Sigma DP2 Merrill shots

[Quentin_Bargate]

First few shots taken today











Early days but pretty happy so far. The images have a "natural" look which I assosicate with Foveon sensors. They also upscale exceptionaly well.

[docmoore]

All very nice...SPP 5.3.1?


Bob

[Quentin_Bargate]

Bob,

Thanks - whatever was in the box....5.3, I believe.

Quentin

[woodmancy]

Quentin

Those are really, really, good.

This is causing a big problem for me.

Keith

[wstam]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

Bob,

Thanks - whatever was in the box....5.3, I believe.

Quentin

Wow! Very nice color.

May I know what's this SPP 5.3.1? Firmware version?

Thanks for sharing.

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by woodmancy

Quentin

Those are really, really, good.

This is causing a big problem for me.

Keith

Ha ha, but its a good problem to have

Well this is of course not a comprehensive test. I popped out of my office in Shoreditch in London for half an hour to take them and was somewhat blown away by the pixel level sharpness and colour. These have had a little post processing but not much.

I can already say that the DP2M eats batteries. Sigma supply 2 in the box. You would need more though for days shooting.

I love this camera...

Quentin

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by wstam

Wow! Very nice color.

May I know what's this SPP 5.3.1? Firmware version?

Thanks for sharing.

Hi there

its the latest version of the Sigma photo pro software used to decode their raw files

[Thorkil]

Hello Quentin. These are just fantastic pictures with a fantastic expression, and then for such a small camera!
I guess one would only believe to achieve that with a large-format camera! And it’s only 999$ or what?
Best Thorkil

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by Thorkil

Hello Quentin. These are just fantastic pictures with a fantastic expression, and then for such a small camera!
I guess one would only believe to achieve that with a large-format camera! And it’s only 999$ or what?
Best Thorkil

Thanks, Thorkil - I believe your price is right for the US. I paid £799, including VAT, in England.

As for image quality, it's early days to make a definitive judgment. However, I will stick my neck out and say I have had great results at 200% uprezzing, which is frankly a bit mad. I have a lot of experimenting to do.... But I share your enthusiasm.

[Thorkil]

.. it was just that first glance, where sharpness and the way to render the details that made my eyes pop out quit a bit, and the colours(apart from the coloured wall which is hard to judge). First glance: such a extraordinary quality, at such a small price, in such a small, almost pocketsize package. RX100 lay down, it might seem.
Thorkil

[Vivek]

Colors/details are superb, Quentin!

Is it useful (AF) for mobile subjects or just restricted to stationary ones?

[Thorkil]

And now Quentin, a Burdon is laying on your shoulders.
I can't find any review on this camera, and even not a proper shop in Copenhagen who have it, only internet-shops.
Will it be difficult to handle handheld?(just as the D800E), I guess your pictures was handheld? Difficult on DOF?, will it be intuitive, could it work for street or more hasty things than dead things and landscapes,etc? Will it be the one you prefer over the RX100, etc.?
I’ll try hard to be patient….
Thorkil
But slip into a pocket it can't I can see.

[Quentin_Bargate]

Guys, will try and reply substantively later today - got to get some work done first!

Did I say I love this camera?!

Quentin

[Thorkil]

ps. Quentin. Did you do at lot of pp. in those pictures?
Thorkil

[Quentin_Bargate]

Some, but less than with other cameras and mostly in Sigma Photo Pro, oddly.

I have taken a few more shots and will post these along with a bit more info later this evening

Quentin

[ptomsu]

Really love the results!

Peter

[Thorkil]

Quentin, don't hurry, I'll have to wait on the DP1 Merrill anyway, but I'm looking forward to see the follow ups, best that happened in many days...
Thorkil

[Quentin_Bargate]

A few more. All fairly random









UPDATE: link to the full resolution jpeg as converted from RAW of the last of the above images here - for personal use only, of course...

I will prepare a more detailed assesment of the pros and cons in due course.

[Quentin_Bargate]

...And this shot just looked better in in tinted mono

[Godfrey]

colors look very nice indeed.
are you capturing in raw mode? and if so, what software does the conversion?

thx

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

colors look very nice indeed.
are you capturing in raw mode? and if so, what software does the conversion?

thx

Hi Godfrey

Yes, all raw.

All decoded in Sigma Photo Pro 5 which supports the X3 foveon sensor. Not sure what if anything else dedoces DP2M raw files at the moment.

Quentin

[Thorkil]

Quentin, they just look fantastic! and those bone-knife!
But that Indian fellow is just so 3-dimentional!!!
Thanks!
Thorkil

[Quentin_Bargate]

Hi Thorkil, you are too kind

I have just ordered the close up lens attachment to get closer.

