jimbobuk
Established
Just stumbled across this rather damning review here
http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=2102
It brought up a few questions that i was interested in
As a glasses wearer this is of some concern to me. I'm sure i saw somewhere you COULD get dioptric correction attachments, it was something i was considering incase i'm unable to get close enough in to see the full frame, and shutter speed along the bottom whilst wearing my glasses. Any other glasses wearer care to comment on this? As for scratching your glasses, isn't there a rubber skirt available, or have people improvised a solution?
Later on he goes on to comment on the vignetting problem, yet he was given the 35/2.5 lens to review it with, and according to the luminous landscapes review its only moderate vignetting wide open, and gone by the time your at F/4. He has a landscape shot later on hilighting this problem, the bottom left corner of the image does look quite dark, i guess he must have been shooting with quite an open aperture. Just a quickie but are the LL statements correct, if i stick to above the apertures stated with the lenses described i should have NO noticeable vignetting?
Finally he goes on to say
The freezing i assume is the going to sleep thing, as my SLR does.. I guess if there is no way to spot it HAS gone to sleep its going to irritate more than on my SLR you can see the screen is blank.. do the dials go to their off positions when its asleep??! Oh and whilst i'm on the sleep thing, i read in a few other reviews complaints of the time taken to wake up.. yet in the same review it states that the startup time is very speedy.. is the wake up time significantly slower than the sleep time!?
But the real kicker is his cleaning mode statement.. Its the one thing that frustrates me about changable lenses on a digital camera.. sensor blobs.. his pictures later on are quite severely hit with blobs.. whether they're on the lens or on the sensor isn't too clear.. My 350D has a cleaning mode but i rarely use it and am very careful when changing lenses.. trying not to do it in a dusty area, titling the camera down when doing it, covering backs of lenses and bodies as quickly as possible.. I'm on my 2nd 350D body now, but before taking back my 1st one I managed to fix a blob quite easily with a blower through to the sensor... gently, 1 puff, no contact and gone.
ANyways he talks of not having the mode to do a similar thing but correct me if i'm wrong but surely you can setup your R-D1 with no lens, change the shutter speed to bulb, and take the shot, holding down the shutter and using a blower to gently blow any dust off the sensor. Isn't this possible? If the camera somehow senses no lens and doesn't take a picture (stopping you being able to experiment with a pinhole lens if you so wished
) then couldn't you use an adapter connected into the camera so it thinks a lens is connected but you still have access to the inside to disturb any problem spots.
As an aside, how protected is the sensor from dust and the like compared to say an SLR.. the mirror and shutter only offers minor protection, its certainly not air tight is it? hows the shutter on the R-D1 compared, purely for keeping things away from the sensor when its exposed?
I dunno, i've seen some so so reviews of the R-D1 but i'm still convinced it will be a good thing for me to have.. For starters i was going off the back of the LL reviews as pretty much removing or greatly reducing the vignetting problem, which seems to be one of the big things any reviewer jumps on when they are criticising it. i know alot of you guys are loving yours, but this review has struck me as quite the most negative i've come across scoring it at
Features, fair enough if those features are the convenience things that other digital cameras, and digital SLRs offer. Value too fair enough, tho pretty harsh.. its certainly an expensive bit of kit, but the Image Quality has obviously took a huge hit from his criticism of its vignetting. I dunno.. guess he just didn't like it.
Its the glasses use thats worrying me the most now, i'd appreciate hearing anyones opinions on this.. perhaps a poll for R-D1 users who use glasses and how they find it..
Thanks, as ever looking forward to your wisdom.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=2102
It brought up a few questions that i was interested in
As a glasses wearer this is of some concern to me. I'm sure i saw somewhere you COULD get dioptric correction attachments, it was something i was considering incase i'm unable to get close enough in to see the full frame, and shutter speed along the bottom whilst wearing my glasses. Any other glasses wearer care to comment on this? As for scratching your glasses, isn't there a rubber skirt available, or have people improvised a solution?
Later on he goes on to comment on the vignetting problem, yet he was given the 35/2.5 lens to review it with, and according to the luminous landscapes review its only moderate vignetting wide open, and gone by the time your at F/4. He has a landscape shot later on hilighting this problem, the bottom left corner of the image does look quite dark, i guess he must have been shooting with quite an open aperture. Just a quickie but are the LL statements correct, if i stick to above the apertures stated with the lenses described i should have NO noticeable vignetting?
Finally he goes on to say
The freezing i assume is the going to sleep thing, as my SLR does.. I guess if there is no way to spot it HAS gone to sleep its going to irritate more than on my SLR you can see the screen is blank.. do the dials go to their off positions when its asleep??! Oh and whilst i'm on the sleep thing, i read in a few other reviews complaints of the time taken to wake up.. yet in the same review it states that the startup time is very speedy.. is the wake up time significantly slower than the sleep time!?
