This is the beautiful new R-D1xG from Epson, and the odd, old fashioned outside is reflected on the inside. The camera is an update of Epson’s old R-D1.
The retro body is a rangefinder camera, which means manual focusing using the matched images familiar to anyone who has used a film rangefinder. It even takes Leica lenses, making it a passable alternative to Leica’s own M8, and cheaper at $3000. Weirdly, Epson hasn’t upped the pixel-count of the CCD sensor — it still holds just 6MP. This could either be fantastic news (a new, ultra low-light sensor) or terrible (old, 2006 technology).
The camera has had a few more tweaks — the handgrip is new, the shutter release feels slightly different, the camera now supports the Adobe RGB color space and will record images in RAW and JPEG simultaneously onto SDHC cards.
The weird styling of the top plate is still there, though: The on/off switch is shaped like a film camera wind-on lever and the old rewind knob has been re-purposed as a jog dial.
It looks like being Japan-only right now, but it’ll be very interesting to see just what that 6MP can do. Available now.
Product page [Epson via Impress]
The rumor mill seems to be coalescing around a new CyberShot DSC-HX1 camera from Sony in the run-up to the big PMA camera show next week. In fact, on-line camera shops are already adding placeholders for Sony’s new flagship, super-zoom with 1080p video and HQ sound. If true, we’re just days away from seeing the official launch of a 9 megapixel (CMOS) camera with 20x zoom, 2.7-inch (possibly 3.0-inch like the 
