RFH
rfhansen.wordpress.com
I finally went and did it: Bought an Epson R-D1 with the firmware upgrade. Thank you to all R-D1 owners for convincing me to acquire this amazing tool. Your recommendations and great images helped my decision along.
I halfway feared that Photokina would reveal a new innovation that would make the R-D1 obsolete. (Un)fortunately that didn't happen.
The build quality is excellent. Beautiful finder. A few years back I held a Leica M8 in my hands for a few shots, and I was disappointed to miss the rock solid feeling of the M6. And the body was too thick for a RF, at least in my opinion. With the R-D1, no such expectations and hence no disappointment. For a guy with big hands, the R-D1's size is perfect. I added a tall screw to the shutter button to make the release softer.
I already had a set of three M-lenses (35, 50 and 90), an Industar 22 and a Jupiter 26. For $20 I purchased an Industar 69 so I would have a cheap 28mm to play around with. At the price, that's all I expected to get, but after a bit of re-greasing and adjusting for infinity focus, this little pancake lens is actually quite charming.
Upon disassembling it, I discovered that one of two the stop screws behind the focus ring was missing. “Typically Russian" I thought. But then I realized that the missing screw allows me to focus past the 80 cm mark and down to 30 cm. Not too bad after all.
At anything below 5.6 it's soft as butter, but from there sharpness and detail increase to a surprisingly acceptable level. Vignetting isn't too bad, and it's easily corrected in the RAW processor anyway. Of course the lack of rangefinder coupling makes its use a bit cumbersome, but when you get the focus right, the I-69 is actually quite good.
The I-26 has proven to be surprisingly sharp from appx. f4, and on my screen it's easy to mix up the images from the I-26 and my Summicron 50 (gasp!).
I also tested the I-22 stopped down a few steps, and it too performed very well.
To me, one of the greatest advantages of the R-D1 is the ability to use the high ISO modes and still get pleasantly looking images. 1600 in B&W RAW is amazing with its film-like grain. As much as I like my Ricoh GX100, that small sensor doesn't exactly shine when used for low-light work, now does it?
No more words for now. Peep the images.
Industar 69
Summicron 35
Summicron 35
I halfway feared that Photokina would reveal a new innovation that would make the R-D1 obsolete. (Un)fortunately that didn't happen.
The build quality is excellent. Beautiful finder. A few years back I held a Leica M8 in my hands for a few shots, and I was disappointed to miss the rock solid feeling of the M6. And the body was too thick for a RF, at least in my opinion. With the R-D1, no such expectations and hence no disappointment. For a guy with big hands, the R-D1's size is perfect. I added a tall screw to the shutter button to make the release softer.
I already had a set of three M-lenses (35, 50 and 90), an Industar 22 and a Jupiter 26. For $20 I purchased an Industar 69 so I would have a cheap 28mm to play around with. At the price, that's all I expected to get, but after a bit of re-greasing and adjusting for infinity focus, this little pancake lens is actually quite charming.
Upon disassembling it, I discovered that one of two the stop screws behind the focus ring was missing. “Typically Russian" I thought. But then I realized that the missing screw allows me to focus past the 80 cm mark and down to 30 cm. Not too bad after all.
At anything below 5.6 it's soft as butter, but from there sharpness and detail increase to a surprisingly acceptable level. Vignetting isn't too bad, and it's easily corrected in the RAW processor anyway. Of course the lack of rangefinder coupling makes its use a bit cumbersome, but when you get the focus right, the I-69 is actually quite good.
The I-26 has proven to be surprisingly sharp from appx. f4, and on my screen it's easy to mix up the images from the I-26 and my Summicron 50 (gasp!).
I also tested the I-22 stopped down a few steps, and it too performed very well.
To me, one of the greatest advantages of the R-D1 is the ability to use the high ISO modes and still get pleasantly looking images. 1600 in B&W RAW is amazing with its film-like grain. As much as I like my Ricoh GX100, that small sensor doesn't exactly shine when used for low-light work, now does it?
No more words for now. Peep the images.
Industar 69
Summicron 35
Summicron 35
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pb908
Well-known
welcome !!!
wow, you just knock me off with your info of industar 69..what a surprise we have solution for cheap 28mm lens!!
is the most left picture taken with this lens ? assuming with f8 you get enough sharpness/contrast, it will be nice snapshot lens with wide dof !
wow, you just knock me off with your info of industar 69..what a surprise we have solution for cheap 28mm lens!!
is the most left picture taken with this lens ? assuming with f8 you get enough sharpness/contrast, it will be nice snapshot lens with wide dof !
porktaco
Well-known
But It's Only Six Megapixel Omgz
RFH
rfhansen.wordpress.com
Yes, the left image is shot with the I-69. The other two with a 35 Summicron. No Postprocessing to speak of. I just realized that I was premature in claiming I had adjusted the lens for infinity. I'm currently grinding some metal off the barrel, and moving the lens closer to the sensor definitely improves the situation. Not quite there yet, but I'll post some more images when it's done.
RFH
rfhansen.wordpress.com
Another shot from the I-69 after adjustment. 1600 ISO, infinity. The aperture marks don't line up after the modification, so I'm guessing it's shot at 5.6. I may need to do some more filing tonight.
I just read the HDR thread, and if I can do this with a $20 lens and a slight curve in PS, who needs it?
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RFH
rfhansen.wordpress.com
And here's a close-up with the I-69 after what I hope was the final adjustment for infinity focus. It's definitely more accurate now. I corrected some vignetting and gave it a +1 contrast, that's all.
LeicaFoReVer
Addicted to Rangefinders
could you post bigger sized photos in the first post please...
bellyface
Registered Nice Guy
wow... so my understanding is the i-69 is a half frame lens, is this correct? Does it couple with the RF alignment or are you guestimating the focus? great shots i have to say.
RFH
rfhansen.wordpress.com
Correct, Bellyface. Scale focus, or just use an external RF and set the lens accordingly. It's not a knock-your-socks-off lens for landscapes, but for snapshots and close-ups it's really nice. And very cheap compared to other RF 28mm options.
Here's another shot. Swirly bokeh and all...
Here's another shot. Swirly bokeh and all...