New Sigma Quattro DP2?

this inverted grip definitely looks strange, it definitely is something you should try in person to see if you like it ...
i also find it weird they decided to put the AF lamp into the lens and making the lens bigger even though the lens is the same. maybe they wanted to make the system have the same filter size?
 
FA Limited said:
i also find it weird they decided to put the AF lamp into the lens and making the lens bigger even though the lens is the same. maybe they wanted to make the system have the same filter size?
Click to expand...

Actually the lens is slightly wider than the previous, and (while it sticks out the same distance from the face of the body) a shorter distance from the focal plane, which means either a reduced flange distance and/or a more compressed lens design. I probably should have done an image overlay to make it more obvious...
 
nongfuspring said:
Actually the lens is slightly wider than the previous, and (while it sticks out the same distance from the face of the body) a shorter distance from the focal plane, which means either a reduced flange distance and/or a more compressed lens design. I probably should have done an image overlay to make it more obvious...
Click to expand...

i'm just annoyed they made the new lens a 58mm filter instead of the old 49mm for what does not seem like much of a good reason
 
nongfuspring said:
Actually the lens is slightly wider than the previous, and (while it sticks out the same distance from the face of the body) a shorter distance from the focal plane, which means either a reduced flange distance and/or a more compressed lens design. I probably should have done an image overlay to make it more obvious...
Click to expand...

The "flange" distance does not seem to have been reduced. The DP2M's lens barely protruded from the body compared to this new DP2Q. It seems to be the same lens, but less of it resides inside the body.

I am curious about this new 5+5+20mp design. I won't have an opinion until I see the samples, but I'm not sure it'll best the Merrills in every situation. Anyone with a scientific mind willing to comment as to what this could mean?
 
noimmunity said:
But then, the real question is, what effect will the modification in the sensor design have upon the final image?

One thing is for sure: we can expect images from this new DP2 Quattro to look different from the DP2M before it.
Click to expand...

The more I think about it... It is almost like a sensor deterministic approach to what Bayer algo does in other cameras. When there is any info in the blue channel over the green or red, you get the higher resolution. When all four blue channels above the green and red have no info, then u end up w/ the worst case situation. It seems they maybe betting that in real life that edges will have some component that have some blue info in it.

I agree that the look of the color shots from this camera is going to be different. On the otherhand, the monochrome iq could be better than the Leica MM.

Gary
 
Not sure it'll work for me, but

Not sure it'll work for me, but

I think the bodies are going to be too thick for my main application.
I also certainly don't need the extra resolution for my printing needs.
And I don't need better high ISO performance.

Improvements in speed and battery life, the addition of a cable release...all of this would certainly help in the field, but I'll live without it.

I suspect it will be some time, too, before the dust settles after the inevitable battles occur around the changes in the sensor architecture. It kind seems like Sigma's "Leica M" moment with regard to sensor design.

I think that at the end of the day, I may be very glad to stick with the Merrill series instead of the refreshingly well-designed Quattro.
 
Heat decipation... I wonder if they decided to provide more surface area and bigger heat syncs for the digital circuits including the sensor by using a longer body (more surface area). It also could be that the new true pic iii engine is a much larger chip then what they had used previously.

The ability to do super size on jpgs and different aspect ratios to me means that that new digital engine is much faster.

Gary
 
noimmunity said:
I think the bodies are going to be too thick for my main application.
I also certainly don't need the extra resolution for my printing needs.
And I don't need better high ISO performance.

Improvements in speed and battery life, the addition of a cable release...all of this would certainly help in the field, but I'll live without it.

I suspect it will be some time, too, before the dust settles after the inevitable battles occur around the changes in the sensor architecture. It kind seems like Sigma's "Leica M" moment with regard to sensor design.

I think that at the end of the day, I may be very glad to stick with the Merrill series instead of the refreshingly well-designed Quattro.
Click to expand...

If this camera is an improvement in af performance and high iso (2 more stops), I can use it more often then currently.

If they do not announce a sd1q in the next 2-4 months, then I suspect it is not going to happen until photokina. If so, then given the sd1 is their flagship camera, I wonder if this will end up a ff design?

Gary
 
I'm reading that the new sensor will require interpolation to create the full colour image because of the low-res colour layers. I'm not sure I'll be selling my Merrills for colour work, but these new Quattros may be the ticket for BW.
 
