I remember when I was shooting with my Canon 400D (and I have shot thousands of pictures with it), and the colors, especially the Reds, weren't the colors I would expect from a DSLR camera. The reds were over saturated, the blue seems unnatural. You can bash me in any way you want, but really, even though that not so many people will notice the difference, and it can be corrected using photo editing software, still, Sigma SD15 keeps to amaze me every time I look at photos taken with the Sigma SD15.
Some Sigma SD15 photographers has posted some commented regarding the 'not that great' high ISO performance, but I've have decided to use neat image noise reduction software to show that noise should not be a problem and can the noise can easily be removed with neat image noise removal software without a loss of image quality.
The Sigma SD15 photos that made my day
Today I had some time to go through Sigma SD15 photos in this post on dpreview. After that I have visited one of the users (kostassarris) Flickr stream, and again, I was blown away every time with the amazing color production of the Foveon X3 sensor. You can check the original resolution images here and here and pay attention to the green and blue colors and also the sharpness. The images have been taken by Kosta Sarris. I don't know the guy personally, but I would probably "blame" him is I will buy the Sigma SD15 pretty soon (well, still have to wait and see what Canon and Nikon have for us.. I won't make an impulse decision, wouldn't I?).
I can look at this pictures for minutes without blinking (the one of the small house by the mountains). Now I miss my old IPS LCD monitor (maybe I will take it back soon.. I borrowed it to my friend). I mean, if it looks awesome on my laptop crappy screen, I wonder how it would look on a more professional quality panel monitor?! -- Must be out of this world.
I have posted some question about the Sigma SD15 on TPF (The Photography Forum), in which I am a member, and I've heard some negative comments about the Sigma SD15 and about Sigma company overall. I wanted to know more about the image quality from a professional photographer's perspective. From what I've heard, the SD15 lacks a lot in terms of optical quality (lenses) That leads to overall less image quality when you compare Nikon or Canon glass to the Sigma's. Well, taking into consideration the many people won't buy a a special adapter to fit Nikon lenses to the Sigma mount. (BTW: The Photography Forum (TPF) is a great place to ask you questions, highly recommended!).
But after looking at that image... I just don't understand why professional photographers say what they say. I didn't show them that image, specifically, but what it the problem with my eyes and vision?, What I am missing that professional photographers see that I don't?
I also want to add that when shooting hair, tiled roof and everywhere their is very fine details, the Foveon X3 sensor wins hands down (don't you think?).
I opened this post because I want to hear your opinion about it. Please take a look at those photos that I've linked above, and tell me what do you think of them, are good are the colors, the sharpness, the overall quality of the image. The composition, even though I think it's great, it doesn't really matter here, what matters is your opinion about the image quality of the Sigma SD15, by looking at those photos. I would greatly appreciate your opinion.
Thanks,
Idan Shechter
BTW: Will also be glad to here some Sigma Users' Group photographers opinion too!
Hi - I have never posted anything online before, but I felt the need to write something about this topic. I am not a professional, but an enthusiast. I totally agree with you. I have been shooting with Sigma cameras (3 models) for about 2 years. DP1 was my first one - I just wanted to try it out of curiosity from the images that I have seen online, etc. My first test images simply stunned me! It was just amazing, and this was not my first digital camera. My list of gear includes Canon EOS Rebel XTi, Canon EOS 50D, Fujifilm S5 Pro, Fujifilm S200EXR, Canon G9... they are all decent cameras, but the image quality simply does not compare with the Sigma image. Generally, the Foveon images are very film-like and the subject simply "pops" out of the image and the colors are just gorgeous and the are also razor sharp. The images shot at ISO50 is unbelievable. And the way this sensor can render the clouds in the sky is better anything that I have seen. Then comes the DP2 and I think it is even better than DP1. And luckily I have recently purchased SD15 with 30mm f/1.4. Wow, the same Foveon results with more control and more choices of lens. Unfortunately, I am still waiting for the 17-50mm f/2.8 to come out with the Sigma mount. So, to summarize, PROS - definitely the image quality and CONS - you've probably heard them all - but I really don't care because the images that these Sigma cameras can create and the emotions associated with seeing those images simply outweigh the minor inconveniences. After all, isn't camera all about the images that it produces?
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