Sigma DP1

Any1 has ever heard about a price (possibility) for this camera?

I've only seen guesses, varying quite widely. The camera isn't expected to come to market until perhaps Feb or March next year - or maybe later if Sigma decide to refine the prototype design a little. It's probably going to be more expensive than the Ricoh GR-D because of its much better sensor, but it has to compete against say a DSLR with a 28mm prime lens (although it will be much more compact than such a combination).

Hopefully the fact that the lens is an f4 prime will keep the price down. I'm sure they must have had a reason not to use at least an f2.8 lens on the thing, but the decision puzzles me as I'm sure it puzzles many of us. Well, hopefully it'll save us some cash at least, and maybe keep the weight down. I'm watching the progress of this gizmo with great interest, as I've had very good experiences with sigma primes in the past. I just hope they can keep the barrel distortion in the negligible to non-existant range.

I am more worried that they have saved some more money by leaving a viewfinder out as well. I do wonder where is the sense in building a large sensor camera, where the sensor is clearly the most expensive component, and then 'saving' money by putting a slow lens on it and leaving optical viewfinder out (which would be very simple for a fixed focal length lens). I doubt many snapshooters will pay 1-2k for this camera when they can get 28-400 mm zoom models for third of the price with equal megapixel counts (even in nominal terms). And I cannot believe many serious photographers want a slow lens and no viewfinder (or a Sigma body and sensor for that matter).

I dont think Sigma would make the lens f4 without a good reason. I can think of two:

 

Going for near 0 distortion and keeping the lens compact.

 

Remember that this is still a digital and the light from the lens needs to fallon the sensor at basically 90 degree angle or the picture will suffer. I am sure that Sigma is not useing the expensive microlenses that Leica used with the M8 to solve the problem in this camera.

Is the f4 lens a provocative move?

 

Could it really be that Sigma are so confident about the low-light performance and absence of noise at high ISOs that they can truly buck the trend and opt for a slow f4 lens?

 

Currently, conventional CCDs invariably fail to perform in low light making faster lenses more vital. If only it proves true that the Foveon will facilitate naturally lit indoor photography, delicate artistry with light may emerge in the digital age. A lot hangs on this development.

Well it is March 1st, when is it coming out?

the lack of an f2.8 lens does somewhat disappoint me but I am extremely interested in this camera. I wish there was a firm release date for it.

"And I cannot believe many serious photographers want a slow lens." I really can't believe

someone could write that. What serious photographers are you referring to? Those ace

point-and-shoot photographers? Canon and Nikon dSLR shooters who are, after all, the

end-all and be-all of professional photographers?

 

What about amateurish, wannabe posers who shoot medium format film and merely have

their photos published in Playboy, National Geographic, Vogue....who merely publish

coffee table books and have their photos showing as billboards in Times Square? Yeah,

none of them would ever settle for an f/4 lens.....except that that's where most (not all,

but most) medium format lenses start with their maximum apertures.

 

Memo to Canon and Nikon users who believe falsely that they sit atop the imaging quality

mountain: there's an entire echelon above you.

 

Hey, I'd love this DP1 to have an f/2.8 or faster lens, too.....if it wouldn't mean degrading

image quality (not to mention jacking the price up). But it would.