Sigma DP1 samples

This was my initial reaction... due to lack of experience in digital (and probably cause they are just quick snaps) :D ... but then I compared them with dpreview samples of other cameras.
 
Excellent I'd say for the most part, but look at the one with the sun in the frame. There are some really weird colored areas in the flared area that I'm not sure I'd be happy about.
Also, there are no pictures with the ISO over 400. The indoor shot (ISO 400) is just beginning to show a little noise in the shadows, so it may get pretty bad by 1600.
And lastly, there are a couple of shots wide open at close range. There will not be very much OOF from this lens at all; on the other hand, the sharp areas seem pretty clean, and the little bit of OOF there is has a nice feel to it.
Of course it is a pre production camera, so there will almost certainly be changes.
 
Bryce said:
Also, there are no pictures with the ISO over 400. The indoor shot (ISO 400) is just beginning to show a little noise in the shadows, so it may get pretty bad by 1600.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure i heard that the DP1's max ISO was only 800, but like you pointed out from that image, it would probably be pretty noticeable.
 
Yep, max ISO is 800. At that level the shots are "cleaner" than the GR-D but Foveon sensors are not known for their low-light performance, hence no doubt Sigma's decision to cap the ISO @ 800...
I really like the look of this camera, if its RAW buffer is fast I'll trade my GR-D and GR1v for it
 
Somehow, I had expected better. The highlights are blown out in exactly the same way as a small sensor camera behaves. The dark areas have the same colour mottling. I had hoped that more sensor real estate would translate into better handling of the highs and lows. With the focal length as is, there seems little to differentiate it from the rest of the crowd..

But perhaps it's a matter of tuning the image processing software.. or the images may have been optimised for printing, not for display on a screen. I guess we'll have to wait for the production model samples..
 
I allow myself to repeat a post I've made in another forum about the same topic:

These samples can not convince me so far. The high ISO pictures, like this one here (pink surface left of "Circus", dark grey surface below), do not look significantly better than from smaller-sized sensors. It really seems that Sigma could not take the full advantage of it's bigger sensor, though the noise is slightly lower in average as with the GR-D at ISO800. I am also somehow disappointed by the lens. If they make a fixed lens only in f4.0 instead of f2.5 or f2.8, one may expect the heck of a razor sharp thing, with even reproduction from center to corner. But Phil Askeys DP1 hands-on preview snapshots (link) show an average optical performance, clearly below the Ricoh lens. The corners are rather soft, see this one here (top right). The Auto-White balance seems not very spot on (first inside picture/Sigma booth); but that's a problem of many digital cameras and can be resolved by editing the RAW file.

All in all, I do not have the feeling that Sigma has produced a milestone with that camera, but tries to catch up others, breathlessly and with some delay. It's a pity. I would have expected a bit more and I guess I'll pass on this one.

More DP1 sample pics here.

Didier
 
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I agree, this is disappointing. The images don't look anything special and f4.0 with a max ISO of 800 doesn't really bridge the gap between compact digicams and DSLRs.

Shame.
 
Man, seeing more samples (from Japan) that Didier posted above, I'm more turned-off towards this camera.

Nothing but the ol'plain-vanilla digital p&s quality, sharp from here to the horizon, no DOF variation at all among the samples.

So much for big sensor advantage... depressing, really.
 
.........sorry to say, not impressed, further less impressed when they said they were going to charge over 1000 dollars for this camera....nice toy, neat techinical excersize but stick a real higher this way by that way sensor in it then lets talk.


oh yes...28 f4? who are we kidding here? A 28 f2.8 would at least give you some shallow depth of field to play with (and if you say you cant get any shallow depth of field with a lens that wide at 2.8 I will show you canon 15 2.8 fisheye shots..) so where is the advantage of the larger sensor besides noise and this and that?
 
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2nd photo

2nd photo

shot wide open (2nd photo), and the background shows way too much detail to me...that lady in the purple suit 'growing' out o the gent's right shoulder...I'd have liked a 2.5 or better aperature to acheive a smoother background...still very snappy photos...just not or me...
 
MSRP of $999 and pre-order at $800, I wonder what the non-intro price will be. That is damn expensive, in my opinion. I might be more forgiving if it didn't have a 28mm lens. I guess they figure people will e-zoom or crop. 28 is pretty wide to me, with a lot of wide angle distortion. I would have rather started out with a 35mm, had them add a 21mm, and 75mm as time went on. For that sensor, the lens should be a 2.0 or at least a 2.8.

Just really odd that they chose that wide of lens for the first camera.
 
I've ordered one, probably won't see it till May...will report.

Askey's samples are all tack sharp on my monitor, and I have plenty of highlight detail...different monitor...some may be unaware that monitor contrast is adjustable.

Askey's samples approach +cc 5M on my monitor...which is cold to begin with....and I assume we all DO use Lightroom or some other post-processing on our files...right?

I don't expect wonders from the Foveon sensor, but I do know it has at least a stop of under-exposure latitude (ie 1600 equiv) and I'm happy to post process.

Note: Sigma DP1 is NOT 28mm, it's 16.6 mm, "28mm equivalent".

Leica's lovely bokeh solution on APS is 25/1.4 summarit : $1,500. That's "35mm equivalent." For Leica to produce "28mm equivalent" with significant bokeh it'd have to be f.95. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-7627442-9338265?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=35mm+summarit&x=0&y=0
 
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With GRDII you get either 28mm or, if you pay extra, 21mm. The GRDII sensor's too tiny for medium sized prints if you digitally zoom to 100mm equivalent.

With DP1, even after digitally zooming to 100mm, you've got at least twice as many pixels as the unzoomed GRDII has to begin with (roughly 10X as many pixels if both are at native "28mm equivalent"). I use 90 or 100mm more than 24 or 25mm in 35mm, don't have much use for 21mm.

GRDII's lens might be superior to Ricoh's, or the other way around, but for the same reason Leica/Panasonic's digicams have been unsuccessful, Ricoh's tiny sensor's a hugely limiting factor.

Here's a 2008 ultra-lite neo-wannabe-review. The samples don't convey much, considering the extreme contrast range, except for lack of noise ...I'd be much more interested in portraits, North-light skin tones...noise-wise these PR samples look infinitely better than Askey's, but I'm personally not interested in neon...

I HOPE mine arrives in May (Amazon).
http://alatest.com/apps/reviews/5727825/-1/Digital+Compact+Cameras/Sigma+DP1/
 
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