Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/07/26

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Richard's fourth RD-1 (WAS: We had company)
From: richard-lists at imagecraft.com (Richard)
Date: Tue Jul 26 23:07:12 2005
References: <200507251608.j6PG5i8S013072@server1.waverley.reid.org> <5.1.0.14.2.20050725224257.00be14a0@mail.2alpha.com> <6.1.0.6.2.20050725233008.061ec088@192.168.100.42> <42E71D9C.7030401@planet.nl>

I am glutton for punishment?

Well, think of it this way - for "business" reasons, you know, the business 
where I made $250 a year taking pictures of costumers, I need a digital 
camera. Yes, I know, a Canon Drebel 350XT will probably do the job as well 
for $600 or whatever but, well, I have expensive taste. So anyway, the only 
way to use my Leica M lens on a digital body right now is the R-D1. If 
Leica has swallowed their pride/stupidity/moron-managers/etc. and came up 
with a relatively easy to do 1.5 crop factor digital rangefinder earlier, 
instead of jumping up and down for 10 years claiming it can't be done, they 
could have my $3000. This is what happens in a monopoly. If you are the 
only game in town, you can charge whatever you want. The Canon 30D was... 
$3000 too, being the first "affordable" high megapixel DSLR, so Epson in 
that sense isn't too far out of line.


At 10:37 PM 7/26/2005, Nathan Wajsman wrote:

>Sorry, but I find it amazing that anyone would accept having to send in a 
>camera for repair/replacement 3 times and then accept that he has to 
>adjust the rangefinder on the 4th body--and all that while taking on 
>average 1500 or so images with each camera? If your experience is typical, 
>then I can only conclude that the RD1 is a $3K piece of junk. If it is 
>not, then you are certainly the most tolerant customer I have ever heard 
>about in any business. If I had this type of trouble, I would track down 
>the Cosina distributor and organize a public destruction of the camera in 
>front of their building, a la Ted Grant with one of his Leicas that also 
>had QC problems.
>
>Nathan
>
>Richard wrote:
>>Peter, as we go way back, you know I still have my OM-4T in the drawer 
>>with half a dozen of lenses. I have thoughts about selling the 40/2 and 
>>others to fund some Leica lust, but decided against it. Anyway, I have a 
>>number of friends who got the 20D, 350XT, and even a couple 1Ds, D70 etc. 
>>For me though, I bought the R-D1 and never wish I have a DSLR. I guess if 
>>I shoot more sports or other things than SLR excels in, it would be 
>>different, but the R-D1 satisfies my meager needs for a digital camera. 
>>The QC issues are real. I am REALLY happy that I can adjust the vertical 
>>VF without sending this last camera (my 4th one) in. All told, I took > 
>>2000 pics on this one already, meaning I have taken ~6000-7000 on four 
>>R-D1s since I bought the first one last Thanksgiving. Most are crap 
>>pictures of course but it works as well as any digital RF can, at least 
>>until Leica releases its mega expensive M-D1 or the fabled Zeiss Ikon (we 
>>can only hope).
>
>--
>Nathan Wajsman
>Almere, The Netherlands
>
>General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
>Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com
>Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman
>http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507
>Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>

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


Replies: Reply from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Re: Richard's fourth RD-1 (WAS: We had company))
In reply to: Message from pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein) ([Leica] We had company)
Message from richard-lists at imagecraft.com (Richard) ([Leica] We had company)
Message from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Re: Richard's fourth RD-1 (WAS: We had company))