Description
E
pson is back in the digital rangefinder game. Two years after
discontinuing the R-D1, the company has brought the camera back,
with some modifications, as the RD-1xG, it has been announced in
Japan. The camera, which looks much like the Voigtlander Bessa
series that is produced by specialty camera maker Cosina, uses the
same 6MP sensor as its predecessor and accepts
Leica M-mount lenses,
but also has a removable handgrip, a 2.5-inch LCD monitor (up from
the previous 2-inch version), and is compatible with
SDHC memory
cards.
Features
Epson also reportedly changed the feel of the shutter button, but
otherwise the camera's features are the same as the R-D1. The 6MP,
APS-C sensor's crop factor is 1.5x, so a 35mm lens would cover the
angle of view of a 52mm lens. The camera records RAW and JPEG image
files, uses lithium-ion batteries. While US pricing and availability
have not been announced, the camera is expected to be available in
Japan in April for around $2,000.
Specifications
The R-D1's 6.1-megapixel APS-C sized CCD (23.7mm x 15.6mm) captures images in two sizes: 3008 x 2000 and 2240 x 1488. It records images to either JPEG or 12-bit CCD-RAW. It features aperture priority and manual exposure modes, a shutter speed range of 1 to 1/2000 seconds, and exposure compensation of +/- 2.0 EV in 0.3 EV steps.
