[Leica] Re:Do you like a rookie [R-D1]? :was decline in LUG membership

[richard-lists at imagecraft.com (Richard F. Man)]

At 07:50 AM 8/21/2004, mikiro@yahoo.fr wrote:
>...
>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.

Hi Mikiro, how do you find the rangefinder focusing accuracy? Many of the 
early pictures on the web seem to be misfocused but look like it may be 
just due to the shooters? Also, the R-D1 has a short RF base, but I believe 
someone says the 1x viewfinder makes it effectively much longer. Is that 
the case?

How quiet is the shutter subjectively, say, compare to the M?

>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.

How fast can you take RAW pictures? Does it have a larger enough buffer so 
that you basically don't need to worry about it?

Thanks!


// richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me directly, please 
use richard at imagecraft.com)