Sigma innovation: DP1 and 200-500/2.8 lens
:: Thursday, March 8th, 2007 @ 1:05:33 pm
:: Tags: Photo
Sigma announced two products today that I’m really excited about. The first is the Sigma DP1 compact digital camera, which uses an APS-sized Foveon sensor (the size used in most digital SLRs these days) to produce what they’re calling 14 megapixel images. The sensor is actually 2652 x 1768 x 3 layers, which should produce images that compete well with images produced by today’s 10 megapixel SLRs. Hopefully, this Sigma announcement will signal the first of many compact cameras that use large sensors. At the moment, the only other cameras like this that exist are the Epson RD-1 and Leica M8 digital rangefinders. Both are high-end, expensive cameras meant to satisfy the film rangefinder crowd.
Anyway, I’ve been waiting for such cameras for a long time. The idea that you can get a clean image out of a camera the size of the new DP1 has until now been a fantasy. One big drawback of the DP1 is that it has an f4 lens. Lame.
The other product is the Sigma APO 200-500mm F2.8 lens. Nikon has a 200-400mm f/4 lens already, but a 200-500/2.8 sounds incredible! With a 2x teleconverter, you’d have a working focal length of 400-1000mm at f5.6. I’m sure this thing is going to weigh a lot, and traveling with it might be nearly impossible.
The only long lens I own at the moment is a Canon 400mm/5.6L. It’s sharp and light, but won’t focus closer than around 10 feet. Luckily, a bunch of friends have other long lenses I can borrow. I’ll just have to convince one of them to get the Sigma 200-500/2.8 so I can give it a try. :)
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Eric, agreed that f4 for the DP1 is lame. Maybe in the next version, they will have a faster lens. I am still looking for the perfect inbetween camera between a point and shoot and a full blown kit. The 5D is just too much sometimes but I want more than the SD900 can do.
The 200-500 looks incredible but I wonder how much it is going to cost.
What a fucking waste. If they had gone with a more normal focal length, maybe they could’ve eked out a decent maximum aperture. And I don’t quite understand how they could only get f/4 out of a fixed lens.
Oh well. As you say, let’s see what else they can do with the platform.
I’m sure the f4 lens is a sacrifice to size. It’s one stop from a 2.8. If noise performance is better due to the larger sensor, it may function no worse than smaller sensored compact at a wider aperture.
The new Sigma lens may be hard to pack. If it’s too heavy for carry-on status, just put it on the camera and hang the camera around your neck. Act like it’s really small and light.