PiX - Sigma DP1

PIX • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2009

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| sigma review

Words and PiX By John and Tina Reid

I

recently purchased Sigma’s latest offering, the Sigma DP1. What follows is a handson review of what I think is a unique and interesting camera. This is not a scientific, conclusive review but rather an account of my opinion of the camera after a month of regular use.

To provide some background information: my wife and I do the majority of our work using Canon SLRs; more specifically, the Canon 5D. Portraiture and weddings make up the most of our business work and I shoot landscapes for personal work. Over the last couple of years shooting the same sort of subjects with the same equipment one can easily get into a photographic rut.

The benefit of a compact camera is being able to keep the camera in your pocket which in turn, enables you to shoot whenever you feel some inspiration. I cannot tell you how often I have seen something and though to myself, “that would make an awesome picture” but never had a camera to shoot it. With the Sigma DP1, I have had the convenience of a compact camera, without having to sacrifice image quality.

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Image Quality 90% of the images shot with the DP1, have been in RAW and used I Sigma Photo Pro to convert the images into 16Bit Tiff files. I have no test charts, but comparing the images from my 5D with those of the DP1, it is difficult to notice any differences in resolution. The DP1 files end up at a resolution of 4537 by 3048 which is a little larger than the 5D’s files. The 5D creates images that have slightly less noise than the DP1 in shadow regions at lower ISO values. The difference is only noticeable when viewing at 100%. Compared with Canon’s 350D, the DP1 produces significantly less noise.

Handling and Performance I have read complaints about the DP1 focusing speed and admittedly, it is slow when compared with a DSLR, but for most of the subjects that the camera is suitable for shooting, the auto focus is good enough. Whenever I tried to shoot quick moving subjects, I set the camera to manual focus and had no trouble capturing the action.

The burst mode when shooting in RAW is pretty much one shot, so you would not use this camera to shoot sport or wildlife, but then again, you would struggle shooting both those subjects with the 28mm lens.

Most camera options are selected using the menu, which I found to be well laid out and easy to use. There are separate buttons on the camera for changing shutter speed and aperture values, which took a couple of days to get the hang of, but now is as easy as using a DSLR.

Some Complaints At the time of shooting and processing the example images, Adobe Bridge and Lightroom offered no support for the Sigma RAW files.

Subsequently Adobe released updates that contain “beta” support for the Sigma RAW files. I’ve found that I get a better looking result from Lightroom than I did from Sigma’s RAW converter, so I am looking forward to when Lightroom offers full RAW support.

This is more of an observation than a complaint: the “famous” colours produced by the Foveon chip do not look much different from the colours produced by Canon’s chip. In fact, it is very difficult to notice any difference.

Maybe someone more technical might be able to the point out the differences, but for everyday purposes, the difference is negligible.

In my opinion, the advantage of a Foveon chip is that the images are not passed through the anti-aliasing filter that the Bayer chips are subject to, which make the images sharp straight out of the camera without any manipulation Some Perks The main reason I purchased this camera was to own a camera that I could keep in my pocket without sacrificing image quality, but using this camera has had other benefits I was unaware of.

Using pocket wizards, the DP1 will sync with my flashes at 1/1000th of a second, which is much better than the 1/200th of my 5D. 1/1000th of a second at F11 will dim out almost all natural light, enabling you to shoot in the harshest of daylight with no problem.

| sigma review

Jeep Adventurer

I found the focal length of 28mm to be a useful length for showing people in their environments. This is a portrait of a Jeep sponsored kayaker, Andrew Pollock.

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• Shutter Speed: 1/250th • Aperture: F6.3 • ISO: 100

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| sigma review

CONTEMPLATION I love having the DP1 with me wherever I go.

I went for a walk on the beach on a day with very dramatic cloud formations and was able to snap this great shot which captured the feeling of the evening for me.

Exif: • Shutter Speed: 1/80th • Aperture: F10 • ISO: 100

Another benefit was the cost of accessories. A water housing for a DSLR can cost in the region of 10K but I was able to get a housing for the DP1 for less then 1K. Filters for the small filter thread also cost significantly less than for the lenses a DSLR use.

I find that I am more confident doing street photography with the DP1.

Approaching people to ask for their permission feels much better when you have an “innocent looking” compact in your hands. People tend to maintain a “natural” looking pose. The DP1 also looks far less valuable than an SLR system, so I feel safer walking through the streets of South African cities.

I went for a hike to test how the DP1 would handle landscape photography and I experienced freedom. I was able to climb up waterfalls without the weight of a camera body and lenses on my back (the DP1 fits snugly in my pocket). I can imagine that extreme adventurers would find the DP1 the ideal travel companion.

For Professional Photographers Does the Sigma DP1 have a place in the professional photographer’s camera bag? I’ve found that using the DP1 has enhanced my creativity, enabling me to capture images that would normally go by unnoticed and provided me with more options when I’m on a commercial shoot.

The DP1 will not replace a professional photographer’s camera gear, rather, it will enhance the options, flexibility and creativity when creating images.

I have taken the DP1 with me to a few commercial shoots. Once I had the “safe” shots, I pulled out the DP1 and shot a few experimental shots.

I included the DP1 images when I gave the client their images and in every case the client was highly impressed with the image quality. In some cases the client ended up choosing the DP1 images over my 5D images!

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Daylight Overpowered

Exif:

I shot this image whilst trying to work out the max sync speed of the DP1. This image was shot in our friend’s back garden at 15:00, directly into the sun.

The flash was fired at _ power.for me.

• Shutter Speed: 1/1000th • Aperture: F10 • ISO: 100

| sigma review

Invitation I found th e DP1 to be a great camera for walking and just shooting what I see. I’m sure it will be very useful for travel photography.

Conclusion The Sigma DP1 is a unique, innovative camera that at present has no equal. That said; is the Sigma DP1 a camera you should consider buying? The DP1 is a camera that you should look into purchasing if you want to enhance your current camera equipment. It will provide you with more options, such as high speed flash sync, expand your creativity and provide convenience without sacrificing quality. <<<

STREAM PATTERN

both the shadows and highlights.

This image displays the dynamic range captured by the DP1. Most of this stream was in the shade, but some of it was in direct sun. The DP1 was able to capture detail in

• Shutter Speed: 0.8seconds • Aperture: F11 • ISO: 100

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• Shutter Speed: 1/50th • Aperture: F8 • ISO: 100

Nature’s Waste Hiking with the DP1 gave me the freedom to get to places I normally would have battled to get to with my normal camera gear. I found this little waterfall climbing up the river over a few other waterfalls.

Exif: • Shutter Speed: 3.2 seconds • Aperture: F11 • ISO: 50

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