After seeing the first images online from the Sigma DP1, I decided I had to at least try it out as a substitute for the film Leica. It’s a landmark camera, being the first APS-C sensor in a compact form. The Foveon chip makes it interesting, but I’d rather have the sensor from my D300 in this form factor. The f/4 lens makes light gathering capability less than ideal. The need for yet another RAW workflow really had me doubting whether I should even bother. In the end, a small, sealed APS-C sensor package was something I couldn’t pass up. None of the compact cameras I’ve tried up until now seemed to be substitutes for the DSLR or Leica/film tools.
This is one of the first images I captured with the camera. It’s an in camera generated JPEG with the flat default settings from the factory.
So far, I like the controls as speed is adequate for my purposes. The LCD suffers by comparison to the D300’s bright, high rez LCD.
I think that once I get the Sigma software loaded and work in some better light I should be able to better take the measure of the camera as a tool for my work.