R-D1 or Bessa? Trying to spark my creativity.

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UPHOTO

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After years of shooting digital SLR's at weddings I am just creatively dead. :rolleyes:

I never pick up my cameras anymore unless it's for work and it's driving me nuts.

My cure? I am thinking a rangefinder. Great M mount glass, MF, mostly manual settings, all of these things will get me excited again.

Now comes the question of digital or film. I know I will get some bias here in the Epson forum BUT that is where I am leaning towards.

I love shooting wide open, higher ISO and that is where I think the Epson wins over the film Bessa.

The crop factor is one of the only things I view as a knock on the Epson but I don't shoot super wide, 35mm FOV is wide for me.

I tried to search and couldn't find anything on the topic. I'm sure the question has been asked before, so sorry.

What are the thoughts on this?

Thank you

aaron
 
This all sounds very familiar to me. If your current wf is digital I highly recomend the RD1. As much as film is fun it is also time consuming and takes away from shooting. If you are feeling a bit burned out. Making more work for yourself with a film workflow will likely not help. Pick up an RD1 and CV Nokton 1.4/40. See how it goes. You can step out of that combo quickly if it's not a fit.
 
thosw who shoot film will recommend the bessa.
those who shoot digital will recommend the rd1.

watch this...

i recommend the rd1 with a 28 to start.
 
f16sunshine said:
This all sounds very familiar to me. If your current wf is digital I highly recomend the RD1. As much as film is fun it is also time consuming and takes away from shooting. If you are feeling a bit burned out. Making more work for yourself with a film workflow will likely not help. Pick up an RD1 and CV Nokton 1.4/40. See how it goes. You can step out of that combo quickly if it's not a fit.
Click to expand...

That is my line of thinking also. With a very efficient digital work flow it just makes sense.

back alley, I kinda figured that would happen too. :p
 
I think if you're more familiar with a digital workflow the R-D1 will be a more natural jump from the dSLR. The analog handling of the camera will help differentiating from the fast-paced and full of buttons dSLR handling, giving you some of the advantages of the analog world. Extra points for not having extra cost with film, development, scanning, printing...

I'd second Joe's recommendation for a 28/2 as a first lens and also suggest a Nokton 35/1.4. It will give a ~50mm field of view (which I think it's pretty versatile) and an extra stop, which combined with the R-D1's surprisingly good iso1600 gives you a pretty good low light combo. The 28 gives a very versatile FOV as well, but I miss having more space around the frameline, which I do using the 35mm.
 
f16sunshine said:
As much as film is fun it is also time consuming and takes away from shooting. If you are feeling a bit burned out. Making more work for yourself with a film workflow will likely not help.
Click to expand...

My reasoning for the film recommendation was precisely to slow down the process.
 
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UPHOTO said:
I love shooting wide open, higher ISO and that is where I think the Epson wins over the film Bessa.
Click to expand...


aaron, aren't these areas where the more recent dSLRs win over a dRF (high iso, AF for very thin DOF shooting wide open and close)?

i guess it would be good to know what you expect to shoot with a different kit.
 
general 02 cents worth

Do you know what you want from you new camera or do you just feel frustrated with working the same way all the time at work?

Would a simple fixed lens RF do the trick , or do you need to try Large format and really slow down ... maybe an XA and some street photography ...

if money allows i hear the Leica M9 is ok too

But if you want an answer on the 2 cameras you have named i would go with the Epson
 
...only consuming the board the last weeks, not delivering - sorry guys, some very personal things, and nothing to do with rangefinders...

Aaron was asking for RD1 or Bessa, and filmfan delivers Bessa because of slowing down the process.

At the first glimpse: filmfan is right. But at a second glimpse, remembering my own film experience, film means: taking some shots, running in the bathroom, developing the film, taking a dryer to dry it, taping black plastic foil in the bathoom window, installing the DURST engine, (or the Fuji film scanner) and so on and so on.
RD1: Taking some shots, extracting the SD card, looking pictures on screen
.

Digital means less stress and lower costs.

The slowing down mechanism is when taking the pictures, not in the developing process - developing is stress, just my two cents.

Cheers,

Andreas
 
andreas.pichler said:
...only consuming the board the last weeks, not delivering - sorry guys, some very personal things, and nothing to do with rangefinders...

Aaron was asking for RD1 or Bessa, and filmfan delivers Bessa because of slowing down the process.

At the first glimpse: filmfan is right. But at a second glimpse, remembering my own film experience, film means: taking some shots, running in the bathroom, developing the film, taking a dryer to dry it, taping black plastic foil in the bathoom window, installing the DURST engine, (or the Fuji film scanner) and so on and so on.
RD1: Taking some shots, extracting the SD card, looking pictures on screen
.


Digital means less stress and lower costs.

The slowing down mechanism is when taking the pictures, not in the developing process - developing is stress, just my two cents.

Cheers,

Andreas
Click to expand...

exactly!



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