Sigma Announces DP1M (Merrill Compact) and DP2M with 15MPx3 sensor from SD1

It was a genuine enquiry, as it happens.
So, in essence, it is "how good it looks" for any given person for any given image, and is not a property of the sensor.
In which case, it does seem a spurious addition to the vocabulary

Dear pdh,

In Sigmology, "pixel sharpness" has an objective meaning it will take just a moment to explain. According to Foveon catechism, we first remember that 'output' pixels - squares on the computer screen - do not correspond directly to the photo sites on the camera's sensor, at least with the Bayer system. One 'output' pixel - say it's wet-earth brown - is a computational result using data from the red+blue+two green photo sites spread out side-by-side to form one Bayer set, and adjusted according to the values of farther-flung adjacent sites. With the X3, the output pixel is also computed from the red, green and blue sensor data. But with X3, the sensor elements are stacked at one location that corresponds exactly with the output pixel's location. This makes a real difference where you have a sharp edge between tones or colors. Rather than a zone several interpolated pixels wide, ranging from white to black through shades of grey, the X3 image jumps from a white pixel to a black pixel, hence sharpness at the pixel level or 'pixel sharpness.' Viewing X3 files above 100%, you can see this on the monitor. Having a sharp lens and not having an AA filter also helps. Did I get this right? There is a paper on the web by Rudolph J. Guttosch called "Investigation of Color Aliasing of High Spatial Frequencies and Edges for Bayer-Pattern Sensors and Foveon X3(R) Direct Image Sensors," that demonstrates this experimentally. It's easy to imagine how this effect could be diminished at the higher pixel density of the new sensors. At the shockingly low 4.7 mp of the nearly equal-sized old sensor, it's delightfully evident, says someone who bought his DP2x last month! Sorry if this was pedantic; as a new convert, I have the mysteries fresh in my mind.
 
hmmmm now my Japanese extends no further than what Flickr teaches me ... but the gist is clear. pity it's not a little smaller but hey ... now, when and how much ?
useful link thanks - also an E-M5 movie on the same page
 
assume operational speed will be slow-ish, based on Sigma interview on photorumors.com:

KY: Now that we are able to reduce the cost the sensor, we want to put that into the hands of more customers. The two new DP cameras not only will have the new 46mp sensor but also a dual CPU processor to handle the huge amount of data generated by the sensor. They will also have the 92k dot 3" TFT LCD screen and new lenses will be also resigned.

JC: With the dual CPU processor will users be able to experience faster interface?

KY: The amount of data created by the 46mp sensor is huge and will tax the the processor heavily.

Read more on PhotoRumors.com: Photo Rumors


But... for the daylight buildings and landscapes I would use this for, I don't think that would be a huge issue.

I seem to remember that to get the best out of the Foveon RAW files, you needed to use the bundled software?
 
I seem to remember that to get the best out of the Foveon RAW files, you needed to use the bundled software?

My experience is that that can be true, but it's also very inconsistent.
Some files look great from LR, others look very ordinary but look fine from SPP (Sigma PhotoPro); then just to make things more complicated, some files will look better processed in older versions of SPP, and some better in new versions ... SPP is also a horrible bit of software to use (think Olympus Viewer but without the redeeming features) except that it is the only way of using the special "X3F fill light" feature.

None of this should put anyone off, I reckon; the final images wipe all the woes away
 
I have always wanted a foveon sensor camera. If past concerns over the battery, colour casts, SPP eccentricities have now been overcome, then I might buy the DP2 Merill. I see that the 30mm lens on the DP2 Merill is more refined than the one offered for M4/3 and Nex cameras. The DP2 Merill lens will have 9 aperture blades instead of 7, one more optical element and ldf glass.
 
I would take this with a very large pinch of salt. On the sigma.de site there is no price listed yet and the official German price for the SD1 is 2,099 EUR. Also, despite camera shopping in Germany, I've never heard of pixxass.
 
Does anyone expect Sigma to upgrade the VF viewfinders? I had a VF-11 for a while but could never get along with it. For my DP2X I use a CV 40mm which I really like. With the DPM's being bigger cameras, perhaps Sigma might offer new and bigger viewfinders too?
 
it's difficult to take this sort of opinion piece seriously when the "writer" has based it only on a press release and perhaps seeing a video of someone showing it at a camera show (nobody outside Sigma has actually handled one of these cameras) ... plus it's difficult to take seriously someone who describes a DP2 as "barely pocketable" -- the DPs are tiny cameras, much smaller and lighter than (e.g.) an E-P2 ...
Of course, his opinions may turn out to be correct about a niche usage of a niche camera, but at this point a piece like this is just a just waste of electrons.
(which I've just added to :D)
 
it's difficult to take this sort of opinion piece seriously when the "writer" has based it only on a press release and perhaps seeing a video of someone showing it at a camera show (nobody outside Sigma has actually handled one of these cameras) ... plus it's difficult to take seriously someone who describes a DP2 as "barely pocketable" -- the DPs are tiny cameras, much smaller and lighter than (e.g.) an E-P2 ...
Of course, his opinions may turn out to be correct about a niche usage of a niche camera, but at this point a piece like this is just a just waste of electrons.
(which I've just added to :D)

The only take away from the article for me was his observation about the manual focus dial moving to the lens. Which I had missed noticing from the other links. Not having used either cameras, I thought it would be of interest to people who had.
 
yep, me too, but as he hasn't actually handled the camera, he's not in a position to comment on whether that's has a negative impact on how the camera is in use.
[I just get terribly grumpy about endless discussions about how good or bad a camera is when the people discussing it have never handled one ... the extraordinary volume of verbiage expended on the E-M5 being the prime example ... now it's released into the wild, well, it turns out to be ... a camera much like other cameras ... quelle surprise ... ]
there's still no release date for these cameras, and I doubt I'll have money to buy one (the second hand price of my dp2s will drop though the floor once they appear) .. which is the real reason I'm grumpy of course!
 
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