too bad. i use both the M8 and r-d1s and prefer the latter for many purposes. the epson has much quieter high ISO performance, shows little IR color shift, has a nice 1:1 VF, has a very good user interface with just four buttons and no dreaded thumbwheel, has a moveable (and reversible) LCD screen, has a conventional shutter cocking system, and -- of course -- has the ultra cool analog dials on the top plate. it is a great product that will go down (in my book anyway) as an all-time classic. certainly it will be the only digital with manual advance ever built (unles huw finney cmes thru). the M8 is a much more conventional product (albeit with an M mount) that lacks all of the charm of the r-d1s. in a way, i think the premature demise of the r-d1s only makes the epson camera cooler. just like janis joplin is cooler than stevie nicks or hendrix cooler than clapton. take care, roger
I'll have to see if I can get hold of one. You've convinced me. However I have to say that by any objective criterion, alive or dead, Hendrix is cooler than Clapton (or anyone else for that matter, including Steve McQueen!)
Pretty sure Stevie died in a helicopter crash in the early 90's. Seems likely he would have reached ambient temperature by now.
What have dead pop stars got to do with a discontinued camera? In any case the M8 is 250 degreees Kelvin (= Centigrade) cooler than anything else out there and Epson may be trying to boost its baby to 10 MP or more before bringing it back. The M8 scores on its detailed reproduction, period. All else is detail.
if only Epson were planning to steal Leica's thunder once again by introducing a 36x24 sensor . . . somehow I doubt it.<p>PS There will never be another Jimi Hendrix.
Err, what ws the question? Oh, yeah. Whether the R-D1 is dead, or if digital is dead? No the R-D1 is not dead. Dead is the wrong word. It is now a classic, like the M3 or original MP. To borrow a phrase often used by Moose Peterson, I'll predict future authors will write, "The R-D1 became much more popular after it was discontinued." It will achieve cult status. And I'll predict it will be back in a new and improved version. The R-D2 will have 7.5 megapixels and a 1.25 crop ratio. It will have framelines for 21, 24/25, 28, 35, and 50mm lenses. I'm buying one tomorrow morning (really).
But seriously, it's basically a Bessa so there are several people who will service it, and Epson also offers factory service.
Pretty sure Stevie died in a helicopter crash in the early 90's. Pretty sure that was Stevie Ray Vaughan (who, coolness aside, was a better guitarist than Hendrix or Clapton). Stevie Nicks is very much alive and I don't know if/how much 'work' she's had done on her but she looks better now than Janis Joplin did back then. I still can't figure out what any of Stevie's lyrics mean though. What have dead pop stars got to do with a discontinued camera? They both get the folks here's juices going?
The battery is the utterly ubiquitous Fuji NP-80 (or clone), perhaps the most common camcorder battery in the world.
Via Ebay i have bought a spare Epson battery; a Fuji battery ; another ac charger; and a charge that runs of the 12volt lighter socket.