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@shawn @trix4ever How are you liking your fp cameras now? All this talk of the Q43 has got me thinking that a fp/L with a Sigma prime set is essentially an interchangeable lens Q43 for a lot less money.
shawn
Veteran
Still very impressed with the fp L. Colors and dynamic range are fantastic, it has a great jpeg engine, ISO 6, obviously very portable and all the aspect ratio options are fun. With the 17mm in 1x1 it is a digital SWC, in 65:24 with the 24mm it is a digital xPan. I didn't get the EVF and thought the lack of that would bug me but it really hasn't. Focus is quick with every lens I have used on it. I thought the Photo/video switch was going to be a gimmick but it works very well. Being L mount means interchangeable lenses with my Panasonics which is a great feature. I have used the 45mm f2.8, 24mm f3.5 and 17mm f4 on it the most. I have shot it with the Panny 24-105 and Sigma 70-200 (with a monopod), those add OS which the body doesn't have itself. I have also used the Sigma 105 for film scanning.
As a walk around camera I have been carry it on my belt with a capture clip.
Has a couple of quirks but pretty minor.
1) With Sigma lenses with aperture rings if the camera is in aperture priority mode turning the ring to the A position just means you are switching aperture control to a command dial. On my Panasonics if the camera is in Aperture Priority and you switch the same lens to A the camera goes into Program mode which I prefer.
2) Part of the Photo/Video switch even changes where the files are stored. Movies go in one directory, photos go in another. I really like that as it makes it easy to just import photos. The fp L doesn't seem to have a 'Delete all Photos' option though. So if you import just the photos you don't really have an in camera way of removing them from the sd card while leaving the videos alone. You can of course format the sd card in camera but that will wipe out the videos too.
Depending on what you are shooting be aware of the electronic shutter. If you are going to be doing things with fast motion it might be a problem and that likely gets worse the more telephoto (movement across the sensor) you are shooting. I haven't really seen many problems with this. The other thing is flash photography is really limited due to the electronic sensor, sync speed of 1/15 I think.
If I am shooting sports, or flash, I am grabbing my S1R. Which again is so nice that it takes the same lenses.
The Sigma 'I' versions lenses are a great match with the fp. They are all very good. Sigma is missing a designed for mirrorless 28mm in the I versions and the Art lenses. Other than that they have a lot of options.
If you look at the used market you can get a fp L for around $1500 from Japan (no EVF), 45mm 2.8 for under $300 and a 24mm f3.5 about $300.
As a walk around camera I have been carry it on my belt with a capture clip.
Has a couple of quirks but pretty minor.
1) With Sigma lenses with aperture rings if the camera is in aperture priority mode turning the ring to the A position just means you are switching aperture control to a command dial. On my Panasonics if the camera is in Aperture Priority and you switch the same lens to A the camera goes into Program mode which I prefer.
2) Part of the Photo/Video switch even changes where the files are stored. Movies go in one directory, photos go in another. I really like that as it makes it easy to just import photos. The fp L doesn't seem to have a 'Delete all Photos' option though. So if you import just the photos you don't really have an in camera way of removing them from the sd card while leaving the videos alone. You can of course format the sd card in camera but that will wipe out the videos too.
Depending on what you are shooting be aware of the electronic shutter. If you are going to be doing things with fast motion it might be a problem and that likely gets worse the more telephoto (movement across the sensor) you are shooting. I haven't really seen many problems with this. The other thing is flash photography is really limited due to the electronic sensor, sync speed of 1/15 I think.
If I am shooting sports, or flash, I am grabbing my S1R. Which again is so nice that it takes the same lenses.
The Sigma 'I' versions lenses are a great match with the fp. They are all very good. Sigma is missing a designed for mirrorless 28mm in the I versions and the Art lenses. Other than that they have a lot of options.
If you look at the used market you can get a fp L for around $1500 from Japan (no EVF), 45mm 2.8 for under $300 and a 24mm f3.5 about $300.
trix4ever
Well-known
I would agree with every word of this, but will add a few other points.
I first tried the Fp with my Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 veriii and 21mm f1.8 and found the shading correction facility fabulous, and the 15mm was sharp into the corners at full aperture, in fact it was as good or better than my M240 in image quality.
Then I tried the 24mm f3.5 and 17mm f4 sigma on it and it's a match made in heaven. I tried my 24-105 panny but found the longer lenses awkward without the evf.
Talking of the evf, I bought one, tried it for 6 months and sold it on. Sure its a big clear Finder, but mine kept coming loose in my bag and I worried about it bending the pins. Also it makes the whole rig a very awkward shape and suddenly it's no longer small.
I also love the L-mount and shift my lenses between the S1r, SL2-S and Fp and even my CL.
Currently I use it as a compact wide angle camera, mainly with the 17 and 24mm Sigmas and also the 14-28mm panny.
I also use the 1:1 and 24:65 option regularly.
I also love the iso6 option, it really seems to produce a noiseless image with huge dynamic range.
The only question for me now is whether or not to get an Fp-l? I don't print over 12x16in and rarely crop heavily so I think it might be wasted on me. Increasingly I make books so the Fp is more than enough and I have the S1r if I really need the resolution, particularly in the hi-res mode.
I genuinely love this camera and wouldn't change a thing.
trix4ever
Well-known
My babytrix4ever
Well-known
The only other thing I'll say is that if Sigma would put the sensor out of my SDQuattro in the Fp body, then I could put my 11-23mm lens off my CL on it, set it to black and white dng's and I would be in heaven...