I was not planning to sell the Merrill's as well. Where did u read about the interpolation they are using? I suspected that this would be the case, but I could not find info.

Gary
 
Cut and paste from getdpi thread on this new camera..

Cut and paste from getdpi thread on this new camera..

This is a cut and paste from getdpi forum from Hulyss Bowman.. This is his response in the thread opened by biglous. He makes some good points and I wonder if he is a beta tester given the way his comments are structured.

Gary

------------------------------- cut and paste from getdpi ---------------------

"Will review it against DP2m and DP2x. Stay tuned in the next months, this beast will pop out a bit before summer.

Point is the major problems of the current foveon technology is fixed with this new chip.

- The files weight less.

- The processing time in camera is far quicker, New chip AND new sensor. It is designed to be quick and efficient.

- Battery autonomy.

- New SPP.

- 14 bits raw vs 12 bit.

- Better dynamic range, by far.

It is still a foveon chip, extremely optimized. The 4.5 mp RED and GREEN layers are what SIGMA thought would be essential for color capturing.

And for the design, you'll get used to it.

Now, this architecture might be very interesting because it merge speed and foveon advantages. It is probably now possible to go full frame."
 
GaryLH said:
Where did u read about the interpolation they are using?

Gary
Click to expand...

I've seen speculation on dpreview about interpolation. I think the argument is that because there isn't a 1-1-1 R-G-B pixel match any more, some interpolation will have to happen with the data from the lower levels to get to 1-1-1 with the blue layer. Some have called this the end of foveon because interpolation=bayer. I think I'll wait and see the results before I call it the death of foveon, lol.
 
So long as there is even the tiniest bit of the blue channel available, there the pixel accuracy will be there. The question about interpolation comes into play in regards to the green and read channel since it is spread over 4 blue channel photo sites and what happens when the blue channel contains absolutely no info (especially across all four of the 4 blue channel sites that are exactly over the single green/red channel site). I am not sure they need to do anything for the former since the values maybe close enough but for the later this is where I think some level of interpolation will come into play.

I suspect for real life shooting! no one will ever notice the issue. Once someone does compare between dp2m and dp2q as suggested by Hulyss Bowman, then we will have some interesting info.

Gary
 
dfatty said:
I've seen speculation on dpreview about interpolation. I think the argument is that because there isn't a 1-1-1 R-G-B pixel match any more, some interpolation will have to happen with the data from the lower levels to get to 1-1-1 with the blue layer. Some have called this the end of foveon because interpolation=bayer. I think I'll wait and see the results before I call it the death of foveon, lol.
Click to expand...

Philosophically, I think it's a bit disheartening.

One thing to note, this DP2Q is popping up everywhere (even Uncrate). I think the design might boost sales. I knew loads of photographers who had never even heard of the Merrill cameras or the Foveon technology. The Quattros are maybe too funky to ignore.

Here's a size comparison I found on Sigma Rumors. Credit to FoxFoto apparently.
12425829844_ea8946cb59_b.jpg
 
The biggest item to note is that the red channel being at the bottom of the photo site stack, needs the most signal amplification and really is the cause of the most noise issue followed by the green channel. By making these two channels bigger photo sites was their way of getting around the color noise issue at high iso.

I would venture to guess they may have initially experiment w/ a 15 million photo site design and discovered they needed to go to a 20 million to make up the difference due to those 4.9 million green and red channels.

Anyway, just my speculations. I want to c some real world samples. I plan to pre-order the dp2q anyway.. Keep my Merrill's as well. But color accuracy is not an issue if u are shooting in monochrome which I do a lot.

Gary

Ps. I am actually more concerned about how well I am going to get along w/ that grip.
 
Last edited:
Does anyone know if the lens formula was also redone? Maybe bigger lens is a better optimization for the sensor.

Gary
 
Could be an interesting design. The shutter button is placed a bit to far to the right in the grip for adult fingers.
Also the strap lugs should both be placed on the left side of the body for simplicity and ease.
I'm not a fan of protruding lugs either. Canon DSLR flush style lugs would be optimal.
Definetletly a cool design imo. If the performance speed (focus and write) is a triple or greater improvement from the Merrils... I Could see myself "road testing" a 50mm version (ala dpm3).

Cheers!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom