[Leica] Do you like a rookie? :was decline in LUG membership

[mikiro at yahoo.fr (mikiro@yahoo.fr)]

Thanks a lot for your kind welcome. I am very very happy to be back. :-)

Hi, Nathan, Jem, and Lucien. I hope you are all fine.

Here is my brief impression of Epson R-D1 for those of you who are 
interested in this camera. When it first appeared, I just asked myself 
who would be so generous as to pay 280,000 yen (2500 USD) for a Beesa-D. 
When I had my hands on a real one, I knew I was wrong.

R-D1 is larger, heavier, and, most importantly, more solid than Bessa 
R2. Indeed, if you have a close look, you will find that it shares only 
a few parts with Bessa. The 1x viewfinder is at least as clear as that 
of Bessa R2. The shutter is much quieter. The shutter charge lever is a 
unique feature of this camera and makes you feel that you use a 
mechanical film camera. It is much smoother than the film advance lever 
of Bessa. Even in a single shooting session, you can use R-D1 and M 
cameras interchangeably with no stress.

In terms of image quality, R-D1 is in the same league with my Pentax 
*istD (and probably other D-SLRs with similar sensors). In-camera jpg 
images look a bit dull, and RAW may give you additional details. The 
colour is very neutral. Epson people aim that its images reveal 
characters of lenses by minimising filters and retouches in the camera. 
In this respect they seem to be successful. More work will be needed to 
confirm it.

Undoubtedly, R-D1 will not be a cup of tea for every Leica user. In my 
view, this product is a very well made prototype or a rookie with much 
potential but no big name behind him. I for one am a great fan of him 
and want to be a supporter.

Cheers,

MIKIRO
Japan