The Epson R-D1 is a digital

rangefinder camera A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most v ...

introduced by

Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, commonly known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, t ...

in March 2004, and the first digital rangefinder ever commercially produced. The R-D1 was a joint venture between

and

Cosina is a manufacturer of high-end Optics, optical glass, optical precision equipment, cameras, video and electronic related equipment, based in Nakano, Nagano, Nakano, Nagano prefecture, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History Cosina is the successor ...

, the former developing the electronics, UI, and imaging processor, and the latter providing the body (a modified version of the

Voigtländer Voigtländer () was a significant long-established company within the optics and photographic industry, headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany, and today continues as a trademark for a range of photographic products. History Voigtländer was fo ...

Bessa R2 body) and rangefinder mechanics. It uses the Leica M mount

lens mount A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the System camera, body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder ...

R-D1

The ''R-D1'' was jointly developed by Seiko Epson and Cosina and manufactured by the latter, which also builds the current

cameras. It uses Leica M mount lenses or earlier Leica screw mount lenses with an adapter. Uniquely, the R-D1 is a digital camera with a manually-wound shutter actuated by a rapid wind lever. The controls operate similarly to film-based rangefinder cameras. Settings such as white balance, shutter speed, JPEG quality, and shots remaining are all displayed with servo-driven indicators on a dial resembling a watch face (made by Epson's parent company,

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is ...

). The rear screen can be rotated 180 degrees inwards towards the camera, allowing it to be fully hidden while folded. The R-D1 and its subsequent revisions use the Sony ICX413AQ, an

APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field d ...

interline-transfer CCD sensor also used in the Pentax *ist D and the Nikon D100. The sensor originally dates back 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 Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used ...

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 Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including digi ...

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.

References

External links

''Epson R-D1'': A field test
The Luminous Landscape * covering history, owner issues, FAQ, accessories, and Rich Cutler's information
''R-D1'' specific forum
on Rangefinderforum.com Digital rangefinder cameras R-D1 {{camera-stub

R-D1

R-D1s

R-D1x

See also

References

External links