Sigma, you may remember, is the firm behind the first compact camera to use a large-format sensor. Over the years, Sigma's concept has evolved in small steps, with no truly radical changes. Now, four years down the line, it's time for the firm to make some more serious updates. The DP1 and DP2 have therefore been completely reworked, and now come loaded with the same sensor as the SD1 SRL.
For the last four years, we've been hoping to see Sigma take its large-sensor compact back to the drawing board. Now, it's finally happened. The DP1x and DP2x were just too similar to the first DP cameras for our liking, using the same sensor, the same electronics, the same lenses and similar bodies with some rather strange design features (like the thumb wheel for manual focusing and buttons for exposure correction).
With the arrival of a new 15-Megapixel sensor taken straight from Sigma's SD1 SLR, the firm had no choice but to redesign these compacts, as the SD1 sensor is physically bigger than the 4.7-Megapixel sensor previously used. With the SD1 sensor, Sigma's latest DP cameras probably become the highest-resolution compacts on the market—don't forget that the firm's Foveon sensor structure uses 'genuine' pixels by layering red, green and blue sensors. This means that each pixel captures red, blue and green light separately, thus creating a purer, more detailed image with no loss from interpolation and no need for demosaicing as with Bayer filter sensors. The 15 Megapixels in the SD1 sensor will therefore give more detailed shots than 24 Megapixels in a standard sensor.
The new cameras—named the DP1 and DP2 'Merrill' after one of the men behind the Foveon sensor—therefore have a new body and design. The focusing ring is now located around the lens and a settings wheel has appeared around the on/off button. There's a new screen too—a 3-inch LCD with 920,000 dots for sharper onscreen images. This should make the screen generally nicer to use, as well as making it much easier to check the focus. Similarly, the cameras' electronics have been updated, bringing VGA video (still no HD from Sigma, then), which is a slight improvement on 320 x 240 pixels!
The DP1 Merrill has a wide-angle lens equivalent to 28 mm, while the DP2 Merrill has a standard lens equivalent to 45 mm. Both have an aperture of f/2.8, which is good news, but no zoom version has been announced for the time being.
After a quick hands-on with the DP2 Merrill at the CP+ camera show, we found that these new Sigma compacts were still pretty slow to start up, but that once they got going they were much more responsive than previous models. Plus, they handled much better with their new body and controls.
Sigma hasn't yet announced prices for the DP1 and DP2 Merrill. However, the firm claims to have optimised its Foveon sensor production process, which should cut costs dramatically. This has already been seen with the SD1 SLR, which was renamed the SD1 Merrill and slashed to just over £2,000 after starting life nearer £6,200! Sigma will apparently be offering users stung by the initial retail price vouchers as compensation.
This new price places the SD1 in good stead alongside current expert-level SLRs, with which it's clearly on par in terms of build quality. In fact, anyone for whom image resolution is of key importance should probably consider the SD1 Merrill alongside the recently announced Nikon D800, for example.
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For the last four years, we've been hoping to see Sigma take its large-sensor compact back to the drawing board. Now, it's finally happened. The DP1x and DP2x were just too similar to the first DP cameras for our liking, using the same sensor, the same electronics, the same lenses and similar bodies with some rather strange design features (like the thumb wheel for manual focusing and buttons for exposure correction).
With the arrival of a new 15-Megapixel sensor taken straight from Sigma's SD1 SLR, the firm had no choice but to redesign these compacts, as the SD1 sensor is physically bigger than the 4.7-Megapixel sensor previously used. With the SD1 sensor, Sigma's latest DP cameras probably become the highest-resolution compacts on the market—don't forget that the firm's Foveon sensor structure uses 'genuine' pixels by layering red, green and blue sensors. This means that each pixel captures red, blue and green light separately, thus creating a purer, more detailed image with no loss from interpolation and no need for demosaicing as with Bayer filter sensors. The 15 Megapixels in the SD1 sensor will therefore give more detailed shots than 24 Megapixels in a standard sensor.
The new cameras—named the DP1 and DP2 'Merrill' after one of the men behind the Foveon sensor—therefore have a new body and design. The focusing ring is now located around the lens and a settings wheel has appeared around the on/off button. There's a new screen too—a 3-inch LCD with 920,000 dots for sharper onscreen images. This should make the screen generally nicer to use, as well as making it much easier to check the focus. Similarly, the cameras' electronics have been updated, bringing VGA video (still no HD from Sigma, then), which is a slight improvement on 320 x 240 pixels!
The DP1 Merrill has a wide-angle lens equivalent to 28 mm, while the DP2 Merrill has a standard lens equivalent to 45 mm. Both have an aperture of f/2.8, which is good news, but no zoom version has been announced for the time being.
After a quick hands-on with the DP2 Merrill at the CP+ camera show, we found that these new Sigma compacts were still pretty slow to start up, but that once they got going they were much more responsive than previous models. Plus, they handled much better with their new body and controls.
Sigma hasn't yet announced prices for the DP1 and DP2 Merrill. However, the firm claims to have optimised its Foveon sensor production process, which should cut costs dramatically. This has already been seen with the SD1 SLR, which was renamed the SD1 Merrill and slashed to just over £2,000 after starting life nearer £6,200! Sigma will apparently be offering users stung by the initial retail price vouchers as compensation.
This new price places the SD1 in good stead alongside current expert-level SLRs, with which it's clearly on par in terms of build quality. In fact, anyone for whom image resolution is of key importance should probably consider the SD1 Merrill alongside the recently announced Nikon D800, for example.
> Digital Cameras: SLR, Micro 4/3 and Interchangeable Lens Reviews
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