use the image quality is more than adequate, for street photography you don't need anything more, and for available light it actually seems to behave better than the M8 at high ISO. (except that the short base RF does not help a lot in focusing accurately)

2) Really analogue feeling, you can fold away the LCD and shoot for an entire day under different lighting conditions without ever having to chimp the LCD.

3) Reasonably cheap, you can get a second hand one for a lot less than $2000
 
The Epson R-D1s represents what I've always wanted in a digital camera- mostly passive and automation just enough to make picture taking a bit more easier. Manual focusing and exposure setting, plus a bit of aperture priority AE is all that I wanted and needed. I've no use for extra features like programme and "creative" modes, dedicated flash connections, 'advanced' exposure matrix metering, etc, etc which would tend to make the affair more complicated. So far, only the Epson R-D1s fit the bill. The fact that it is a Rangefinder which uses the lenses I like made it even more desireable for me.

It also has excellent image quality. One photo I shot with it (as a test for an old FED 5cm collapsible lens) actually got used as the poster for a local movie here. It had been blown up to billboard size. And the camera wasn't even set at RAW.

Jay
 
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ZorkiKat said:
It also has excellent image quality. One photo I shot with it (as a test for an old FED 5cm collapsible lens) actually got used as the poster for a local movie here. It had been blown up to billboard size. And the camera wasn't even set at RAW.
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The megapixel race is silly (to say the least). If they keep this up, in a few years we'll have 36 megapixel cameras (I'm not counting Medium Format backs); that's obscene. We'll need 400GB hard-drives just to keep, in my case, a year's (or less) worth of original files.

6 megapixels is good enough. The R-D1 is a very good, very capable camera. In the right hands, it is the only camera you would need.
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
The megapixel race is silly (to say the least). If they keep this up, in a few years we'll have 36 megapixel cameras (I'm not counting Medium Format backs); that's obscene. We'll need 400GB hard-drives just to keep, in my case, a year's (or less) worth of original files.
Click to expand...

Thas is one of the reasons I am very interested in the new Sigma DP1, foveon sensor, less than five megapixel but with an image quality to match the best 10 MPix digicams around, No AA or CFA to interfere with the light path or soften details, and all in a truly pocketable package; I only hope the lens is good enough and it is easy to use manual focus with it, then it could be my main camera for several years!
 
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Deed,

Today my post appears to have far too many caps and exclamation marks.🙄
I should add that I have learned a lot about the R-D1 from your posts.
Now I am trying to think of the philosopher who said "Imperfection is my paradise".
I swear I read this in a Intro to Philosophy book years ago, but I am having no luck finding the source. Anyone?
The phrase rang true to me, and I try to think about it whenever I find myself wanting something to be "perfect", like cameras, life, or me.
 
I have had my Rd-1 almost a year and in that time I havent dropped it but its swung into things had everyday Knocks and jolts and travelled in the overhead compartment on a long haul flight and I have had no probs.I dont carry it or my M2 in my pocket .The Rd-1 is carried on my shoulder or round my neck in one of luigis half cases on a Leicatime strap (under my coat if it rains)ready for use.In amateur photographer 10/03/07 Nobby Clarke who has an exhibition at the national theatre in London said-"The RD-1 is just the most wonderful camera "and I agree not because how big it is or how like/unlike a Leica it is but because it does for me what I want it to at a price I can afford and the only problem in having such a capable camera is the short comings arent the cameras they are mine!
 
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I love the way the R-D1 captures light. To me it is very painterly. Here is a good example of the chiaschuro it is capable of capturing. This picture was taken in almost completely dark conditions with an ASA of 1600 (if I remember correctly.) I think the lens was a 35mm Leica f1.4. I enhanced the contrast a bit in Picasa. That's all the post-processing it has had.

T.

Edit: I just checked the exif data. It was shot at ASA 800.
 

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