Epson R-D1

The original R-D1, announced by Epson in March 2004[1] and discontinued in 2007, was the first digital rangefinder camera. Subsequently, three modifications of the original R-D1 were produced - R-D1s, R-D1x, and R-D1xG.

Epson R-D1
Overview
TypeDigital rangefinder camera
Lens
LensLeica M-mount
Sensor/medium
Sensor23.7 x 15.6 mm, 1.53 × FOV crop
Maximum resolution6.1 megapixels
ASA/ISO range200-1600
StorageSecure Digital (SD)
Focusing
Focus modesManual
Flash
Flashfixed hot shoe
Shutter
Shutter speed range1 to 1/2000 s
General
Rear LCD monitor2 inch
BatteryLi-Ion EPALB1 Rechargeable
Dimensions142 x 89 x 40 mm
Weight560 g (body only, without battery)
Made inJapan

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 1.5x crop factor sensor, interline-transfer CCD (Sony ICX413AQ). The same sensor as used in Pentax *ist D, Nikon D100. 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[2][3] 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 is discontinued.

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References
  1. Epson launches the world's first rangefinder digital camera, TOKYO, Japan, March 11
  2. R-D1x on the Epson europe website Retrieved 2018-09-16
  3. "R-D1xG page on Epson web site". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-09-19.


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