But the real kicker is his cleaning mode statement.. Its the one thing that frustrates me about changable lenses on a digital camera.. sensor blobs.. his pictures later on are quite severely hit with blobs.. whether they're on the lens or on the sensor isn't too clear.. My 350D has a cleaning mode but i rarely use it and am very careful when changing lenses.. trying not to do it in a dusty area, titling the camera down when doing it, covering backs of lenses and bodies as quickly as possible.. I'm on my 2nd 350D body now, but before taking back my 1st one I managed to fix a blob quite easily with a blower through to the sensor... gently, 1 puff, no contact and gone.
ANyways he talks of not having the mode to do a similar thing but correct me if i'm wrong but surely you can setup your R-D1 with no lens, change the shutter speed to bulb, and take the shot, holding down the shutter and using a blower to gently blow any dust off the sensor. Isn't this possible? If the camera somehow senses no lens and doesn't take a picture (stopping you being able to experiment with a pinhole lens if you so wished
) then couldn't you use an adapter connected into the camera so it thinks a lens is connected but you still have access to the inside to disturb any problem spots.As an aside, how protected is the sensor from dust and the like compared to say an SLR.. the mirror and shutter only offers minor protection, its certainly not air tight is it? hows the shutter on the R-D1 compared, purely for keeping things away from the sensor when its exposed?
I dunno, i've seen some so so reviews of the R-D1 but i'm still convinced it will be a good thing for me to have.. For starters i was going off the back of the LL reviews as pretty much removing or greatly reducing the vignetting problem, which seems to be one of the big things any reviewer jumps on when they are criticising it. i know alot of you guys are loving yours, but this review has struck me as quite the most negative i've come across scoring it at
Features, fair enough if those features are the convenience things that other digital cameras, and digital SLRs offer. Value too fair enough, tho pretty harsh.. its certainly an expensive bit of kit, but the Image Quality has obviously took a huge hit from his criticism of its vignetting. I dunno.. guess he just didn't like it.
Its the glasses use thats worrying me the most now, i'd appreciate hearing anyones opinions on this.. perhaps a poll for R-D1 users who use glasses and how they find it..
Thanks, as ever looking forward to your wisdom.
JoshRoot
The NW will rise again.
This review is crap. The guy has no concept of why a digital RF would exist.
I would ignore most everything that he says. There are many other reviews that cover the good and bad points of the R-D1.
I would ignore most everything that he says. There are many other reviews that cover the good and bad points of the R-D1.
VinceC
Veteran
>>... and you don’t even get a through-the-lens viewfinder. And it costs £2,000 just for the body. Maybe I’m missing something, but I really don’t get the point of the Epson R-D1.<<
That's from the first paragraph. No real point in reading any further.
That's from the first paragraph. No real point in reading any further.
jimbobuk
Established
Thanks guys.. I kind of got that vibe anyways but there are so few reviews of it that i HAD to read on
What about the questions it genuinely threw up which i ask about?
use with glasses, how's the view, to the edges at least?
diotric adjustment lens options?
covering to stop glasses scratching?
sensor cleaning options, does my bulb exposure method above work?
Is the vignetting totally gone once you close the aperture to the recommended ones in the LL review?
How is the sleep wake up time? How is it compared to a full power up?
Thanks guys.. I MUST SLEEP NOW
What about the questions it genuinely threw up which i ask about?
use with glasses, how's the view, to the edges at least?
diotric adjustment lens options?
covering to stop glasses scratching?
sensor cleaning options, does my bulb exposure method above work?
Is the vignetting totally gone once you close the aperture to the recommended ones in the LL review?
How is the sleep wake up time? How is it compared to a full power up?
Thanks guys.. I MUST SLEEP NOW
pfogle
Well-known
Diopter correction - you buy a screw in correction lens. The ones made for the Nikon FE/FM work fine.
There is a (small) rubber ring on the eyepiece, so it's not true about scratching glasses.
I have a diopter correction, but don't use it as it makes it harder to use the camera with both eyes open, which is the main advantage of having a 1:1 ratio viewfinder. I have no trouble with glasses, but then again I don't use the 28mm. You would really be better off with a correction lens for that focal length, as the framelines are hard to see with glasses.
As for value, either you love this camera or you don't. As with most obsessives, those of us who love it are not really that rational about value etc. We just use it.
There is a (small) rubber ring on the eyepiece, so it's not true about scratching glasses.
I have a diopter correction, but don't use it as it makes it harder to use the camera with both eyes open, which is the main advantage of having a 1:1 ratio viewfinder. I have no trouble with glasses, but then again I don't use the 28mm. You would really be better off with a correction lens for that focal length, as the framelines are hard to see with glasses.
As for value, either you love this camera or you don't. As with most obsessives, those of us who love it are not really that rational about value etc. We just use it.
aizan
Veteran
i don't understand people who don't like rangefinders. weirdos...
R
RML
Guest
jimbobuk said:Thanks guys.. I kind of got that vibe anyways but there are so few reviews of it that i HAD to read on
Few reviews? Doesn't matter. Just read the good ones.
Even I wrote _a review_.I use glasses and I have little or now trouble. Sure, I can't fully see the 28mm framelines but I never find that a problem. I just use whatever I can see and be done with it. Whatever I can't see is only a minimal amount of the frame anyway.
I've never understood the use of these. I'm not going to take of my glasses before every shot. But if tyou want to use them, IIRC the Nikon (?) diopters fit on the R-D1. Was it Nikon or a different brand? I don't recall correctly but there are diopters out there that fit.
There's a rubber ring on the eye piece that protects glasses from scratching. Works perfectly.
Yes, that works.
Yes, that should work. Besides, the Epson PhotoRAW software has a very good vignetting reducing feature. I don't use the setting for the focal length I shot with; instead I use the setting for 1-2 focal lengths longer (instead of 35mm I'd use 75mm setting). Works very well. Another besides, how often don't we want to add some amount of vignetting to push the viewer's attention towards the point of interest? IMO many dark room printers do this. With the R-D1 you get it for free.
Anyway, the vignetting never bothered me. See for yourself _on my photo portfolio blog_.It's the same, though sleep-wake up time seems to take longer as I want to shoot the camera right then and there.
The sleeper timer is a minimum of 3 minutes and a simple half-press of the shutter button keeps the camera awake.Phil_Hawkes
Established
jimbobuk said:
Hi! I found a document on an Epson website about cleaning the sensor. Go to the www.epson.com site, select NorthAmerica/USA and then look for "Document and Manuals". Eventually, you'll get to the right page for the R-D1, and there will be a link to a pdf for "product support document link". This pdf has info about cleaning the sensot. (I would provide the url, but since the url mentions cookies I'm not convinced that it will send you to the right place!!!!)
One of the things they mention is that when there is no SD-card in the camera, then the charge (or something) connected to the sensor is turned off... so you should remove the SD card when cleaning.
Phil
Donald Mann
Member
corrective viewfinder enses
corrective viewfinder enses
Viewfinder lenses are avaialble in 1 diopter increments only, at www.cameraquest.com
Certain Nikon viewfinder lenses also work as noted above.
corrective viewfinder enses
Viewfinder lenses are avaialble in 1 diopter increments only, at www.cameraquest.com
Certain Nikon viewfinder lenses also work as noted above.
jimbobuk
Established
Thanks for all the replies guys.
Bizarre that he talked of no glasses protection yet there seems to be some.
No way of cleaning the sensor, yet even me who doesn't own one yet could spot a potential way to do it. Using the document Phil_Hawkes describes from epson helps make it even more easier to do, nice touch that taking the card out stops charging the sensor.. wierd but nice, I dont doubt that Epson knows what they are talking about. I guess i'll need a screw in locking cable release to do it easily, where can you get a compatible one from, I take it they're not expensive?
Severe vignetting on a lens that really shouldn't by f8.
No diopter correction.. Ok so there's no dial to adjust this like on an SLR but screw in lenses are available as described and if you do choose to use these you have to take glasses off for each shot (something i dont do with my SLR, so i have it configured to work with my glasses on) and you lose the nice advantage of a 1x viewfinder letting you have both eyes open comfortably.
Obviously he disliked it so much he couldn't even be bothered to do 5 minutes research into his gripes.
Anyways, thanks for setting the record straight.
Bizarre that he talked of no glasses protection yet there seems to be some.
No way of cleaning the sensor, yet even me who doesn't own one yet could spot a potential way to do it. Using the document Phil_Hawkes describes from epson helps make it even more easier to do, nice touch that taking the card out stops charging the sensor.. wierd but nice, I dont doubt that Epson knows what they are talking about. I guess i'll need a screw in locking cable release to do it easily, where can you get a compatible one from, I take it they're not expensive?
Severe vignetting on a lens that really shouldn't by f8.
No diopter correction.. Ok so there's no dial to adjust this like on an SLR but screw in lenses are available as described and if you do choose to use these you have to take glasses off for each shot (something i dont do with my SLR, so i have it configured to work with my glasses on) and you lose the nice advantage of a 1x viewfinder letting you have both eyes open comfortably.
Obviously he disliked it so much he couldn't even be bothered to do 5 minutes research into his gripes.
Anyways, thanks for setting the record straight.
jimbobuk
Established
As an aside i've found some higher res shots of the camera itself and can see the rubber eye piece you guys describe.. Looking back at the trustedreviews review and to me it looks like it really didn't have a rubber eyepiece on at all, i see no lip from the rubber, just a thin circle. Is it something you have to fit yourself, and he just didn't do it?
R
RML
Guest
jimbobuk said:
It's there as standard. Maybe he got a loaner or rented one or whatever, and his specimen just happened not to have one. On mine it was there when the camera was still in the box.