[Leica] RD-1 and I

[TTAbrahams at aol.com (TTAbrahams@aol.com)]

Epson, Japan graciously lent me a RD-1 at photokina to try. It has been in 
my 
hands now for over three months - it has also been in lots of other hands as 
I have lent it to a multitude of friends who are Leica/CV users and also 
digital shooters. The biggest problem has been to get it back from these 
guys "Oh, 
can I keep it for another day, please" was a common request. It turns out 
that 
even for a devoted film-user; the RD-1 is highly addictive. You keep digging 
through your lens cabinet for stranger and stranger lenses to adapt to it 
"just to see how it works". In the end I added up the lenses I used on the 
RD-1 
and it came to more than 55, ranging from 12/5,6 Ultra-Wide Heliar to a 
200/4 
Micro-Nikkor! 
 Mine came with the Multilanguage printed manual although I have not used it 
since I unpacked the camera in Cologne, just to find out were to put the 
battery and the SD-card. It is an intuitive camera particularly if you are 
used to 
a Leica M or Bessa RF camera. There is nothing complex about the controls 
and 
the buttons are few and simple to understand. The menus are easy to grasp, 
and 
once in black/white mode I left the speed at 400 ASA, put the camera in 
AE-mode and just kept shooting. Only correction I did was to increase the 
edge 
sharpness slightly and occasionally increase contrast (the prewar Hektor 
50/2,5 
and Summar are rather flat) or decrease it when using modern, multicoated 
Aspherical lenses (these tend to be a bit over-corrected and often can fry 
the 
highlights).
 For a while my only problem was when I used 12/15 and 21 lenses as the 
finder only shows the 28/35/50 frames (corrected for the 1,5 sensor size) 
but 
Stephen Gandy sent me a set of Voigtlander finders for these focal-lengths 
and that 
solved the problem. He also included a set of adapters that allowed me to 
put 
Leica SLR lenses and Nikon SLR lenses on a Leica M (hence the 200/4 Micro 
Nikkor and also the 100/2,8 Apo-Elmarit as well as 50/2 R  and an old 35/2 
Nikkor).
 The RD-1 is going back to Epson, Japan  next week and truth be known, I 
will 
miss it! It is not a substitute for a M2 or a Bessa R2, but it is a great 
complement to silver based photography. There has been a lot of noise being 
made 
about the rangefinder accuracy and difficulties using it with Noctiluxes, 
75/1,4 Summilux and the 90 Summicron. If you treat it like a 0,58 M-camera, 
you 
should have no problem as the short rangefinder base limits the precision 
you 
need to focus these lenses. My "kit", at least until Stephen sent me the 
finders, was a 28/3,5 CV lens, a 35/2 Summicron and the new 50/1,4 Asph 
Summilux and 
once I got the finders - the 21/4 VC lens joined the package (and become the 
favorite, a slightly wide 35 and tack sharp!) With a 512 SD card I could 
shoot 
about 120-130 images without running out of space and in "high" (6MP mode) 
that would use up about ? the battery charge.
 It is a camera that is "made "for street shooting - it is less obvious than 
an oversized digital SLR and it has a finder that actually works - something 
that is lacking in most of the P&S digital cameras. With the 21 or 28 you 
can 
work with the hyper-focal setting and coupled to the excellent meter you get 
more than usual good "hits".
 There has been complains too about the fall off with the 12 and 15mm lenses 
- of course you get fall off - these are ultra-wides and fall off is part of 
the design. If you shoot in RAW-mode, Epson supplies a CD that corrects 
this, 
but I have no idea how that works and truth be known, I like edge fall off 
with 
ultra-wides. You never have to edge burn a print again!
 My only problem so far has nothing to do with the RD-1. It comes from my 
Luddite attitude to digital photography. I shoot a 512 card full, load it 
onto 
the G-4 and if I can remember how, I burn a CD and then what! I could of 
course 
get a printer and start printing stuff, but I still resent paying huge 
amount 
of money for miniscule amount of ink. I can knock out 8x10 RC prints in my 
darkroom for less than $ 0,35 each (including paper, chemicals) and do it 
faster 
than the printer can!
 The biggest problem with the RD-1 is still the price - at $3,000 it is an 
expensive camera body and for many of us it is a choice of yet another Leica 
MP 
or a whole lot of Bessa R2's or R3's with several lenses and the more 
simplified and secure storage that film still allows us. This said, it is a 
hell of a 
fun camera to use - just turn the screen in, stick a SD-card in it and a 
fully 
charged battery and shoot away. You will find yourself spending an 
inordinate 
time in front of the computer screen going "damn, I am good" or words to 
that 
effect! Oh, it also works with a Visoflex 3 - which would make a 560/6,8 an 
interesting proposition!
 The Nikon/Leica SLR adapters are neat. It is a helicoil with a M-mount and 
a 
nicely engraved distance scale on them. At the other end is either a Leica 
SLR or Nikon SLR mount. The adapter is coupled to the rangefinder, but the 
lens 
is not! Weird, but it works, albeit a bit slow. You simply focus on the 
object, transfer the distance setting from the adapter to the lens and 
shoot. It is 
limited to about 0,75 meter for close focusing, but you can use macro 
settings 
by simply measuring from film plane to subject and rack the lens to that. I 
found that shooting wide-open with longer lenses was a bit iffy, but 
anything 
like a 24,28,35 and50 worked fine - even the venerable 105/2,5 (which on the 
RD-! becomes a 150+mm lens) worked fine. It does expand the choice of lenses 
and 
it will be a great excuse for going out and finding some good SLR-lenses to 
add to the kit. Next project is to find my 50/2 Summicron R (early Leicaflex 
SL 
version) and try that out. The 100/2,8 Apo-Macro worked but wide-open it was 
a bit "hit and miss".
 The Zeiss Ikon lenses should be highly suitable for the RD-1 too. I only 
had 
a chance to shoot with the 25/2,8 at photokina and it looks very promising. 
So promising that I have one on order!
Zeiss/Hasselblad would not let me play with the 15/21 and 85 at that time, 
but later I will try to lay my hands on them. Both the 15 and the 85 are 
HUGE 
and heavy - the rest of the lenses are more moderately sized. My point in 
using 
rangefinder cameras has always been compactness and portability. I rather 
have 
a slow, smaller lens than a large, heavy lens with a speed that I would most 
likely only use intermittently. Film can be pushed and in the case of 
something like the RD-1, just rack up the ISO setting to 1600 and your 21/4 
becomes a 
21/2. Yes, it will have "grain" (aka digital noise!) but if you shoot Neopan 
1600 you also get grain. Big deal!
Yes, I will miss the RD-1, but I also am slightly relieved to be able to go 
back to Tri-X - at least I know what to do with the negatives, but being 
slightly less of a digital luddite now, I could see myself sticking a RD-1 
or 
something like that in my camera bag at some time in the near future.
Analogically Yours,
Tom A
----
Tom Abrahamsson
Vancouver, BC
Canada
rapidwinder.com