Quentin

[Thorkil]

Hi Quentin

But one day you are sitting getting bored, you could perhaps tell, just ca. what you do normalwise in "workflow", pp and please also just the process you do for posting as they somewhat seems sharper than others, I'm not experienced in that way.
Best
Thorkil

[bbodine9]

Quentin,

All the shots have such realism. Can you share how you tinted the portrait photo?

Thanks,

Bruce

[ustein]

Quentin, great images and look.

[Quentin_Bargate]

Bruce,

In Silver Effex Pro, using settings I have tweaked over time.

All the shots are re sized and bordered using an action I created in Photoshop. However, the original data is very sharp - the beard on the portrait for example was rendered with outstanding acutance and detail in the full rezz image. the pics posted here are truthful to the originals in that respect.

Also more subtle gradations of colour. Hard to explain, just...better.

Thanks Uwe, for your kind comments also.

Some cameras you respect, but for whatever reason, you never seem to love them nor do they always give you what you were hoping for.

The reverse seem to be the case with the DP2 Merrill. Clearly it has limitations but it suits me. Completely different league from a camera like the RX100, or even the NEX-7, I would argue.

[woodmancy]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

Some cameras you respect, but for whatever reason, you never seem to love them nor do they always give you what you were hoping for.

The finest words of wisdom I've read in the gear discussions in these threads. Thorkil, you will find your answer of the GRD versus the RX100 here.
Quentin, thanks for getting me into the pickle, and getting me out of it. I've ordered the Sigma

Keith

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by woodmancy

The finest words of wisdom I've read in the gear discussions in these threads. Thorkil, you will find your answer of the GRD versus the RX100 here.
Quentin, thanks for getting me into the pickle, and getting me out of it. I've ordered the Sigma

Keith

Keith, all I can say is I hope its love and not respect

[Godfrey]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

...
Some cameras you respect, but for whatever reason, you never seem to love them nor do they always give you what you were hoping for.
...

+1

Glad the DP2M is doing it for you. Your results certainly look nice.

I spent a little time last evening researching it. Interestingly simplistic, minimal design. Not sure I like the all programmed buttons and such interface, I'd have to work with it in person a while to know for sure. Biggest downside to me is that I'd have to change my workflow for it and use their raw processing software. I presume I could shove an optical viewfinder into the accessory shoe when I want to, right?

I'm moving more and more to simple cameras like this. If I hadn't just gotten (and fallen in love with) the Leica X2, I'd be more open to buying one to experiment with. Who knows? If Lightroom picks up the DP2M raw processing in the next rev or two, I might give one a whirl. Not before.

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

+1

Glad the DP2M is doing it for you. Your results certainly look nice.

I spent a little time last evening researching it. Interestingly simplistic, minimal design. Not sure I like the all programmed buttons and such interface, I'd have to work with it in person a while to know for sure. Biggest downside to me is that I'd have to change my workflow for it and use their raw processing software. I presume I could shove an optical viewfinder into the accessory shoe when I want to, right?

That's right. I have one, but the rear screen is pretty good and I have not yet used it

I'm moving more and more to simple cameras like this. If I hadn't just gotten (and fallen in love with) the Leica X2, I'd be more open to buying one to experiment with. Who knows? If Lightroom picks up the DP2M raw processing in the next rev or two, I might give one a whirl. Not before.

Sensible! I also like it simple - so I use few of the more exotic functions some cameras offer. I tend to use my cameras on aperture priority or manual, occasionally program mode, and always shoot raw. I leave the camera on base ISO unless it is necessary to use higher. I don't use video (where offered) or user programmed custom modes, because I forget what I have set and in any event, the camera should be easy enough to use without them (as the DP2M is). It's a camera, for goodness sake, but we are being offered miniature computers in a effort at market differentiation.

[Godfrey]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

That's right. I have one, but the rear screen is pretty good and I have not yet used it

I fitted one to the X2 as soon as I took it out of the box. I use it perhaps half the time, maybe a little more. I also have the EVF for it, but haven't really tried it other than to test it. It's quite good (the Leica is the same as the Olympus EVF, I bought the Olympus) and might prove useful at some point, but thus far I haven't seen the need.

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

Sensible! I also like it simple - so I use few of the more exotic functions some cameras offer. I tend to use my cameras on aperture priority or manual, occasionally program mode, and always shoot raw. I leave the camera on base ISO unless it is necessary to use higher. I don't use video (where offered) or user programmed custom modes, because I forget what I have set and in any event, the camera should be easy enough to use without them (as the DP2M is). It's a camera, for goodness sake, but we are being offered miniature computers in a effort at market differentiation.

