new epson patent for R-D1 style camera 'thing'

[Firsty]

This interesting patent first filed about a year ago
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/09/27/epson-patent-shows-a-camera-that-uses-a-tiny-lens-to-recognize-old-lenses/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PetaPixel+%28PetaPixel%29

 

[GaryLH]

Rube Goldberg 🙄😀

Warranty claims off of that swing out arm will wipe out any profit.

But thanks for posting
Gary

 

[farlymac]

I sure their engineers could design a bump-out with the camera in it, instead of that swing arm. But like the article said, there's no guarantee Epson will pursue this.

PF

 

[crispy12]

My old Minolta 202 had this "feature" too. I could see both the shutter speeds and aperture reading in the viewfinder!

 

[bugmenot]

My old Minolta 202 had this "feature" too. I could see both the shutter speeds and aperture reading in the viewfinder!

Heck, the longest produced SLR in history, the Nikon F3 has this feature too, with both aperture and shutter speed displayed in digits in the viewfinder. though aperture appears "optically". People with Nikon cameras will understand.

I think Epson was thinking specifically Leica/Zeiss/Voigtlander M lenses that have no aperture information communicated on the fly, nor do they have easy lens identification (except for the recently 6-bit coded lenses). In that case, the patent is quite interesting.

 

[GaryLH]

Heck, the longest produced SLR in history, the Nikon F3 has this feature too, with both aperture and shutter speed displayed in digits in the viewfinder. though aperture appears "optically". People with Nikon cameras will understand.

I think Epson was thinking specifically Leica/Zeiss/Voigtlander M lenses that have no aperture information communicated on the fly, nor do they have easy lens identification (except for the recently 6-bit coded lenses). In that case, the patent is quite interesting.

The f3 bump out was well protected and hardly noticeable compared to this weird swing arm arrangement. I have an f3 and an f4.

Gary

 

[FrozenInTime]

That is so cool

I guess a more practical guise would be a shot shoe mounted mini go-pro like device that recorded the lens and scene - damn now I've discussed it I can't patent the idea.

 

[bugmenot]

The f3 bump out was well protected and hardly noticeable compared to this weird swing arm arrangement. I have an f3 and an f4.

You are certainly right. That bump-out is downright bizarre. I didn't really look carefully at the patent, and just read the article. 😱

 

[Firsty]

My main reason for posting this was the fact the R&D at Epson are still working on rangefinders and Ideas to modernise them. which may bode well for a new range finder

maybe the long wanted RD-2 🙂

PS. not sure this is a good idea in this form as it looks to fragile

 

[GaryLH]

My main reason for posting this was the fact the R&D at Epson are still working on rangefinders and Ideas to modernise them. which may bode well for a new range finder

maybe the long wanted RD-2 🙂

PS. not sure this is a good idea in this form as it looks to fragile

Yes I would agree that it would appear that they are thinking...

Out of curiosity, what was msrp of the last version of rd 1 and last year it was made..

Gary

 

[GaryLH]

You are certainly right. That bump-out is downright bizarre. I didn't really look carefully at the patent, and just read the article. 😱

No problem.. I've done that before 🙄
Gary

 

[jsrockit]

Out of curiosity, what was msrp of the last version of rd 1 and last year it was made..

I think it was $3000.