RFJapan
Newbie
Hi everyone. I've just signed up. Brief background : been shooting seriously for about 4 or 5 years, started with DSLRs like most people (and still use one for sports, etc) but when I came across RFs I was intrigued and initially got a second hand M8. Nice camera in many ways, but had way too many quirks and problems for the price demanded, so I used it a year or so and sold it.
I thought I regretted doing that, but I just realised that what I regret is that I sold the experience of using a RF camera.
I live in Japan (hence the name) and there are three or four good camera stores in my area. One of which has an M9, 8.2, 8 and also a R-D1S (all used). I played around with the M9 for a bit in the store, but it didn't inspire me (maybe too much hype? Anyway, it didn't feel much different from the M8 and the price tag was over double the price of the 8.2 and three times that of the 8. Not worth it in my book).
I never paid much attention to the R-D1S, but having read up about it a bit it seemed like a reasonable little machine which might well be a decent alternative to a dodgy M8 or super-expensive M9. Plus it has that m-mount, so you'd still get the benefit of those lenses (the one thing that I think almost everyone agrees on with Leica is the lenses).
So a couple of days ago I gave it a try in the store, and it felt pretty good. Those controls are kind of odd (to put it mildly) and at first I couldn't make sense of the camera at all, but when I did, and started taking pictures, that rangefinder experience came right back. It really is a different kind of thing to DSLR shooting. Plus it's under half the price of the used M8 and doesn't need filters, coding, etc. I know that there are some incompatible lenses, but you can't have everything (the lens I'd most like to use on it is a Voigtlander 1.5 50mm, which I had for the M8...is that a lens which works OK on the R-D1S? I hope so, it's a fantastic lens especially given how inexpensive it can be).
The 6 MP count doesn't bother me; I used a Digilux 2 for a while and that produced some very nice pics, but it wasn't a real RF. And of all the cameras I've used, the one which I felt the least affinity for (and which disappointed me the most) was the one with the highest MP count. So I'm certainly in the "MP is overrated" camp. My DSLR has 12MP, and that's more than enough for anything I expect to shoot.
Given that I'm in Epson's home country, I guess I have far more chance of getting a R-D1S repaired should something go wrong with it.
Guess I'm really posting this to get some ideas of what to expect if I do get this thing. It's very reasonably priced - the camera plus the Voigtlander I mentioned earlier still would be less than the M8 body alone. I don't shoot mega-wide very often, so that's no problem (the only lens I could imagine using of that kind is that super-wide heliar 15 from Cosina, which usually comes packaged with a hotshoe finder anyway).
Anyway, sorry for the rambling post, will post more if (and hopefully when) I pick up the camera.
I thought I regretted doing that, but I just realised that what I regret is that I sold the experience of using a RF camera.
I live in Japan (hence the name) and there are three or four good camera stores in my area. One of which has an M9, 8.2, 8 and also a R-D1S (all used). I played around with the M9 for a bit in the store, but it didn't inspire me (maybe too much hype? Anyway, it didn't feel much different from the M8 and the price tag was over double the price of the 8.2 and three times that of the 8. Not worth it in my book).
I never paid much attention to the R-D1S, but having read up about it a bit it seemed like a reasonable little machine which might well be a decent alternative to a dodgy M8 or super-expensive M9. Plus it has that m-mount, so you'd still get the benefit of those lenses (the one thing that I think almost everyone agrees on with Leica is the lenses).
So a couple of days ago I gave it a try in the store, and it felt pretty good. Those controls are kind of odd (to put it mildly) and at first I couldn't make sense of the camera at all, but when I did, and started taking pictures, that rangefinder experience came right back. It really is a different kind of thing to DSLR shooting. Plus it's under half the price of the used M8 and doesn't need filters, coding, etc. I know that there are some incompatible lenses, but you can't have everything (the lens I'd most like to use on it is a Voigtlander 1.5 50mm, which I had for the M8...is that a lens which works OK on the R-D1S? I hope so, it's a fantastic lens especially given how inexpensive it can be).
The 6 MP count doesn't bother me; I used a Digilux 2 for a while and that produced some very nice pics, but it wasn't a real RF. And of all the cameras I've used, the one which I felt the least affinity for (and which disappointed me the most) was the one with the highest MP count. So I'm certainly in the "MP is overrated" camp. My DSLR has 12MP, and that's more than enough for anything I expect to shoot.
Given that I'm in Epson's home country, I guess I have far more chance of getting a R-D1S repaired should something go wrong with it.
Guess I'm really posting this to get some ideas of what to expect if I do get this thing. It's very reasonably priced - the camera plus the Voigtlander I mentioned earlier still would be less than the M8 body alone. I don't shoot mega-wide very often, so that's no problem (the only lens I could imagine using of that kind is that super-wide heliar 15 from Cosina, which usually comes packaged with a hotshoe finder anyway).
Anyway, sorry for the rambling post, will post more if (and hopefully when) I pick up the camera.