Similar here for the most part.

With the GXR, I do use the custom modes ... the camera options for each are set up for the different M-bayonet lenses I use, inject the correct metadata and deal with lens-specific defaults I prefer. But even that remains simple ... I set up the camera for the three lenses I might carry and just set the selector for which lens I have fitted.

I don't change lenses all that often ... I've had the Skopar 28/3.5 on that body for three months now and haven't touched the selector since I put it on. Most I've done is switch the the mode to Manual and back to Aperture AE...

Camera manufacturers try to drive our attention to the camera and what it can do as a means of selling more cameras with better/more/zoomier features.

My preference is cameras that disappear so that I can concentrate on the subject matter. When I want to shoot video, I do. When I want to make stills, I do. I tell the camera what to do, I don't like to have to beg the camera to do what I need when automation gets in the way.

All digital cameras are indeed computational devices, but that doesn't bother me at all. It's whether they work the way I need them to, want them to, that matters. :-)

[Thorkil]

Originally Posted by woodmancy

The finest words of wisdom I've read in the gear discussions in these threads. Thorkil, you will find your answer of the GRD versus the RX100 here.
Quentin, thanks for getting me into the pickle, and getting me out of it. I've ordered the Sigma

Keith

Yes Keith , I think I'll let the RX100 go. I have a strong feeling that the DP2M(no, sorry it shall be the DP1M = 28mm, so I wait) will be able to encourage one and will be tempting, not just for the normal 2 month-period. I do think it will be able to make those silly detail-shots in life turn out in a way my D800E didn't manage to do...too dull, too uninspiring. The DP has got something...something more. Well I'm aware of, I just right now can hear the echo from that sentence said several times before in my life... But, Image Quality combined with simplicity, I guess that’s what most of us after some long(and unrealistic) period with longing for the sublime, are settling down with in our mind, as a sort of mature conclusion, not a resignation, just a realistic calmness(hope is green). Less is more, at the most. But I'm beginning to realize, it can almost take a lifetime to get there. And then just combined with a GRDIV/V to slip into the left pocket. Not that I think I then will be a happy man, but perhaps just let the ambitions be fewer and less, and I might live happily with that. Okay Quentin and other (you also got a good grab on things, Keith) or more able to do small magic things with their/your pictures, I'm aware of. But doesn't matter, even though the DP looks great(in my non-twisting-system). And then by, by Nikon , you couldn't turn my neck around long enough. I don't need all that horsepower to drive 60 miles an hour.
Thorkil

[gandolfi]

Foveon - "Possibly the best lager in the World'.

[Quentin_Bargate]

A few more from Thaxted today

Church beams



(useless information: Holst wrote the "Planet Suite" on the organ in Thaxted church!)

Candle



Altar





"Bull Ring"

[Thorkil]

splendid, Quentin!
Thorkil

[dunders]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

A few more from Thaxted today

(useless information: Holst wrote the "Planet Suite" on the organ in Thaxted church!)

Lovely shots of a quaint place. An intriguing camera!

Just FYI: Holst wrote all or much of 'The Planets' in the music room of St Paul's School. He lived for a time in Thaxted, and worked as a fellow socialist with the controversial vicar of Thaxted, Conrad Noel. One of the fruits of that part of Holst's life was the wonderful setting of 'Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day'.

[woodmancy]

At age 14 I cycled to Thaxted for an evening performance by the London Philharmonic.
"Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis", by Vaughan Williams - got me hooked for life on classical. What a place!

Keith

[gandolfi]

I just love the useless information that crops up sometimes.

With a name like Conrad le Despenser Rodan Noel I suppose one could not help but be controversial.

Must say I'd heard of the 'ice cream wars' and 'the football wars' and even 'the guano wars', but 'The Battle of the Flags' somehow passed me by

Now, where's my red flag...

[Quentin_Bargate]

Some would argue Thaxted church is the finest parish church in England. Its certainly is an outstanding building; unfortunately its spire is used as a reference point for planes landing a few miles away at Stansted Airport. I live three miles outside Thaxted and visit regularly, driving through on the way to the rail station at Stansted Moutfitchet to get in to London Liverpool st and my office a short walk away.

