Sigma DP1
Point and Shoot Cameras (P&S) versus DSLRs
Tuesday 09 June 2009 Filed in: Views
Like many, I have been
patiently searching – oftentimes, impatiently waiting
– for a small, carry everywhere camera that can
deliver great image quality. I’ve looked at most of
the likely contenders, principally those from
Canon, Panasonic and
Leica -
but they all came up short in the image quality
stakes. For a while (which proved to be
considerably shorter than the time it took for
the DP1 to write files to a card), I
thought that Sigma had answered my prayers to the
Camera Gods. Alas, usability – or rather, a lack
of it – let down the Sigma DP1 as surely as the
ham-fisted way Panasonic, in a misguided attempt
to deal with noise, smeared detail in images taken
with their cameras.
All those manufacturer’s have put out recent successors: Canon G10, Panasonic LX3/Leica D-lux 4, and Sigma DP2. And, while they are all improvements to some extent, the basic problems with each manufacturer’s offering remains: the Sigma is still as slow as a dead tortoise and the Canon et al are, truth be said, still victims of their tiny sensors – unable to deliver DSLR-like quality when the going gets tough; which in photographic-speak means, when the light levels drop below anything that would have you reaching for your sunglasses.
I await with interest and something bordering on desperation for the imminent release of the Olympus micro four-thirds (m4/3) camera, the E-P1. It is my one last hope that the possibility of a small Decisive Moment Digital camera (DMD), as Mike Johnston refers to this elusive photographic tool over at The Online Photographer, is a reality and not just a dream.
In the meantime, however, I was struck by another thought: perhaps this search for peak performance in a small camera is not so important? That it’s like concentrating on the top speed that a car can do when we mostly drive it at 60 mph or less. What got me thinking this way was reviewing some of my images taken with a Canon G9 and being pleasantly surprized at how good some of them were: admittedly, they had all been taken at low ISOs (the equivalent of keeping well within the speed limit) and in good light – but for the resolutions one would typically use to display them on the web or for prints up to, say, 14 x 11 inches, I wondered whether we were not agonizing unnecessarily. Perhaps, under such circumstances and for such purposes, which would cover the way the majority of us use our photos, these top-of-the-line point and shoot (P&S) cameras were already delivering results that were essentially indistinguishable from a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera (DSLR)? Read More...
All those manufacturer’s have put out recent successors: Canon G10, Panasonic LX3/Leica D-lux 4, and Sigma DP2. And, while they are all improvements to some extent, the basic problems with each manufacturer’s offering remains: the Sigma is still as slow as a dead tortoise and the Canon et al are, truth be said, still victims of their tiny sensors – unable to deliver DSLR-like quality when the going gets tough; which in photographic-speak means, when the light levels drop below anything that would have you reaching for your sunglasses.
I await with interest and something bordering on desperation for the imminent release of the Olympus micro four-thirds (m4/3) camera, the E-P1. It is my one last hope that the possibility of a small Decisive Moment Digital camera (DMD), as Mike Johnston refers to this elusive photographic tool over at The Online Photographer, is a reality and not just a dream.
In the meantime, however, I was struck by another thought: perhaps this search for peak performance in a small camera is not so important? That it’s like concentrating on the top speed that a car can do when we mostly drive it at 60 mph or less. What got me thinking this way was reviewing some of my images taken with a Canon G9 and being pleasantly surprized at how good some of them were: admittedly, they had all been taken at low ISOs (the equivalent of keeping well within the speed limit) and in good light – but for the resolutions one would typically use to display them on the web or for prints up to, say, 14 x 11 inches, I wondered whether we were not agonizing unnecessarily. Perhaps, under such circumstances and for such purposes, which would cover the way the majority of us use our photos, these top-of-the-line point and shoot (P&S) cameras were already delivering results that were essentially indistinguishable from a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera (DSLR)? Read More...
The Sigma DP1: Back to the Future
Thursday 24 April 2008 Filed in: Reviews
Let’s
get this established from the start: this set of
first impressions is NOT about image quality (IQ).
The jury is no longer out when it comes to the
quality of images produced by the DP1 – the world’s
first “pocketable” digital camera to include a sensor
the size of those found in DSLRs (Digital Single Lens
Reflex cameras: you know, the ones that have
interchangeable lenses and where you use a viewfinder
that shows you the actual image as it is seen looking
through the lens). The images from the DP1 may be
prone under some circumstances to having magenta or
green colorcasts, they may occasionally exhibit moiré
artefacts, but there is little doubt that the DP1 is
capable of producing the best image quality in its
class. In good light and with appropriate
post-processing, images shot in RAW stand up well
against those coming from 8-10 megapixel DSLRs. In
some areas, such as the extent of its dynamic range
(which is a measure of the ability to retain details
in the shadows and highlights), the little DP1 may
even trump its bigger brethren.
So – this is not about images, then, but how the Sigma DP1 is as a camera. Read More...
So – this is not about images, then, but how the Sigma DP1 is as a camera. Read More...