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Sigma DP1 announced.

Looks a bit to wrong at 1600. Probably quite passable at 800 after noise reduction. The colours look much better compared to the other test cameras.

The noise is still very apparent on the other cameras also. It just seems to have been processed and rendered in a very different way. More grainy and black/grey rather than the blotchy colour of the Fovean. Where's all the green coming from?

I noticed the eyes on the puppet aren't bad. It's just the vast expanse of black it can't handle.

On the other hand, the ISO 100 shots look very nice.

Still nowhere near good enough to tempt me mind.
 
editor said:
Hmmm... these example high ISO photos from the SD14 (which presumably uses the same sensor as the SD1) aren't exactly wowing me...
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1013&thread=22995258
Click to expand...

I'm looking at those and thinking that there's some none-too-successful in-camera noise reduction happening on the SD14. The high-ISO 'grainy' noise you'd expect is gone, replaced by unattractive green-yellow patches that would probably be harder to deal with off-camera.

e2a: Certainly doesn't bear comparison with my 5D at 1600...

200704_4514.jpg
 
Having looked again at the 100 ISO shots, I'd still put the Sigma near the top of my list for a new dSLR. Generally, I always shoot using 160 or, 100 ASA film. However, I'd have to see a low-light exposure of around 1 minute to compare. I think film stills suits my work best.
 
If you do get a review copy, I will give you a hand with reviewing it. I am sure you are far too busy to do it thoroughly. ;)




You have to try don't you. :)
 
I got a response: "At present we don't have any samples of the camera but I will keep you details on file for future reference", but that could just be Sigma-speak for "bog off, Ricoh fanboy."
 
What would be fun would be if Canon were to fight back with a compact camera based on their full frame sensor found in the D5. They wouldn't incur any development costs for the sensor or the software 'engine' and could utilise their experience from the G series of compacts.

Sooner or later a full frame compact that works well must get introduced.
 
Hocus Eye. said:
What would be fun would be if Canon were to fight back with a compact camera based on their full frame sensor found in the D5. They wouldn't incur any development costs for the sensor or the software 'engine' and could utilise their experience from the G series of compacts.

Sooner or later a full frame compact that works well must get introduced.
Click to expand...
At the moment, Ricoh are one of the very few camera makers regularly pushing the envelope when it comes to enthusiast digi-compacts.

Most of the big boys aren't interested in the niche market.
 
The first review is in!
The DP1 sets a new standard for image quality in a compact camera, especially at ISO 400 and 800. Its fixed 28mm-equivalent f/4 lens has incredibly low distortion and minimal light falloff that adds to image quality.

Now, if only it had a faster AF system, shorter delays between single JPEG and RAW shots, a more sophisticated pop-up flash, and an image-stabilized zoom lens, the DP1's potential could go well beyond cult favorite to mainstream popularity.
Click to expand...
http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/5187/camera-test-sigma-dp1.html
 
Here's dpreview's review and it's a very mixed bag: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sigmadp1/

In conclusion the DP1 is a great concept that needs a considerable amount of additional work to get rid of at least some of the flaws that we have listed in this review. One can only encourage the Sigma engineers to go back to the drawing board and continue the promising work they have done so far. Let's also hope that a few of the 'big boys' can see the potential of the DP1 and present their interpretation of the concept in the not too distant future. The prospect of a DP1-like camera with reasonable speed, DSLR-like High ISO performance and a zoom or interchangeable lenses would be mmore than tantalizing.

As it stands though the DP1 has not been developed to its full potential yet and can only really be recommended for landscape photography (and similar applications) in reasonable light and to photographers who can live with a frustratingly slow speed of operation and the other shortcomings we have talked about above. In the vast majority of situations you'd be better off with a good 'conventional' compact camera and even if you think the DP1 would serve your specific purposes well you'll have to decide if you're wiling to shell out the premium that Sigma is asking for.

Great for: Landscape photography in daylight
Not good for: Low light, indoors (social snaps), movies, anything that requires speed
Click to expand...
 
Well I was interested, but won't be buying one of these, after reading those reviews. I do a lot of low light work. However I do hope that a sufficient number of people do buy it to keep Sigma developing the model. I now wait for the DP2 to come out next year. Or perhaps another manufacturer will adopt the same idea with their own dSLR sensor in a compact body.

I may go the dSLR route with the Olympus E420 possibly with the 25mm pancake lens.
 
Hocus Eye. said:
I may go the dSLR route with the Olympus E420 possibly with the 25mm pancake lens.
Click to expand...
I've certainly lost my enthusiasm for the DP1.

One thing about the the E420: it's got no focussing lamp, so if you're doing low light shots, expect a thunderous flash strobe each time (the viewfinder's too small for effective manual focussing).
 
editor said:
I've certainly lost my enthusiasm for the DP1.

One thing about the the E420: it's got no focussing lamp, so if you're doing low light shots, expect a thunderous flash strobe each time (the viewfinder's too small for effective manual focussing).
Click to expand...

Editor, are you basing that on the review of last year's E410 and extrapolating from it, or have you seen a review of the E420 that I haven't? I have re-read that old review on dpreview and the old 410 comes out of it pretty well.

I just have to get my hands on a camera that has some proper manual controls and which is not too big.
 
Paul Russell said:
There's some sample images here:

http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/sigmadp1_preview/

I know about that three-layer business, but if the full size images are 2640 x 1760 (4.6 megapixels) I'm struggling to understand how you can call it a 14 megapixel camera. Has this been done before? :D
Click to expand...

The foveon effectively has three layers of sensor - one for each colour, red, green and blue. The native resolution of each sensor is 4.7MP, this data can then be interpolated to create the 14MP image.

With Bayer sensor pixels individual pixels filter out all but one of the colours - the mesh of different coloured pixels is then interpolated to create the full sized image.

So in both systems interpolation occurs. They both effectively do the same thing - just engineered differently. How different manufacturers do their interpolation, noise reduction etc will be key. Personally I think there's too little interest in the Foveon for the results to outdo the Bayer approach and at £600 it's way too steep a price.
 
Hocus Eye. said:
Editor, are you basing that on the review of last year's E410 and extrapolating from it, or have you seen a review of the E420 that I haven't? I have re-read that old review on dpreview and the old 410 comes out of it pretty well.
Click to expand...
I'm 99% sure that it hasn't got an AF lamp too and uses the same flash strobe system and that's what really wound me up. I did like the camera though.

I've still got my E410 downstairs, come to think of it. I should take it out for a spin again.
 
Grobelaar said:
The foveon effectively has three layers of sensor - one for each colour, red, green and blue. The native resolution of each sensor is 4.7MP, this data can then be interpolated to create the 14MP image.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. But "interpolated to create the 14MP image" maybe only in theory as reviews seem to suggest that it has comparable output to, say, 8 or 10 megapixels from a digital SLR.

Anyway, it's a bit academic, for me at least, as the overall operation seems so slow that this camera looks like is a missed opportunity...
 
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