The Epson R-D1 is the world's first digital rangefinder camera induced by Epson in March 2004. The R-D1 was a joined venture between Epson, with developed the electrical systems, UI and imaging processor and Cosina which provided the body (a modified version of the Voigtländer Bessa R2 body) and rangefinder mechanics. It uses the Leica M-mount, allowing compatibility with a wide range of lenses. The mechanical shutter of the R-D1 has to be recocked by hand with is a unique feature for a digital camera.
R-D1
R-D1 was jointly developed by Seiko Epson and Cosina and manufactured by the latter, which also builds the current Voigtländer cameras. It uses Leica M-mount lenses or earlier Leica screw mount lenses with an adapter.
An unusual feature to note on the R-D1 is that it is a digital camera that has a manually wound shutter with a rapid wind lever. The controls operate in the same way as film-based rangefinder cameras.
Data such as white balance, shutter speed, picture quality, and shots remaining are all displayed with servo driven indicators on a dial like a watch face (made by Epson's parent company Seiko). With the rear screen folded away, it is not obviously a digital camera.
R-D1 and all of the subsequent modifications of the camera have been using the same 1.5× crop factor sensor, interline-transfer CCD (Sony ICX413AQ), the same sensor as used in Pentax *ist D, Nikon D100. The sensor originally dates to 2002.
R-D1s
The successor of R-D1, the R-D1s was released in March 2006. The Epson R-D1s is mechanically identical to the R-D1, but with a firmware upgrade. It adds:
- JPEG RAW mode
- Quick view function
- Adobe RGB mode
- Noise reduction for long exposures
Users of R-D1 could upgrade their camera to have the same functions.
R-D1x
The successors of the R-D1s, the R-D1x and R-D1xG were made available from 9 April 2009 in Japan only. They feature very similar feature set except for few modifications:
- Larger 2.5" LCD display (vs 2" in the previous model) but with the same resolution - 235K
- LCD is no longer articulated and cannot be closed
- Support of SDHC memory cards which increased max. capacity to 32 GB (vs. 2 GB for previous models)
- Improvements in accessibility of rangefinder adjustment
- R-D1xG model also includes removable grip
On 17 March 2014, Epson announced that the R-D1x was discontinued.
See also
- List of retro-style digital cameras
References
External links
- Epson R-D1: A field test, The Luminous Landscape
- R-D1.Info at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-03-07) covering history, owner issues, FAQ, accessories, and Rich Cutler's information
- R-D1 specific forum Archived 2013-06-20 at the Wayback Machine on Rangefinderforum.com
