Cowboy

RD1s, f0.0, 1/5, ISO 1600, RAW - Taken 12/11/2009

I was not very inspired today. I took a few pictures but deleted all of them, there was nothing I really liked or wanted to keep.
Instead I went through some of my pictures to find some pictures to use as examples for my upcoming workshop. I came across this picture that I really liked when I took it and although it is not perfectly in focus or very sharp, I wanted to process it a bit and see what I can get out of it. It also remind me of a picture from Robert Frank's "The Americans" book which I had a look at recently.

Riding Together

RD1s, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Another picture from the RD1, this time I made sure I focused beter and have also used the out of camera JPG.
The Epson RD1 is a great camera but it attracts a lot of attention from people, like all rangefinders do these days. I am also not too big a fan of the whole manual focus experience and rather use a good, fast and reliable AF system. I am also not a big fan of the 2:3 format and prefer the 4:3 format or 16:9, if I want something wider.
The experience however is great and the manual controls are as they shoud be with a proper manual focus on the lens and not the rubbish dSLR lenses with the video camera focus ring. I wish a manufacturer would start producing proper dSLR lenses with proper mechanical controls on them.

Newspaper Salesman

RD1s, f5.6, 1/390, ISO 400, RAW, 28mm

Since I had the Epson RD1s for my comparison with the GRDs, I decided to use it today and take a few street shots with it. I wanted to see how good it will work for shots from the hip.
This picture while not perfect and blurry is the one I like most.

Reading the News

RD1s, f1.4, 1/50, ISO 800, RAW, 40mm

I always like to try out different cameras and while no other camera managed to impress me more than the GRD I, the Epson R-D1s comes very close. The build and feel is exactly like the GRD, it is fully manual and has great controls. The rangefinder manual focus is as nice as manual focus goes but manual focus is only something for purists and too much hassle for me so I don't like it. I expect only one thing in any camera and this is auto focus, I get no enjoyment out of photography if I have to worry about the focus instead of composition and exposure. Other than that, the Nokton f1.4 lens is great for lowlight shots so I really hope Ricoh can put a similar lens in the next GRD. With the smaller sensor it will be even better for low light photography. I hope to be able to run a better comparison at some point.

C.I.B. - Cameras In Black

GRD II, f2.4, 1/55, ISO 100, RAW, 21mm

Ok, a geek post today and another boring camera picture. A friend got his Epson R-D1s yesterday so it was a good opportunity to do a quick comparison.
As you can see, the R-D1s is a bit taller than the LC1 and a lot taller than the GRD, it is however slightly thinner and the lens is smaller than the one on the LC1. On the other hand to get anywhere near the speed and versatility of the LC1 lens you would need around 3 lenses for the R-D1s and then it would take up more space.
All three cameras feel heavy and very solid. It is impressive how close the GRD is to the build and feel of the R-D1s. Both have the same metal, with the same texture, the hand grip is the same soft rubber (again with the same texture) and both feel literally like a brick (in a very positive way). The LC1 is on the same level although the metal is smooth and the hand grip is hard rubber that does not feel quite as nice to hold. Overall they all have a great build and if you hold either you know why they cost as much as they do and you can feel what you pay for. I haven't held many better built cameras and especially not digital cameras.

A quick image comparison revealed that the R-D1s has (unsurprisingly) the highest dynamic range and the GRD I and II the lowest, the LC1 has the higher noise and due to the 5MP captures the least details. The GRDs can hold their own very well with the R-D1s and capture the same amount of details but have more noise. The depth of field is the highest on the GRDs and even at f4 the lowest on the R-D1s.

As a summary I can say that if I would not know that Epson (with help of Cosina/Voigtlaender) made the R-D1s, I would think it's a Ricoh ;).