Sigma DP1 Fever!

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Bryan Lee

Expat Street Photographer
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Im writing from the lobby desk of my hotel in Ayutthaya Thailand and I just got my first look at the PMA version of the DP1 and wanted to post a picture for you guys. Im very limeted on time today but I will just say this is the direction I will be heading into as a alternative to the M8. Yes I know it does not have a rangefinder but it is being marketed directly to us and man is it ever sexy!



dp1-big.jpg
 
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Heres a picture,,,,,, 28mm fixed lense, 14 megapixel full sized Foveon sensor (About 10 times bigger than anything out there in point and shoot), One thousand dollar price tag, I dont really need to know much else accept when I can take delivery.
 

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With the addition of a proper shoe and finder, this is starting to look like the real thing. Just a pity that we'd have to shelve out $1000 to get our paws on it.
 
It's actually 14.1 million photo bodies on the sensor, but it works out to really be about 4.69 effective mp's, they count each RGB sensitive section of the chip (being 4.7mp each) and then call it a 14mp camera. So a final image size of 2652×1768.

And it's only an f4... which is apparently because of the large sensor size and image quality, they needed the light to directly hit the sensor; so larger lens means a faster lens, but larger lens means less image quality with this particular camera with out changing the dimensions of the camera, aka bigger.

I think its nifty, and I would love to play with one, but it wouldn't fit what I would want it for.

I did drool when I saw it posted on DPReview this morning though, haha. 😀
-peter
 
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Snap mode?

Snap mode?

I had the Ricoh GR Dgital for a while.
The lens was great! But the sensor was crap,
image quality for no match for entry level DSLR like the Nikon D40 or D50.
(And that was expected even before I bought it.)

Now, this Sigma is truely a step forward!
Huge sensor in a tiny body.
I knew all along this was possible.

🙄
Hey, look at the picture below . . .
Do you see the focus dial? Scale focusing at waist-level!
Ah perfect . . . no wonder the lens is at F4.
They want you to use the DP1 for street-photography.
They actually have us RF people in mind.
The tiny dial is really important for us who knows what we are doing.
Auto-focus isn't all that needful . . . isn't this wonderful feature!

Other 'amatures' will be wondering what the heck is the dial for anyway?
A feature they will neglect.


Now you wait and see . . . if it's reasonably priced,
I will be having one soon enough!

Cheers,
Manfred






Cheers,
Manfred😎
 

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I know that everyone has their lens preference but: Why did they make this a 28mm lens. IMHO it limits it. I would much prefer something in the 35-45mm range, like the old fixed lens rangefinders. I can deal with f/4 but if they made it a 40mm lens they might be able to squeak another stop out of it. Wouldn't a 40mm f/2.8 be more useful?
 
zzzz, another autofocus digital camera.

I guess it's must me, but I prefer rangefinder cameras, i.e., ones that focus via a rangefinder.

Maybe I need to go find an online forum for rangefinder-camera enthusiasts.
 
It is indeed an interesting beast, but the lens is 28mm equiv (it's actually 16mm). It would be very good for street photography with the huge DoF but, like Chuck I would have prefered a slightly longer lens.
 
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I did a little research and it seems the sensor isn't the best for black and white capture. There's an SD-14 vs 5D test you can google on. You can see how the gray-tones are not very well defined. That's a major drawback in my opinion.
 
ywenz said:
Huh? Since when was f/4 slow? This camera has a big sensor so you can turn up the iso..
Click to expand...
Other folks may disagree, but I think you've made a very good point. f/4 isn't all that bad, at least for the kind of shooting I prefer to do. It's also not that uncommon in the older film cameras a lot of folks like around here; the XA2 with a max aperture of f/3.5 comes to mind immediately and I've never heard anybody seriously complain about that.
 
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DougK said:
Other folks may disagree, but I think you've made a very good point. f/4 isn't all that bad, at least for the kind of shooting I prefer to do. It's also not that uncommon in the older film cameras a lot of folks like around here; the XA2 with a max aperture of f/3.5 comes to mind immediately and I've never heard anybody seriously complain about that.
Click to expand...

I use a 17-40mm f/4 lens on my Canon 5D as a walk around lens. I only have problem with it in extremely dark situations.
 
I don't know, I kind of agree w/Michiel & PhotoGeek. f/4 is slow, even if you can crank up the ISO. Aside from the low-light limitations, it also restricts your ability to reduce DoF. Also, there's no indication that the Foveon sensor & Sigma electronics/software are going to be any good @ high ISOs like those in Canon DSLRs; IIRC, the current Foveons aren't speed demons.

ywenz said:
Huh? Since when was f/4 slow? This camera has a big sensor so you can turn up the iso..
Click to expand...
 
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Per my previous post, I think the 5D is a completely different animal, particularly for low-light shooting. I just wish Canon would put the 5D's sensor in something a lot smaller.

ywenz said:
I use a 17-40mm f/4 lens on my Canon 5D as a walk around lens. I only have problem with it in extremely dark situations.
Click to expand...
 
So whats the use of having 14mp in each RGB sensitive section of the ship (being 4.7mp each) if the camera has a final image of 2652×1768 ?

I don get it. but definitly i will buy one because of the scale focusing and viewfinder.
 
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