bono0272 Posted July 11, 2006 Share #1 Posted July 11, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) Has anyone tried the Epson RD-1s so far? Any big difference between the RD-1 and RD-1s? And, since the Digital M is coming, will you choose a RD-1s or the DM? Compare between the 2 models, the RD-1s gets a 6M pixel resolution and 1.5X crop factor, while the Digital M has over 10M pixel and 1.33 crop factor. The price of a RD-1s should be 1600-1800 EURO around, in Hong Kong. And the Digital M, should be around 4000 EURO here, I guess. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 11, 2006 Posted July 11, 2006 Hi bono0272, Take a look here Epson RD-1s. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
lct Posted July 11, 2006 Share #2 Posted July 11, 2006 AFAIK there is no difference between the R-D1s and the R-D1 with the last firmware update. R-D1 or digital M? Matter of budget and personal tastes i guess. Personally i like much the 1:1 viewfinder of the R-D1 so i'm reluctant to buy the digital M if its VF magnification is lower than that of the M3 (0.91x). Now i'm sure that the digital M will be sharper than the R-D1 and its rather strong anti-aliasing filter so i could well be tempted soon or late. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted July 11, 2006 Share #3 Posted July 11, 2006 Did use the R-D1 for 8 months - have not tried the 1s, but it is primarily a firmware upgrade, and most of the problems I had with the original were hardware-based (no framing for lenses above 50mm, poor focusing with lenses above 50mm, shutter failure at 3500 exposures, body covering coming loose). The firmware upgrade may have fixed the one other issue I had with the Epson, which was color rendition (jpegs too hot with orange/red staining in shadows) - the R-D1s allows the option of shooting in Adobe 1998 color space, whereas the original only supported sRGB. No further interest in the Epson - saving up for an M8 (already ordered), which should solve most of the issues I had with the R-D1, as well as crossing over into double-digit Mpixels, which was the standard I set for myself last year, and have confirmed through 9 months with a Sony R-1 as well as experiments with the DMR. Plus I have more confidence that Leica will stand behind the M8 long-term as regards servicing - at least I know the names of the women who run the Leica US service department. Just not sure a printer/scanner company has the resources to fully support a camera with a complex mechanical/optical rangefinder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted July 11, 2006 Share #4 Posted July 11, 2006 Well, I have the RD-1, upgraded to RD-1s, which is a great improvement. I am shortly (Sept 11,) flying to Morocco where I shall give it a good workout. I will still shoot most of my images on film (M6 & M7) sharing the same lenses. My deep concern with the RD-1(s) is that srtaight out of the camera, I cannot get a 11"x14" or 12"x16" print @ 300dpi! Sure, I can get a print that looks O.K., but it is less than 300dpi. Does that matter? Well, I am not sure, but from my 35mm negs I regularly go to 16"x20" and even larger. So what does that mean? I think it means I will be in the market for the M8 for a number of reasons. Larger potential enlargements, greater ease of focussing(I anticipate), better functionality in general. I know LCT likes the 1:1 VF on the RD-1, as do I, but I still find the Leicas easier, by far, to focus. Don't get me wrong! I do enjoy and like the RD-1. I just expect that the M8 will be MUCH better. If so, I will sell my soul to the devil and take his picture with the money in his hand. Cheers, Erl Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 11, 2006 Share #5 Posted July 11, 2006 I bought an Epson R-D1 as a stop-gap while waiting for the M8, have since upgraded to firmware and have twice had to manually correct the vertical rangefinder patch alignment, once when it was new and again after it fell off my desk onto a carpeted floor which knocked it out of alignment. Pick it up, use it, and it feels much more Leica-like than any Pansonic with a red dot. It's a much better camera to use with the firmware upgrade and there are some elements which I really like from the usability point of view - the dials give instant information on 4 aspects of the camera operation are much more in keeping with the nature of the camera than a monochrome LCD panel would be. The shuttle dial is very easy to use, much better than a thumb-wheel on the back of the camera. I've been very pleased with the image quality and low noise even at ISO 1600. It's an ideal camera to use with a Tri-Elmar because the lens focal lengths match the viewfinder frames. I'll definitely keep mine when the M8 arrives. I expect the M8 will improve on many aspects of the camera - image quality, viewfinder, build quality and so on, but if you look at the R-D1, especially pictures of one in bits, you realise the packaging challenge of the M8 - bigger sensor, bigger LCD, motor wound shutter, hopefully bigger battery will all take up more space - and the R-D1 is already bigger than an M7. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted July 11, 2006 Share #6 Posted July 11, 2006 Has anyone tried the Epson RD-1s so far? Any big difference between the RD-1 and RD-1s? And, since the Digital M is coming, will you choose a RD-1s or the DM? Compare between the 2 models, the RD-1s gets a 6M pixel resolution and 1.5X crop factor, while the Digital M has over 10M pixel and 1.33 crop factor. The price of a RD-1s should be 1600-1800 EURO around, in Hong Kong. And the Digital M, should be around 4000 EURO here, I guess. I've used the R-D1 for about 2 mths and I'm very pleased with it. It's a joy to go back to shooting with a small rangefinder, makes me even more eager to get the M digital. I use it mainly for shooting candids and it's a lot less noticeable or intimidating than an SLR. There were no problems upgrading the firmware. Here are the differences between the R-D1 and R-D1s / "upgraded" R-D1 http://esupport.epson-europe.com/ViewFAQ.aspx?lng=en-EU&ID=KB060045EN The firmware upgrade for the Epson R-D1 adds all the functionality of the new Epson R-D1s: • Pictures displayed on the LCD can be viewed at a greater magnification rate: Jpeg from x10 to x16 and RAW from x2 to x16. • The Epson R-D1 ‘default film’ can be set to 1, 2 or 3. Value 1 is ‘Portrait’ mode. Value 2 is for ‘Landscape’ shooting and value 3 is a ‘night-view’ set-up. Please note, your original film set-up values will be kept after the firmware upgrade. The new default values will only be set after you perform the photography setting initialization. • When shooting in Jpeg mode you can now select the colour space ‘Adobe RGB’. • The new “RAW + JPEG” shooting mode simultaneously records the shot in two different files (Jpeg (H) and RAW) under the same file number. • The “quick view” function allows the picture to be displayed on the LCD immediately after the shot is taken. • The noise reduction for long exposure times reduces noise, after the shutter has been closed. On the Epson R-D1, the strong noise reduction set-up of the film could be only operated for an exposure time above 2 seconds. • A new ‘CCD pixel defect correction’ function can be performed from the user menu. • Compatibility with Print Image Matching 3. • The shutter remains usable even if the Epson R-D1 is set to playback mode. • The auto white balance has been modified. The colour balance adjustment for incandescent light has been improved. • Reduction of noise for shots with the ISO 1600 set-up. • The ‘multi-shot’ function has been improved by increased the number of successive shots from 2 to 3. Fixing the double shutter release problem in playback mode and hot pixel mapping are most welcome. AFAIK there is one difference between the upgraded camera and a real R-D1s. In the image EXIF data the R-D1 is still an R-D1 whereas the R-D1s is reported as an "s". At the moment that causes a problem with Capture One's RAW converter and the R-D1s, but there is a workaround: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25435 Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted July 11, 2006 Share #7 Posted July 11, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) The firmware upgrade may have fixed the one other issue I had with the Epson, which was color rendition (jpegs too hot with orange/red staining in shadows) - the R-D1s allows the option of shooting in Adobe 1998 color space, whereas the original only supported sRGB. Mine also had a problem with red shadows but was fixed with the firmware update. It was due to excessive noise in the red channel which showed up on dark grey/pale cyan colours at high ISO. Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean_reid Posted July 11, 2006 Share #8 Posted July 11, 2006 I've written extensively about the R-D1, including a long-term report that summarizes the experiences of about fifty owners. It should give you a somewhat objective sense of what the pros and cons of the camera are. I've also written quite a bit about how various lenses work on this camera. The R-D1S reflects a firmware upgrade which one can manually add to an R-D1. It improves several key factors and is certainly worth installing. I do a lot of my professional work with two R-D1 bodies and have for some time. Cheers, Sean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinman Posted July 11, 2006 Share #9 Posted July 11, 2006 Hi, I do not have any experience with the Epson - but maybe it is instructive to watch some samples of the Epson R-D1 Pool on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/r-d1/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP3 Posted July 11, 2006 Share #10 Posted July 11, 2006 FYI, the latest street price of an R-D1 in Hong Kong is HKD 13,000-, that's around USD 1,700- or EURO 1,300-. I believe the price may further decline after M8's Sept launch. Cheers Matthew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 11, 2006 Share #11 Posted July 11, 2006 Don't understand your logic why the R-D1 price is going to fall just because the M8 costing nearly 3 times as much comes out. If they were close together in price, I could see the Leica crowding out the Epson but as it is, there will be people who look at the Leica, decide it's too expensive and take another look at the Epson. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP3 Posted July 12, 2006 Share #12 Posted July 12, 2006 Mark Your logic seems absolutely correct. Only that we have still to see a 2 year old electronic product goes revert to rise a bit in price. May be they will do a facelift 'R-D1x' or better launch the successor model R-D2. Anyany, a rennaisance in RF is good for all of us. Cheers Matthew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted July 12, 2006 Share #13 Posted July 12, 2006 Bob Parsons: Thanks for the (s) upgrade specs. I always suspected those red shadows were partly a red noise problem. I notice my Sony R-1 (also with a Sony sensor, obviously) also shows a hint of this problem in sRGB, but much less so when Adobe 1998 is the shooting color space (because it cools and desaturates color a bit overall, and extends the cyan range). So it looks like Epsonand Sony went after that problem from two different angles. Now if only they can sneak in a long-base Zeiss-Ikon rangefinder and a D200 10Mp sensor.... I will say - as much as I like many things about the Sony R-1 - that I have quite a few RD-1 shots made with my Leica 21 pre-ASPH that have far richer tonality, even with 4 fewer mpixels. I may have to give the Epson another look once I get the M8, as a $2000 backup. I have a feeling I'm ready to leave EVFs behind forever really soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.