New R-D1 owner

kennylovrin

Well-known
Local time
3:43 PM
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
494
Hey guys

Newly registered on the board and waiting for my R-D1 to arrive in the mail soon. I've been wanting to try a proper rangefinder for quite a while, but I never really wanted to go analog and for some reason always wrote off the R-D1 as "not an option" for some reason.

But I don't know, it seems the camera is experiencing a revival? Maybe it's just me, or maybe it is actually the case. Anyway I looked it up more in detail and figured it might fit the bill for me, as the only other option is a Leica and I just cannot justify the prices they demand. Even the Epson is a bit over the top I'd have to say, but still reasonable enough to give a go.

I found one with leather half case, three batteries and a 35mm 1.4 Voigtländer Nokton for €1000. To me it seemed quite reasonable with the only known fault being the battery meter acting up a bit.

So anyway, not sure what I'm getting at here, just kind of saying "hi" and all that. I'm really looking forward to getting and shooting with the camera.

I do have some concrete questions though while I wait for the package to arrive:

* Is there a known way to get the real shutter count? I am not sure of the count of the camera I've bought, but it would be nice to know for some reason.

* Does anyone know how manu shutter actuations it's actually built to handle? This one kind of relates to the first question I guess.

* What is the deal with the left biased center weighted metering? I've been thinking about it, and I just don't get why someone would design the metering like that, but I might be missing something? It just doesn't make sense to me :)

Thanks for any help!

Kenny
 
I do not believe there is any way to know for sure, other than the sequential numbering of the files. It does reset after 9,999....and if they reset it (your previous owner) then you wouldnt know accurately.

Ive never seen a number for the R-D1 life, but i know RFF'ers pushing to 20K easily. I think mine is numbered around 7k right now.

The price you got it for was a steal with the lens. Welcome to the club, you will enjoy the camera.
 
Welcome kenny. There's a few of us RD owners here so you're in good company. No doubt you'll have more questions before long.

Paul
 
On the metering: it uses the same pattern as the Voigtländer Bessa R2/R3/R4; not so coincidental since the R-D1 is based on the Bessa.

As to why the Bessa uses that pattern . . .
 
Welcome to the club, it's a fantastic camera and your price was an absolute steal. Don't worry about the shutter count, it's never stopped people buying vintage cameras before, just enjoy owning and using a truly unique camera.
 
thanks guys, this seems like a friendly forum i have to say. been reading a bit the last few days and i thought to myself "there's actually still a forum on the interwebz where people doesn't behave like assholes". ;)

i'm really getting psyched about receiving the camera now. checking the shipping stats a few times to many every day and all that.

while reading up on the whole thing i learnt a few things that i'm really loving (if they actually hold true). specifically the fact that the lenses are so small for rangefinders, and the main thing that i didn't know about - that they're usually sharper wide open and has less distortion than slr lenses.

i really like shooting wide open (i have a 5d mark ii currently) but it always annoyed me that a lot of lenses are quite soft wide open. and the distortion annoys me quite a bit as well.

then again, my understanding is that the voigtländer 35mm nokton isn't the sharpest and most distortion-free lens out there, but still it's good news. might change it for a zeiss lens when i've had a go with the camera and if i actually do like the experience. i've always had a soft spot for zeiss lenses (by looking at photos) but i've never really bought one as it kind of felt a bit weird buying a manual focus lens for a modern slr. i don't mind manual focus, it's just he combination of modern slr with manual focus lens that leaves me a bit split.

for a rangefinder though it doesn't feel like that, so who knows, i might get myself one of those zeiss lenses.
 
i was lucky enough to experience a super fast delivery from spain to sweden, so i've just picked up my R-D1. The original receipt came with it and it was purchased in 2008 so it seems to be fairly "new" unless I misread the paper, will have to look closer.

It actually came with 4 batteries in total, so that's one more than I expected and the half case looks pretty sweet though I'll probably not use it too much.

it also turns out the lens is the SC version and not the MC, i am not sure yet if that is good or bad. I was thinking i wanted to go as classic as possible with this camera, but i'm worried about flare on the SC. we'll see how it works out.

the malfunctioning battery indicator i suspect is just miscalibrated, because it actually goes below "E" when the camera turns off, none of the other indicators does that, which to me kind of says "needs calibration", but I don't know for sure of course at this stage.

the only really downside is that the rubber gripping is coming off in more than one place. it's not too bad, and i don't worry about it, but that specific thing was slightly worse than it was described to me, but overall the whole package was in better shape than I expected.

now i just need to get some power onto the batteries and manage to swap the menu to english instead of spanish. ;)

i'll definitely report back with my initial thoughts when i've taken some shots, but so far i'm really psyched about this camera!
 
Tjäna Kenny och Grattis.

As Adam no doubt will confirm, you can get the camera to auto calibrate the dials. There is an option in the menu for this.

The rubber loosening is a common issue. Either restick it, if it hasn't gone out of shape (mine had) or replace it with a leather/leatherette covering (they are to be had ready cut). I did, and it looked the better for it.

