Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Terry, Thanks a LOT for posting the pictures and writing about your experiences using the camera - invaluable information. I noticed looking at the 'original' sized images that the resolution is fairly poor - there are some jaggies in straight lines and micro-contrast areas like trees etc. are fairly fuzzy. Is this due to size reduction / JPG artifacts, or are the images off the camera similar? I am guessing that the images are reduced in size because even setting my prefs to 'Original' size makes a small image on my screen... Again, great stuff. I sure am tempted to try that camera out, though like you I find the price to be a problem. Cheers! - marc On Oct 12, 2004, at 5:28 PM, Terry Cioni wrote: > I start off thanking Tom Abrahamsson for loaning me the RD-1 for 4 > days. It was a great opportunity, unfortunatetly it rained all of the > 4 days, but that made things more of a challenge and thus more > interesting. After all it is Vancouver. > > For my purposes I shot only .jpg files and did not shoot RAW. I shoot > primarily street scenes around Vancouver and I felt it important the > RD-1 be able to replace my Lecia rangefinders without any distraction > or complication. I shot primarily in B&W at 400 ISO in AE mode, > adjusting the aperture as needed. I used a variety of lenses including > the TRI-ELMAR (a nice fit for the RD-1) and a 21mm F4 VC lens. > > In practical terms the RD-1 exceeded my expectations. It is well > built, has an amazingly bright viewfinder, not to mention 1:1 viewing. > The RD-1 is intuitive without being overburdened with buttons, dials, > and LCD panels. Indeed once you figure-out the round dial on top of > the camera with it's pointers, it is in my very humble opinion better > than an LCD status panel found on the current crop of digital gear. > The battery life seemed good although I would want a second or third > battery in my kit - before I set out on a day of shooting. The camera > operated flawlessly and I suppose that is all one can ask. I did > notice there are a number of stuck (on) pixels. Epson might want to > consider some pixel mapping in-camera firmware to ensure this is not a > problem for shooters going forward. > > I shot the equivalent of 10 rolls of film mostly doing what I like > doing best, street photography. I did not use the LCD Monitor to check > images but instead choose to treat the camera no different than a > Leica M7, waiting until I returned home to the digital darkroom to > view the images. My assessment is simple, it is a digital rangefinder > that allows me to use my Leica and Voigtlander lens package - I think > it is about time for this camera and Epson deserves kudos for doing > it. Leica needs to get to moving if they hope to catch-up with Epson. > > The images appear to be almost grainless (digital noise) from ISO 200 > to 800. I found myself thinking that I would like to add grain - out > of the camera they are clean, sharp and dynamic range is outstanding. > The images did require leveling in PhotoShop, but post processing can > only be described as minimal to achieve excellent results. The ability > to use high quality Leica lenses on the RD-1 makes it an important > addition to any rangefinder film photographers kit bag. > > In short I want one, that said I do believe the camera suffers from > one major problem; price. A digital body no lens, no memory card, six > megapixel sensor in a Bessa 3A camera body at $2900US is very hard to > justify in todays world of eight megapixel DSLRs with zoom lens at > $1500 to $1800US. > > I have posted some images on my website, > http://www.streetfusion.smugmug.com The Epson RD-1 photos are > indicated above the photo. Thanks for looking. > > Cheers. Terry Cioni > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >