Hey that Sigma DP1 is officially announced

[Solinar]

This next generation Fovecon sensor has 4.67 million pixel sites. Each pixel site is able to receive red, blue and green light.

A raw image should in theory be a pretty crisp 5 mega pixel image.

 

[jlw]

Hope it comes under USD$1000. Wonder if it will have the same "light hitting sensor at extreme angle" problem as the other digital rangefinders.

It won't have this problem, because it is NOT a digital rangefinder camera.

It's a fixed-lens, autofocus camera styled to somewhat resemble a rangefinder camera. Except for the lack of a zoom lens, the specs are no different from those of a lot of other high-end compacts, unless you've drunk the Foveon Kool-Aid.

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

Grumpy grumpy.

 

[jlw]

Grumpy grumpy.

But accurate accurate.

 

[cbass]

Except for the lack of a zoom lens, the specs are no different from those of a lot of other high-end compacts, unless you've drunk the Foveon Kool-Aid.

Probably true, although the larger sensor will undoubtedly improve the DP-1's inherent low-light capability (unless the image processor is FUBAR).

Regardless of its sensor I'm interested in the DP-1 as a compact enthusiast DSLR alternative/family/travel camera but if the price is significantly higher than that of the enthusiast compacts from Canon (G7), Nikon (P5000) and Panasonic (LX2) then I might look at those instead.

Lots of cool stuff coming out of PMA so far.

 

[RdEoSg]

Well I played with the thing yesterday. I wasn't impressed.

The lens pops out quite a bit so it isn't as small as you think once you turn it on. The camera isn't very good at focus at all and is actually pretty slow in capturing. I would say from the time pushed the button half way down to focus until it had finished saving the image and was ready for another shot it was at least a second and a half or two seconds. I was surprised by how long it took to focus and there were several times that I couldn't get it to focus. I really had to move the camera around to get it to lock on things and several shots that it said were locked and focus looked out of focus when I reviewed them on the back of the screen. The sigma rep said this was not the final version. Sigma had told them a sell price of $600 but then right before the show told them they were doing revisions and so they didn't know what the final price would be.

Unfortunately they had the sd slot door taped up so I couldn't pop my card in and take a few to show you. I did take a picture of it with the lens out so you could see how much it extends once turned on.

I dunno. All in all I was unimpressed by the camera. In theory with some firmware updates and such they might be able to make it faster at focus and saving and so forth but the camera I played with was slower than all of the canon and nikon point and shoots I am used to. The Sigma rep thought the price would be under $1000 and was hoping for closer to the original $600 they had said.

The feel of the camera was sorta plasticy to me. They put zoom buttons for digital zoom right where my thumb comfortably goes so I kept zooming the camera by mistake while I was playing with it.

I won't be buying one!

Here's a piccy.

 

[amateriat]

Oh, well...defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, again. As my fellow Mets fans chant, "Maybe next year..."

Thanks for the report, Chris.


- Barrett

 

[anselwannab]

I don't know. I guess its better to have a wide angle lens and be able to crop, but if you are going ot have a fixed lens camera, I'd start out with a 35mm eq. 28 is just so wide. I wonder what kind of distorsion it will have.

I have a secret hope that Canon leaving the RAW out of the G7 is a prelude to s crop or even full frame fixed lens camera. FF is a bit out there, but maybe a crop is possible.

Who cares how big the lens is when in use? Does the lens hood have to be removed to collapse the lens? I'm thinking that the hot shoe (or is a cold shoe) is in respnose to comments on places like RFF.

One might find its way into my travel bag, but I'm not going to sell my CL for it.

Mark

 

[Alan]

I sounded like a good carry around camera until RdEoSg shared his experience with the Dp1. I think I will just save my money for a R3a then. have been wanting one for over a year, but bought a Olympus DSLR and a used car so got to wait until December...

The Dp1 sort of reminds me of the Bessa L when it's fitted with a viewfinder. still, the L is a better deal.

 

[Nachkebia]

I will buy it for sure! only if it was f/2 or f/2.8 I would pay more 😀

Added - Or I might get LEICA D-LUX 3 😀

 

[Didier]

On paper the DP-1 looks like a great camera. I wonder what it will cost in the USA? I've got some cash saved up for an R4A, but the DP-1 is very, very tempting.

I guess it will be significantly under the overpriced Ricoh GR-D, which goes for around $600. Because it's slower, and because it's Sigma.
Didier

 

[cbass]

Chris, thank you for your honest first-hand report. Sounds to me like Sigma still has some kinks to work out. Oh, well.

 

[Solinar]

Chris, did the manual focusing dial work??? There should lots of depth of field with a 16mm lens. It should have had no trouble focusing.

Knock on would that Stigma has time to get it right. The have a lot on their plate getting out the SD14 and new lenses. For example, the SD14 really should have been ready shortly after the release of the Nikon D200.

Back to the DP1 - I'd sure like to see a focus illumination light on the front. My guess is that they intend on using the pop up flash for this. Too many compromises will make for another what could have been digicam.

With regards to its size, any well designed fast lens will make the camera grow to become something akin to the Sony DSC R1, which is big.

Even so, I would have preferred a 21mm that could do f/2.8 in place of the 16/4. A 21/2.8 is pretty large for a pocketable model.

At least the DP1 prototype took a photo. Pentax has been showing a mock up of their 645 digital SLR for at least a year.

 

[pvdhaar]

Slow focus doesn't surprise me at all. None of the P&S digis that rely on the CCD to focus is fast. It could have been a bomb had they used the system found on even the cheapest film P&S; active-IR. Something as fast as the HexarAF or the Minilux, now that would have rocked..

 

[fgianni]

So autofocus is slow, but who cares about autofocus?
Pre-focus at 2m, fix aperture at f8, iso 200, and everything is in focus from 1m to infinity.
Need more speed?, f5.6, ISO 400, pre focus at 3m and your dof goes from 1.4m to infinity.
Indoors, f5.6 ISO 800 or 1600 as needed, pre focus at 1.6m and U're in focus from 1m to 4m.

At £500 or less I'll buy one without even thinking about it, anything more and I'll wait for a review.

 

[Jeroen]

it's hideous. Yuck.

Add a hood and a viewfinder and it looks much better.

 

[rogue_designer]

if it allows for a true prefocus, that works. Most focusable P&S i've seen reset after each shot. And some won't take the shot if the camera doesn't think it's in focus. I hate that.

 

[fgianni]

if it allows for a true prefocus, that works. Most focusable P&S i've seen reset after each shot. And some won't take the shot if the camera doesn't think it's in focus. I hate that.

Good point!
If it does not allow for proper pre-focus the appeal of the camera is greatly reduced.

 

[pvdhaar]

So autofocus is slow, but who cares about autofocus?
Pre-focus at 2m, fix aperture at f8, iso 200, and everything is in focus from 1m to infinity.
Need more speed?, f5.6, ISO 400, pre focus at 3m and your dof goes from 1.4m to infinity.
Indoors, f5.6 ISO 800 or 1600 as needed, pre focus at 1.6m and U're in focus from 1m to 4m.
...

Maybe I've been spoiled by the Hexar AF, but I still think its autofocus concept is great for capturing indoor shots. Granted, the Hexar had an F2 lens, and DOF could be mere inches when you got in close enough.. 😱

But my reasoning is that if I want bad auto focus I can get it a lot cheaper.. 😀

 

[Solinar]

The DP1 has a focus dial situated behind the shutter button. I'd bet dollars to donuts that shutting off the AF and using the dial would speed things up immensely. Did the Stigma rep explain this feature?