R-D1 or M8?

Thanks to everyone here!!! After all the reading & the researching............. I am now a happy R-D1s owner🙂

Compared to the Nex-3..... This R-D1 feels so retro😀
 
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photografity said:
After all the reading & the researching............. I am now a happy R-D1s owner🙂

Compared to the Nex-3..... This R-D1 feels so retro😀
Click to expand...

Great choice there. A rangefinder such as r-d1 gives the user a completely unique experience. The manual shutter crank has paired well with my M6 mated in the bag. The fun I have with the R-D1 could not be met with a Nex. I sold my X100 after about 1.5 months of almost solely using it. R-D1 batteries don't hold too long a charge, get some extras.

The m8 i'm sure would have equally served you, and has its pluses.

Enjoy all the lenses
 
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huntjump said:
Great choice there. A rangefinder such as r-d1 gives the user a completely unique experience. The manual shutter crank has paired well with my M6 mated in the bag. The fun I have with the R-D1 could not be met with a Nex. I sold my X100 after about 1.5 months of almost solely using it. Just love controling the focus, and could not replace my D700.

The m8 i'm sure would have equally served you.

The best about either option was your world of lenses you get to play with.

Enjoy.
Click to expand...

I actually tried holding the M8, didn't like it...... coming from the "old school" film M's, I am used to securing my grip with thumb in the advance lever... I found it "unsecure" without buying a thumbs up...... Finally a quote from Steve Huff "It's better put the money on "glass" than it is on a body"
 
I'd rather contest it between Ricoh GXR A-12M and M8. Now that would be a tough choice.

But between the Epson and the Leica, disregarding price difference, the M8 wins my vote.
 
photografity said:
Thanks to everyone here!!! After all the reading & the researching............. I am now a happy R-D1s owner🙂
Click to expand...

Congratulations. You will not regret getting the Epson (not bashing the Leica though). Use the Epson software to convert your .erfs into .tiffs and you will be convinced that Epson knows a thing or two about colour (and scan and print). There is so much more in those files than Lightroom et al can extract. Potential buyers cheat themselves if the only compare say Lightroom M8 to Lightroom R-D1 files. I have still to find (from own trials or from others) conversions of .erfs from other software vendors that get even close to the Epson converted ones.

I have no problems focusing a 90mm Leica lens on the R-D1s and I wear glasses (framing is more of a guestimate but it becomes surprisingly easy after a little while). On the other hand I was not endeared with the 28mm and glasses combo.

REPAIRS
If I remember my own post (somewhere on this forum) correctly, Epson guaranteed 5 years of repairs when I bought mine in 2007. So it should still be serviceable a year from now from Epson (and probably longer from 3rd party repairers).

This Leica vs Epson repair comes up frequently. I believe (cannot recall source at the moment) that Leica repair is done by another legal entity so that if Leica Camera AG went bust the repair part would survive. On the other hand Epson is a much bigger company.

The Epsons around probably work quite well (there were problems in the beginning). The availability of spares is likely to be the killer in the long run for both M8 (unless there is a significant overlap between M8 and M9) and R-D1. On the other hand you can buy two Epsons and have one for parts 😀

Xpanded
 
xpanded,

Thank you, I am really appreciate the old style RF, which I missed after years of AF & AE....

I had downloaded the Epson PhotoRAW Utility v1.30A from the Epson Website, however I am using a MacBook Pro running 10.7....... I do have an old Windose, which I am trying to avoid like a plague.... Does anyone know if there is a more recent version, please point there.. in the meantime I am trying Raw Photo Processor 64 which seems to be much better than PS & Lightroom.....
 
froyd said:
I think that quote is more relevant to film cameras than digital, which, for the most part, have sensors hardwired to the body.
Click to expand...

He was referring to the people thinking of upgrading to a M9 from M8

Who wouldn't love to own a M9..... But M9's are overprice😱, not about to burn $8G on a body now.........
 
xpanded said:
REPAIRS
If I remember my own post (somewhere on this forum) correctly, Epson guaranteed 5 years of repairs when I bought mine in 2007. So it should still be serviceable a year from now from Epson (and probably longer from 3rd party repairers).

This Leica vs Epson repair comes up frequently. I believe (cannot recall source at the moment) that Leica repair is done by another legal entity so that if Leica Camera AG went bust the repair part would survive. On the other hand Epson is a much bigger company.
Xpanded
Click to expand...

This is possibly why it seems to be not uncommon to hear about very long turnaround times with Solms. Weeks, and often months. Don't know about other countries, but a very helpful poster here gave me links which demonstrated that Epson will come to your door and pick up the camera here (Japan) and presumably bring it back as well.

I mentioned this elsewhere but I've had the RD1-S for two or three months now and it's been great. Hasn't given me any trouble at all. The M8 I used to have was just one pain in the rear after another and even for the reduced price I paid for it (reduced in comparison to its original stratospheric price tag) I would consider it to be unreliable in the extreme. The R-D1S cost me half of what the Leica did and (so far) hasn't put a foot wrong.
 
RFJapan,

This was the major deciding factor, not only here, but in other forums, I read the same "horror" stories.....
Actually, this reminds me of the days of the R-series(3 bodies), great optics, but highly unreliable electronics, crazy that there was always 1 body in the shop, which forced me to pick up a Leicaflex SL2 (remember those tanks).
 
I'm using Epson Photo Raw on Linux with Wine. Wine is also available for Mac OS X. so you should be able to run EPR seamless on Wine/Mac OS X. Maybe I try this this weekend, since I often use Lightroom for the M9 on Mac, before switching back to Linux.
 
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