Dreaming's good.
Dreaming's good.
shawn
Veteran
*If* Sigma ever ships another Foveon with interchangeable lenses it will almost certainly be L mount. So we would be good to go. As good as the sd camera were the SA mount limited appeal and market acceptance. With L mount it would be a much bigger hit since you grab the right body for what you are shooting and share the lenses.
trix4ever
Well-known
I have an original Q and frankly it's a very different type of camera.
The fixed 28mm f1.7 lens, decent evf, stabilisation, leaf shutter, make it quite unlike the Fp in use.
I've taken a lot of photos I'm happy with but in low light and high iso you can hardly raise the shadows for the banding and certainly my Q has suffered from sensor dust very badly. It's had to be cleaned about once every year at a cost of AU$235 (Imaging By Design in Melbourne). Before the last clean it looked like someone had tipped a wheelbarrow of garden refuse on it, and yes I had taped over the Mic and speaker holes. So while it's clean it's going on ebay. At least I can clean the Fp sensor myself.
In low light the Fp craps all over the Q.
We now need sigma to make some 28mm L-mount lenses for mirrorless. They make 3 different 24mm lenses, how hard could it be to make a 28mm f1.4 dg dn or a 28mm Pancake. Even Panasonic leave out the 28mm from their lineup.
trix4ever
Well-known
Sigma Fp. 15mm ver iii Voigtlander
trix4ever
Well-known
Sigma Fp, 15mm ver iii Voigtlander
Glen Innes, NSW, Oz
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trix4ever
Well-known
Sigma Fp, 15mm ver iii Voigtlander
Mackay, QLD, Oz
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Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
When I was walking back there was a duck standing at the edge of the waterfall. Thought she was bored but she was keeping an eye on her ducklings below.
This is with the 38mm sonnar and cropped pretty heavily.
My longest lens was just the 45mm so instead of trying for more pictures I decided to give the video function a try and took advantage of the crop zoom feature (2.5x) to get more reach while still getting full resolution 4k video.
Turned out to be fun to watch. Camera was on a tripod opened as a bipod with a ball head and no stabilization in the Sigma. My pans were a bit choppy, Final Cut Pro stabilized them extremely well. This video was cropped a little futher in final cut and exported at 1080p to keep the size down.
That the last duckling didn't leave a sibling behind was cute as was mom's quick 'you good?' glance before back to lunch.
Link to Video.
Watching those ducklings filing up that tree branch made my day. Especially when that last one changed its mind and went back down.
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trix4ever
Well-known
Sigma Fp, 17mm Sigma
St Josephs Covent, Glen Innes, NSW, Oz,
shawn
Veteran
Thanks. The one that was being impatient at the top ended up knocking itself off the branch and then the one turned around and went back down to check on him.Watching those duckling filing up that tree branch made my day. Especially when that last one changed its mind and went back down.
trix4ever
Well-known
Sigma Fp, panasonic 20-60mm
Stonehenge reserve, nr Glen Innes, NSW, Oz
trix4ever
Well-known
Glen innes, NSW, Oz
Sigma Fp, 15mm veriii Voigtlander
shawn
Veteran
trix4ever
Well-known
Anyone thinking of adding the new 18-40mm to their Fp?
Surprised to see it looked crisp into the corners on DPReviews gallery.
Surprised to see it looked crisp into the corners on DPReviews gallery.
shawn
Veteran
The small size is nice, might be a nice walkaround lens. If I were to go for it I'd wait for a used one. Or maybe the 20-60 which is about $200 used.
The zoom that has me intrigued is the Sigma 10-18. I'd love to know if that can cover 1x1.
The zoom that has me intrigued is the Sigma 10-18. I'd love to know if that can cover 1x1.
shawn
Veteran
Answering my own question now with a used 10-18 that just arrived.
In full frame mode (with the hood removed) in 3:2 it hard vignettes at 10mm with black corners. That is big enough that they are a problem in 21:9 at 10mm too.
At 12mm it does fully cover the sensor but is smearing in the corners and vignetting. That is pretty consistent all the way to 18mm. FF 21:9 would likely work from 12-18mm.
There is an odd artifact looking at the full frame DNGs in lightroom. The distortion correction (that LR auto applies and can't be turned off) causes artifacts on the edges of the screen as it warps the sensor output into the FF and basically runs out of coverage so that you get what looks like a repeating smear. This is bigger from 14-18mm and happens slightly within the 1:1 frame too. Opening the DNG in something like Iridient Developer that allows you to turn off the distortion correction removes that artifact.
If you shoot DNG the fp L only allows a crop zoom that jumps from 1x directly to 1.53x crop, not steps in between so you can't use that to avoud this. If you shoot JPEG you can set a 1.05x crop to avoid this. Applying a very slight crop (or 101% scale) in LR removes this.
The lens does look like it will work well in full frame mode set to 1:1 with the hood removed. Just over 16mm is has the equivalent FOV (72.8 degrees H and V) to the SWC. It can go a little tighter at 18mm (67.4 degrees H&V) and can get much wider at 10mm (100 degrees H & V). For anyone that likes wide and square the 10-18 on the fp L is a tiny intriguing combo that has 40 megapixels in 1:1 mode.
Couple of quick test shots just to show FOV/coverage
18mm in FF 1:1 (101% scale in LR) @F10
14mm in FF 1:1 (101% scale in LR) @F10
10mm in FF 1:1 (101% scale in LR) @F10
shawn
Veteran
Sigma fp L with 10-18mm in FF at 10mm 1:1