HU - Sigma DP 2 Quattro - 499

The quattro is not a Merrill for those that want the most mega pixels and the original 1-1-1 foveon design.

I still have all four of my Merrill cameras (dp1, 2, 3 and sd1). I mainly use them for landscape work these days.

The dp2 Quattro is my general purpose camera. I am perfectly happy w/ shooting small raw file for my general purpose shooting (5mp - 15mp foveon speak) which allows me to retain the 1-1-1 relationship, since it seems to average the blue layer info into a single piece of info to integrate w/ the single red and green layer receptor below.

The af speed on the Quattro is faster and the high iso is 1 to 2 stops better..the only thing I still don't like is the sd card door design.

If one is after the most mp and still retain the 1-1-1 RGB relationship then the Quattro is not for them..they will be better off w/ the Merrill (so long as they accept the Merrill limitations). The Quattro 4-1-1 algo is IMHO still better than traditional Bayer algo. In certain situations both Merrill and Quattro cameras will show more detail than a 36mp Bayer camera, but on average it is a push.

Whether sigma will ever go back to a true 1-1-1 design depends on not only the market, but how stubborn Sigma CEO is. If they ever did a ff foveon sensor and kept the mp the same as old Merrill, I could c it being possibility, but in apsc, they may have hit a technology wall, which forced them into doing a Quattro style design. Btw the Quattro like patent is less then four years after the basic foveon one (done while mr. Merrill was still alive if I remember correctly).

I am interested in seeing what they plan to do for the sd1 Merrill replacement myself. I might just pull the ir/dust filter off my sd1m to turn it into a full spectrum camera.

Gary
 
Wonder what that means for the DP 3 Quattro?
Had a DP3 Merrill that I foolishly sold and was hoping that I could get a DP3Q sometime in the future.
 
j.scooter said:
Wonder what that means for the DP 3 Quattro?
Had a DP3 Merrill that I foolishly sold and was hoping that I could get a DP3Q sometime in the future.
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The dp1 Quattro is still 999. Let's c how long that price will last. If by January next year, the price drops to 499, I am not sure there is a chance for dp3q. They may cut their losses and run. Sigma is a family owned business that does not have deep pockets.

Btw on a different note, according to CEO, his father chose to have manufacturing remain in Japan because they had loyalty to their local employees unlike others who went to other countries to cut cost. They started in low end third party lens business and moved slowly to high end market in order to keep their labor force whole. This came out in a recent interview w/ CEO. If this was a publicly owned company, I don't think they would have gotten away w/ it IMHO.

Gary
 
Just an FYI in terms of af speed of the Quattro.

- About 2x speed of Merrill
- just slightly slower than Fuji xp1/xe1 (don't have xe2 or xt1) or about sane speed depending on situation
- noticeably slower than Sony a7 or Panasonic gx7.

Gary
 
Keith said:
When a camera can go from a grand to half that price so soon after release it doesn't bode well for it's future IMO.

Like Gary I'm pretty happy with my Merrills.
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Sd1 was $9,000, now $1,600
dp2q should be 299 soon, but I may have to buy xtra 9 batteries if I'm going to shoot in Manzanar, WWII Japanese camp site in Lone Pine, California...no?
 
the things I am hoping for in next gen sd1 is
- live view
- faster card write
- dual cards preferably SD
- faster af
Don't care if they go apsc or ff.

Too bad the sd1m did not work out for u, Keith. I think the Merrill may be out of production, so new in the box are going to get scarce.

Gary
 
Taipei-metro said:
Sd1 was $9,000, now $1,600
dp2q should be 299 soon, but I may have to buy xtra 9 batteries if I'm going to shoot in Manzanar, WWII Japanese camp site in Lone Pine, California...no?
Click to expand...

The pre-sd1 Merrill just known as sd1 was 9000 which was plain stupid. The sd1 Merrill looks the same on outside but had some minor improvements in the digital path.. Renamed the Merrill was re-released at a more reasonable price somewhere under 2500 if I remember correctly. It has been holding around 1700-2000 mark for at least a year now. The new 1600 price is a new low.

The dp2q battery is not the same as used in the Merrill. It averages 1.5 times more shots than the one from the Merrill. The dp2q shipped w/ two of them. They are actually the same batteries as used on the Panasonic fz200 (25-600 p&s).

Gary

Ps.. U get 75-90 shots per Merrill battery.
 
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If the Quattro ever hits 299.. That maybe the end of it. Sigma lowered the price on the Merrill down into the 600 range for a while when they weren't selling well. Once they started selling, they kicked the price back up into the 700-800 range until just last couple of months when they needed to sell off the old Merrill inventory.

499 is already a new low.

The overall physical design has probably put off a lot of people as well... Not everyone is going to be able to adapt to the reverse grip style. I never had a problem w/ it.

Gary
 
I play a lot w/ other cameras but always come back to the foveon sensor cameras because the images that I take w/ them just make me smile. :). But there are enough quirks w/ these cameras that it is not a camera that I would recommend for everyone and it should not be your only camera.

Gary
 
These images are from my dp2 Quattro shot in small raw (5mp image size). Visit at local SPCA - Cropped 40% out to remove the kennel bars in the way.

_P2Q1251.jpg


_P2Q1257.jpg


_P2Q1259.jpg


Gary
 
A b&w sample also done on the Quattro using the small raw file size of 5mp. I cropped about 10-15% out of this one. I walked by, decide it would be a good shot, turned around and found the kid turned around checking out if I was going to take the shot.

Local kids having fun decorating the windows of the local coffee shop prior to Holloween

_P2Q1308.jpg


Gary
 
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