Sigma announced three new cameras this week, namely the long-awaited SD15 DSLR, as well as two upgrades to their popular fixed-lens large-sensor compacts DP1(s) and DP2, the DP1x and the DP2S.
When I read the headlines, I was quite excited, since I’m a big fan of the Foveon sensor (and the large-sensor compact concept in general). But when I read the details, it felt like Sigma was mucking about with their customers.
Of the three models, the SD15 looks the most like an update to its predecessor. It still features the same 14 (nominal, 4.7 effective) MP Foveon X3 sensor that Sigma have been using for years, but it’s got a new processor, a larger and higher-resolution screen and several other updates concerning speed, image quality and practicality.
The DP2s is essentially the DP2, but with a new AF algorithm (which they of course couldn’t have just implemented in a firmware update) and – behold – a slightly revised layout on the back. Wow, Sigma, that’s one helluva update to the DP2!
And now it comes – the DP1x. Now for DP1s (which was the not-long-ago-introduced update to the original DP1) users, this must feel like they’ve just been scammed big time. It is essentially the DP1s (which is essentially the DP1 with some minor updates), but it’s got the new processor of the DP2 and SD15, together with the same AF algorithm update of the DP2s. Now whilst this really is an update to the DP1, one wonders why Sigma introduced the DP1s at all. Couldn’t they just have waited with it and made it the DP1x right away? Reminds me a bit of Olympus with the E-P1 and E-P2 …
What do you think about this? Am I completely wrong here? Or do these “updates” indeed have a certain bitter taste to them?
P.S.: What I’d really love to see from Sigma, and what would really be an update, would be a new Foveon sensor with higher resolution (at least 6 [resp. 18] MP) and better high-ISO performance, as well as a DP1 with a faster lens (c’mon, the 28mm f/4 can’t be the DP1’s main selling point, can it?)
P.P.S.: dpreview have not yet included those three cameras in their database, but when they do, it should be interesting to compare the models (DP1-DP1s-DP1x / DP2-DP2s) side-by-side to see what has been changed. Not much at each iteration is my guess.
P.P.P.S.: Similar feelings at the dpreview Forums here, here and here.
Am I done with post scripta now? 😉
February 21st, 2010, 10:29 am | 
I myself am a fan of the “foveon look.”
Sigma is indeed being annoying. I owned a DP2 when it first came out but it was way too slow for me, so I returned it. I don’t need super fast cameras, but I want to be able to shoot kids/pets indoors with some reliability that it lacked. The photo quality in good light blew me away though and no DSLR that I shot with gave such a feel to the photos!
The DP1’s 16.6mm f/4 lens is out of the question for me due to its inability to produce out of focus areas, but I will keep my eyes open on the DP2s. If the focus is half way reasonable, I might adopt one.
Well, I guess the DPs just weren’t designed for indoor/moving subject shooting, but rather for landscapes and such, as the DP1’s wide angle lens suggests.
I think I’ll wait until the next generation of Foveon sensors come out and than get one with the old sensor (DP2s maybe?) for a bargain price