MC vs SC. If you were a Japanese you'd be over the moon with an SC version. They are mad about them. In practice there is probably very little in it. Slightly less contrast maybe, more prone to flare. Not that I think you would notice. I think they fetch more too, if you were to sell it.

Best of luck
 
hey

yeah, i'll have a go with the lens and see what I think. i've actually considered trying to find a lens that gives what some people i guess call busy bokeh, where the highlights become rings rather than disks, but we'll see.

the rubber coming off doesn't really bother me, but i'll probably fix it somehow with time.

i did just snap a quick test photo and i got it completely out of focus haha. it's probably me not paying attention, but it does make me a bit nervous as I've had several lenses with focus problems (on my SLR's don't know how common it is for RF-bodies).

this thing with the vertical misalignment of the finder patch, how does it look specifically? because it looks to me as if the patch has a line on top of it and that the inside of it doesn't exactly match. i do have pretty good eye sight, but i have no experience with RF. but what i'm seeing definitely looks to me as a misalignment. does it make any sense what i'm describing? (i'm pretty confident on fixing it myself, so it's not an issue per se hopefully) :)
 
Congrats and welcome!

The battery indicator needle is supposed to line up with the little triangular pointer below the E when the camera is off. Same thing for the white-balance and file quality needles. The shots-remaining-on-your-card indicator needle is supposed to line up with E when the camera is off.

Rangefinder misalignment is supposed to be a fairly easy DIY fix, accessible by removing the hotshoe. There are instructions available online. Horizontal misalignment is a bit harder, I understand. (I haven't tried either myself.)

I believe the left-biased metering pattern is designed so that when you turn the camera for a vertical shot, the meter weighting favors the ground rather than the sky.

Epson Japan still services the R-D1, but you'll need a local factor to broker the work for you, unless you speak Japanese and can talk to them directly. The cost is extremely reasonable, and they'll do shutter/meter/rangefinder calibration and (I think) replace/re-glue the rubber body covering.

Cheers,
Ari
 
You'll love it. I've had two, sold them, regretted it and will probably buy another when the toy budget is back to normal. I would recommend selling the lens to those hungry Japanese and getting Zeiss or better glass to fully exploit the camera's capability. There is also a hot pixel masking tool in the menu and I had use for it on both of the R-D1s that I had. Enjoy. S
 
thanks for the help guys. i'll do a more scientific test of the focus later to make sure if there really is a problem or if i'm just freaking out. the patch alignment i'll probably be able to do myself, but if there are more issues i will consider epson in japan.

it just sucks having to send your new toy all the way to japan from sweden..
 
the malfunctioning battery indicator i suspect is just miscalibrated, because it actually goes below "E" when the camera turns off, none of the other indicators does that, which to me kind of says "needs calibration", but I don't know for sure of course at this stage.

mine also goes beyond the "E" mark, and it has been doing this ever since i got it. re-calibration doesn't seem to make any effect. note that there is a small line beyond the E. the needle rests at that mark.


If you want to re-calibrate the needles:
Press the Menu button (the button under the M with a circle on top graphic)
Main Menu -> Settings -> Basic Setup -> Calibrate Needles

use the "rewind knob" to cycle through the selections.
It can be cumbersome. You'll find that out soon enough.
 
i lost the rewind knob as a result fold the screen and shoot my life away. :)
The focus issue only happens if you shoot at f1.4 and you dont need f1.4 unless all you do is shoot in the darkness. Plus the nokton is a bit soft at f1.4 so dont expect extreme sharpness. Close it a little and you are good to go. Nokton has an advantage in size.
 
this thing with the vertical misalignment of the finder patch, how does it look specifically? because it looks to me as if the patch has a line on top of it and that the inside of it doesn't exactly match. i do have pretty good eye sight, but i have no experience with RF. but what i'm seeing definitely looks to me as a misalignment. does it make any sense what i'm describing? (i'm pretty confident on fixing it myself, so it's not an issue per se hopefully) :)

The vertical alignment on my camera's focussing patch is also a little out. I find that close distance focussing, say <2m, the mis-alignment is not that noticeable. You can check the vertical alignment by focussing something circular within the RF patch, if the vertical alignment is out, the top of the circle will not align.
 
Tjäna Kenny och Grattis.

As Adam no doubt will confirm, you can get the camera to auto calibrate the dials. There is an option in the menu for this.

The rubber loosening is a common issue. Either restick it, if it hasn't gone out of shape (mine had) or replace it with a leather/leatherette covering (they are to be had ready cut). I did, and it looked the better for it.

MC vs SC. If you were a Japanese you'd be over the moon with an SC version. They are mad about them. In practice there is probably very little in it. Slightly less contrast maybe, more prone to flare. Not that I think you would notice. I think they fetch more too, if you were to sell it.

Best of luck

haha yup Eirik, recalibrated and all good now :D super easy. I wonder if the guy sold it to OP so cheap because he thought it was messed up too heh


I'd recommend the canon 35/2 ltm as a great 35, along with the zeiss recommendations.

If you want a wider lens with the 1.5x, the zeiss 25mm is in my opinion the best deal around.

Hope to see some photos once you get all squared away. Give it some time to get used to, but i think you will have a blast
 
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