hjoseph7 Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 I stumbled upon the Epson RD1 today while surfing the web. I never knew that Epson produced cameras. What is even more surprising a Digital rangefinder camera ! This camera came out in 2003-2004, prior to the Leica M8 which came out in 2007, but it still comands a hefty price on the Used market. It has become one of those 'Holy-Grail' cameras, extremely rare, with a mysterious Cult following. Too bad it was discontinued in 2007... https://cameralegend.com/2022/05/02/the-epson-r-d1-202216-year-review/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Attractive, but still too expensive...and then there is the issue of repairability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Blackwell Images Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Prior to the RD-1, which was a co-op between Epson and Cosina, Leica executives insisted a digital M was impossible due to the short rear-lens element to film-plane distance. Plus, Leica wouldn't have considered a cropped censor (the RD-1 has a 1.5x crop factor) prior to the RD-1 (the M8 had a 1.3x crop factor). I dare say that Leica would have never produced a digital M camera unless someone else had done it first. The fact we have full-frame mirrorless cameras today from any manufacturer can be traced back to the RD-1. 2 “When you come to a fork in the road, take it ...” – Yogi Berra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBu Lamar Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 I like the camera but it's not full frame. If it's full frame it would be a great camera with the film advance level (used only for shutter cocking). Even with the rewind knob. So cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_watson1 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 The RD-1 was a misunderstood pathbreaker. Not so many years later Fujifilm debuted its game changer MILC products. Right now, Sigma is still at it with its tiny FF MILC, the FP. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin O Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 I think there were a couple of (minor?) iterations of the R-D1. For those interested, there's a PDF sales brochure from 2004 available here: https://cameraquest.com/Epson-R-D1/_r-d1/downloads/Epson_R-D1_brochure.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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