Sigma is hoping that it’ll be picked up not as a superior pro camera but as a cheap alternative to medium-format brands like Hasselblad and Leaf. But there are a few problems there:

• The Foveon sensor has its strengths, but it also has its weaknesses, and I doubt studio photographers are risk-takers. Is it really able to run against Hasselblads?
• I’m not loving that low-resolution LCD. The screen on Canon’s sub-$1000 DSLR line is far sharper, and that resolution matters when you’re reviewing shots or checking focus.
• In the end, definition is determined by the lens. Sigma makes a million lenses but for years I’ve heard their consistency trashed. No one is going to pay ten grand for a camera if you can’t guarantee a cherry lens every time. Nikon and Canon have this covered with their high end lenses, and the built-ins on medium formats are married to the sensor. Can Sigma compete?

Unfortunately for Sigma, I just don’t think the camera will be a hit at that price. It has a lot going for it, but when you’re putting it up against cameras four times the price while at the same time missing features available on cameras half the price, you’re not going to make a lot of friends.

In any case, 15 is enough, and you’re guaranteed some serious image quality with that layered sensor. What else has this thing got for us?

Well, for such a long press release, there really isn’t a lot of information. It’s got a magnesium, weather-sealed body, 11 autofocus points, and it saves to CF type I cards. A 3″ LCD at 480×320 rounds out the package (I’m guessing they mean 460,000 dots, not pixels).

Not a bad camera by any stretch of the imagination, though they seem to be leaning very heavily on that sensor. A high-res LCD and large ISO range are really requisite these days for a camera to be competitive, from the sub-$1000 level to around $3000, at which point specialization kind of takes over. Since we don’t have a price or release date yet, it’s hard to judge where this thing lands. We’ll keep you posted, though.

[via Photography Bay]

The three cameras share the same sensor and image processor, but the DP1 has a much faster and wider lens — it’d be my choice in a heartbeat. But the SD15 might be interesting once they’ve brought it up to speed.

It’s got 14 megapixels on the famous Foveon stacked silicon sensor, a 3-inch LCD, and an extremely durable shutter — 100,000 exposures anybody? I think my Canon is rated at 10,000. Its ISO ranges from 100-1600, and can be extended to 50 or 3200, but I’m guessing that has an adverse effect on image quality. It’s got a real pentaprism viewfinder, too, which makes what you see much closer to what you get.

Unfortunately, not all its specs are impressive. 3FPS in RAW is nothing to crow about, though a big buffer means you can keep that up for 21 shots. And it’s only got 5-point autofocus, which is weak as hell. I mean, personally I only use the center AF point, but for any kind of active photography where you can’t be bothered to compose your shots carefully, a robust AF system is highly useful.

Who knows, maybe its image quality, given some good glass, might make up for its lack of features. We’ll soon see, but in the meantime I still have a soft spot for the DP1x.

[SD15 microsite, via DPReview]

Sigma has updated its DP series with the DP1x and DP2s. The original versions of these cameras received pretty poor reviews, the cameras coming off as sort of well-meaning but half-baked projects. With every successive revision, they get closer to being what we’d like them to be, but the proof of the pudding is in the taste, and we’ll have to really get hands-on if a verdict is to be reached. Photography Bay has the press releases for you (DP1x, DP2s)

The once-mysterious Samsung NX10 has gotten a few new lenses, including a 30mm f/2 that would probably be my walkaround. More info, again, at Photography Bay.

Pop quiz, hot shot: you release a product to tepid critical response. Despite having a good concept behind it, it’s slow, limited, and performs badly in low light. After a year and a half, you release its sequel, which is better but still not really that good. What do you do?

A) Forget this approach, try something new like Micro Four-Thirds
B) Get a decent lens on that thing and improve responsiveness
C) Tell her that you want her love
D) Release a new version of the old product with such changes as it would take an expert in these things to see the difference. Delude yourself into thinking these minor shortcomings were the reason your product was received so poorly.

If you chose D, you’re Sigma!

Seriously, the DP1 was never a great camera, and the DP2 was a minor update. And now they come out with this DP1s? It’s like Microsoft coming out with Vista (plus DirectX 11) after Windows 7 comes out. What an utterly inexplicable move this is!

[via Photo Rumors]

[PSGallery=3mbl45b9ll]

But the more I look at the specs, the more it looks the same. It uses a similar sensor (after buying out Foveon they may have appropriated some of their improved tech), a similar fixed lens (though significantly faster — f/2.8 vs. f/4), and the body looks almost completely unchanged. The button configuration has been switched around somewhat, but that’s about it, and the LCD screen (which was reviled in reviews) doesn’t seem to have changed either. You can focus a little closer (11 inches) but that’s not saying much.

I’m really hoping this camera turns out to be a better piece of kit than the DP1, but unless a lot of the changes are unadvertised, I don’t think it’ll be surpassing it by much. Still, we’ll do what we can to review it and cover what the rest of the world says about this interesting camera.

[via Imaging Resource]

What does this mean for you? Well, it means that they’re going to keep on plugging away with their current strategy, and hopefully the DP2 will be a real player. I was rooting for them; it must be difficult to be a third party in the DSLR business. Nobody knows when the DP2 is due, but I’m looking forward to it.

The Sigma DP2 features a 3-layer 14 megapixel Foveon X3 sensor (2,652×1,768) with an updated True (“Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine”) image processor to enhance image quality and boost processing speed.

Sigma also equipped the DP2 with a new 24.2mm F2.8 lens (equivalent to 41mm on a 35mm SLR camera). The camera comes with a 2.5-inch LCD display and is sized at 113.3×54.6×59.5mm (4.3mm thinner than the DP1).

Sigma will present the camera to the general public during the Photokina 2008, a trade show that starts today in Cologne/Germany. There is no word yet from the company regarding price or release date (not even for the Japanese market).

One month and change after DP Review gave the Sigma DP1 a so-so review, David Pogue now offers his two cents. Like DP Review, Pogue likes the SLR-in-a-point-and-shoot’s body, but says it’s not the end-all, be-all for the concept.

The Sigma DP1, in case you don’t remember, essentially puts an SLR sensor inside a point-and-shoot’s body, to mixed results.

While Pogue admits that the camera is a technical marvel, it doesn’t deliver as well as we might like. The lens doesn’t zoom; it’s too slow for proper action shots; the RAW files don’t work with PhotoShop; there’s no viewfinder, and the LCD washes out easily; and there’s no lens cap, for Pete’s sake.

Best advice: tread lightly with this one.

The thing about the DP1 is that it has a big ol’ DSLR-sized sensor and a lot of the benefits that come with it (increased resolution, better image quality, RAW capture), but keeps the small form factor of the point-and-shoot. However, it lacks many of the consumer-friendly features of modern point-and-shoots, and has only a (serviceable, but still) 28mm prime lens, which limits one’s framing options somewhat. DPReview found that in good conditions it was fantastic, but in low light and action it was a poor performer. There’s more (lots more) in the review.

Sigma is a well-known high-end camerawell-known third party lens company and they appear to be teasing us with a pre-Photokina website tells little about the product but definitely generates a bit of excitement.

It seems this new camera will have a Foveon image sensor and some new ways of processing RAW image data. Other than that scant information, we’re going to have to wait until September 26 when they’ll launch the thing officially.

Product Page [Sigma via LetsGoDigital]