R-D1 sample


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/

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