Epson R-D1 Digital Rangefinder Camera

This collaboration between Epson and Cosina is the digital camera equivalent of those Fender Relic guitars, new guitars made to look like old ones.

I reserve judgement, naturally, until I've seen the thing, because if it's as clunky as the Leica Digilux, it won't be something you want to pick up and use.

But I admire the attempt to apply a different kind of technology to the digital camera. There are all kinds of reasons why rangefinders can be superior in use to SLRs. I don't know an awful lot about the subject, but I've learned that the SLR mechanism itself, apart from hiding your subject from you at the very moment the photo is taken, can cause unwanted vibration.

Classic reportage type photography often stems from rangefinder use. You get those highly detailed, sharp, huge depth of field images that just leap off the page.

I think this is a sign that the industry is casting around for the a great leap forward in image quality.