And as everyone knows (or maybe not), Thaxted is the modern home of Morris Dancing following its revival there in 1911, I believe with the local Morris dancers being launched on the initiative of good old Conrad Noël, Vicar of Thaxted, that Paul mentioned as part of renewed interest in Morris dancing begun by Cecil Sharp

[Thorkil]

Nice to hear some alternativ remarks to shutter-clicks , keep on guys. Even it for a dane is black talk.
Thorkil

[Quentin_Bargate]

We are all very "alternative" around here, Thorkil

[gandolfi]

Quentin,

Tho' some may well have described Thaxted as the finest, no less an authority than Queen Elizabeth the First!! once said of St. Mary Redcliffe in Bristol-"..the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England". It may well have been parochial in her day, but I doubt if she would describe it thus today.

[Quentin_Bargate]

Originally Posted by gandolfi

Quentin,

Tho' some may well have described Thaxted as the finest, no less an authority than Queen Elizabeth the First!! once said of St. Mary Redcliffe in Bristol-"..the fairest, goodliest, and most famous parish church in England". It may well have been parochial in her day, but I doubt if she would describe it thus today.

Fortunately, Thaxted has not changed as much... One of the advantages of being on the road to nowhere...

[gandolfi]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

We are all very "alternative" around here, Thorkil

Perhaps we should not talk to the Danes about "alternative". After all I think they helped invent the word back in '71 at Christiania

[Thorkil]

They have now sold Christiania to the residents, so the last anti-kapitalistic-bastion has yet fallen, and the alternativ "left-government"(Helle & Co.) are right now throwing unemployed people out of the social-security-system, so they better find a new field where people can put up permanent tents soon....and with the other hand they are giving tax-reductions...things are going upside-down these days....this is the "New-Denmark" I guess...I didn't thought it would come to that in Denmark...
and for that I will need a Merril or GRD...to report with...
Well better keep my mouth shut now
Thorkil
(sorry...lets hurry back to topic

[woodmancy]

Originally Posted by Quentin_Bargate

Fortunately, Thaxted has not changed as much... One of the advantages of being on the road to nowhere...

Hey, be careful. I was born in nowhere

Keith

[Quentin_Bargate]

Back on topic, another from the Thaxted shoot, Clarence House.



The detail in the orginal has to be seen to be believed. Beats 6x7 film (I know because I took an very similar shot of the same building some years ago on 6x7 film)

[Thorkil]

What a wonderful picture(!) of a wonderful house.
Now the dilemma arises. Jack and Guy seems to have persuaded my mind to give a 18 Zeiss a try on my 800E, and that I will do.
But I also envy your skils considering pp and posting.
But it sounds somewhat rather intriguing that, what I think we are seing, is right, it competes in a way with medium or perhaps even large format IQ wise. And all that in just a litle pocket size. I might give up DSLR's at all.

But meanwhile Baroso (and Helle) have told us to solve the finansial crises with a kick-start. Personally, that I couldn't sit down overhearing, so I bought the M-modul for my GXR so the 21 Elmarit was happy coming down the shelf and taking a walk.
So while I'm considering the future for the 800E(and the DP1M) I will try tomorrow to practise oploading, and thought of oploading fullsize to Viglink or something else. Isn't that the way, and then one just put the link in, or?
Practical advises are welcome.
Best
Thorkil

[Quentin_Bargate]

So, I wondered, what does a DP2 image look like when uprezzed to about 60mp? Is it a pocket medium format camera?

60mp is where the top of the range Hasselblad resides, and the IQ160 from Phase One. Can the DP2M match its performance in resolution terms?. Am I barking mad to even consider this a sensible challenge?

Form your own view. I have uploaded the above hand-held DP2M shot of Clarence house at 200%, roughly equivalent to a 59mp image (9408 x 6272)

Here is the link (below). Warning - *very* large jpeg file at max quality. The image was rezzed up using Photozoom Pro 4, S-Spline Max algorithm, some subsequent minor sharpening and a touch of grain added for realism. Not for a slow bandwith connection. sRGB.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9806585/59m...2M%20image.jpg

It's not perfect, but is it in my opinion very good. No visible halos. This is a massive enlargement, but there is still a lot of detail. In print, I would wager it would be hard to detect it was not from a MF camera. There is some smearing of fine detail, but I decoded with standard NR so I could reduce that by decoding again with NR turned off. In other words, I did not make any particuar effort to minimise NR impact and I had sharpening turned down in Sigma Photo Pro. I have no idea if the end result would have been even better if I had chosen other settings. I just took a punt with this image. Also I perpective corrected the image which will affect pixel level shaprness.

The limits of the sensor resolution can nonetheless be seen.

I am sure I can do better.

Quentin