Newbie Here be nice, please!

[pfogle]

Hi Greg, (I hope that's right!)

I've had my R-D1 for half a year or so, and the only time now I get out the DSLR (in my case it's a 20D) is when I need the reflex framing for some reason, or fast autofocus. Which is almost never!

The hot shoe appears to have only one contact: this would suggest that there won't be a TTL flash option, so you'll have to use the lightcell in the Metz for exposure.

I tend to use 21mm for almost all my pix, followed by a 50mm, but of course it's a very personal thing; I just happen to be addicted to wides! At the moment I'm using an Avenon (also known as Kobalux) which is very nice, but I'm looking to upgrade to Leica as soon as I can.

The main thing to watch out for (and don't accept second-best) is that the viewfinder framelines are parallel to the sensor frame edges. It's easy to check- any straight on picture of a rectangular object (building, window etc) framed horizontally will be tilted in the picture if they aren't. I started out with a camera that had some 'hot' pixels and exchanged it, followed by a frantic hunt for a camera with straight framelines, ending up with one that had the same sort of hot pixels as I started with! However, now they never bother me, and they only show up if you shoot in-camera jpegs, never if you shoot RAW.

Some people have had various issues with the rangefinder. This appears to be lens-dependent, so there are no absolutly sure ways to avoid it. Some Leica lenses, for instance, focus a bit in front of the subject - I have one Voigtlander lens that does and three that are fine. So it's worth checking that the lens you get focuses accurately wide open, and get it adjusted if it doesn't. Other threads here have more information relevant to the USA about service facilities etc.

Final thought... it's a damn nice camera to use - you won't regret it!

Phil

 

[greggebhardt]

Hi Greg, (I hope that's right!)

I've had my R-D1 for half a year or so, and the only time now I get out the DSLR (in my case it's a 20D) is when I need the reflex framing for some reason, or fast autofocus. Which is almost never!

The hot shoe appears to have only one contact: this would suggest that there won't be a TTL flash option, so you'll have to use the lightcell in the Metz for exposure.

I tend to use 21mm for almost all my pix, followed by a 50mm, but of course it's a very personal thing; I just happen to be addicted to wides! At the moment I'm using an Avenon (also known as Kobalux) which is very nice, but I'm looking to upgrade to Leica as soon as I can.

The main thing to watch out for (and don't accept second-best) is that the viewfinder framelines are parallel to the sensor frame edges. It's easy to check- any straight on picture of a rectangular object (building, window etc) framed horizontally will be tilted in the picture if they aren't. I started out with a camera that had some 'hot' pixels and exchanged it, followed by a frantic hunt for a camera with straight framelines, ending up with one that had the same sort of hot pixels as I started with! However, now they never bother me, and they only show up if you shoot in-camera jpegs, never if you shoot RAW.

Some people have had various issues with the rangefinder. This appears to be lens-dependent, so there are no absolutly sure ways to avoid it. Some Leica lenses, for instance, focus a bit in front of the subject - I have one Voigtlander lens that does and three that are fine. So it's worth checking that the lens you get focuses accurately wide open, and get it adjusted if it doesn't. Other threads here have more information relevant to the USA about service facilities etc.

Final thought... it's a damn nice camera to use - you won't regret it!

Phil

My biggest worry is a tilted finder. This would result in a return. A few bad pixels would not bother me. I will be shooting mostly RAW at lower ISO.

My new toys have not even arrived and I am already looking at wider lenses. How do you like your 21mm? I am considering it for my next lens. I shoot the interior of large yachts for a friend who owns a company that refits these multi-million dollar vessels. My images are used in the trade shows where he picks up alot of his work. Some of my images are in the finest of Yachting magazines that show what he does. I have had D2X images enlarged to 24" x 36" transperancies and they look good but I am hoping for even more detail from my R-D1 with a top quality wide angle lens. 36" x 48" would be a powerful selling tool in a huge convention center where they have their shows.

If you have any examples of your images with the 21mm, I would like to see them.

Just 16 more hours till I can charge the R-D1 battery!!!

 

[pfogle]

Hi Greg,

I posted some pix recently, here and here.

Also, there are quite a few in my gallery shot with the CV 21/4.

I haven't yet tried a Leica 21mm.

I would have thought that 21mm might not be wide enough for yacht interiors. On film, I'd probably use a 24mm which would be equivalent to a 15mm on the R-D1. As for big prints, I think you'll be very happy with the results.

cheers
Phil

 

[greggebhardt]

R-D1 arrived. Only had time to get the battery on charge and back to the office. What nice packaging. Kinda reminds me of my Leica Digilux packaging. The 50mm Leica is heavy but feel like it is built well. Can wait to get back home and put the lens on the camera. From what I can tell it is some pretty solid hardware.

WIll be taking my first images this evening and be checking for the horror of a "tilted" finder. I guess I will also install the RAW software and check it out, though I am a long time user of PhotoShop, the plug-in may do.

Thanks everyone. 😀

 

[greggebhardt]

Well got the R-D1 attached to the lens and put the freshly charged battery in and went thru the manual. I am very surprised, but the camera controls are set up quite nicely. This is a strange beast but after an hour with the manual I pretty well got all the basics down. The camera with the Leica 50mm 1.4 asph is heavy for it size but SO MUCH lighter than the D2X. Just the lens is way more heavy than what I expected for it's size but there is some quality built in there. I like the feel of the camera in the hands and after a few days out with it, all will seem somewhat natural.

Not owning a RF camera, I am surprised how easy it is to focus on my subject. It will take some time getting used to that shutter sound, there is no mirror flapping in this thing and you get nothing but a nice shutter noise.

I will miss some things like a release timer which I use alot on the tripod. Will have to dig out the shutter release cable which is stored with the old Hassy and Nikon gear.

Software install went well inserting the RAW plug in into PhotoShop CS and was able to open the RAW file right off.

I am going to love it but still looking for that "AutoFocus" setting, got to be here somewhere! <vbg>

Thanks to everyone, I hope to be able to post some "worthy" images this weekend as I am taking images of a regattta at out club. The R-D1 will alos get an extended ride on Sunday with my Honda Aquatrax Turbo JetSki. All of my cameras go for this ride and is one of my favorite methods of taking images.