Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/07/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Today I was at Bic Camera in Shinjuku and they had a pre-production camera (Serial #201) on hand to play with a bit. The camera is officially going on sale on Friday for a price of Y312,000 with a 10% "point" discount = ~$2500. My comments based on about 5 minutes of fiddling with it: * The rangefinder was out of vertical calibration! The salesdroid didn't even notice it. This was very disturbing to me. * The rangefinder patch was not as brilliantly clear as my M7/M2. I'm not sure if that's normal to the Bessa series of if the pre-production unit was a prototype. It was adequate but not spectacular and may account for some of the focusing errors we're seeing in the sample photos. * The analogue dials are very cute but I'm worried about their long-term reliability. * The wind lever stroke is very short, very quiet, and solid. Three thumbs up! * The interface was *very* snappy. The jog-dial (aka rewind dial) worked like a charm. They showed some photos taken with the R-D1 and printed on 10x12 inkjets. *Very* nice. Easily the same quality as my EOS 10D. Corners were very sharp even with wide-angles. The amount of shadow and highlight details is excellent. Conclusion? I'm worried about the long-term ruggedness. The vertical calibration bothered me. I'm going to wait a few months for the price to settle down (usually they take 10-20% off after a few months) and see what happens. Just about *every* photo magazine in Tokyo has a "review" of the R-D1. It's the surprise hit because it's so unusual. Karen -- Karen Nakamura http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/