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DP1 meets SD14 ....

G

Guest .

Banned
Hi All,

at the moment we have a SIGMA DP1 at hands. SIGMA-Germany gave it to our MOD team for a test. ;)
Sure, I have to return it ... well ... let us have a first look... :)

Unfortunately, I do not have acceptable light here at the moment. The weather has been extremely cloudy and rainy over the past days.

Yesterday, I had the chance to take a few shots with this unconventional pocket cam. The picture, which I am going to discuss here, was even taken by my wife .... coincidentally!

Well .... Sigma claim, they have done a pocket, which is capable of doing D-SLR quality shots.

What I can show here is no real comparism to the SD14. I simply neither have acceptable light conditions at the moment ... nor do I have enough time to do such a thing korrectly now ..... but ......

Well, the DP1-shot first: ISO100 / 17mm fixed focal / F: 5.6 / ... 1/80s ...

sample 21.jpg

... as I told ... done by my wife .. who just played around a bit with the DP1 yesterday. Actually, I would have done the shot at eye level hight and would not have cropped the girl's leg without need. Never mind ... it does not really matter now!

Clearly said ... a valid comparism would take the same scene, same focal length same aperture under same light conditions and so forth. What I am just doing now is to compare two shots, which are in a way similar ... not more ... :)

Now my SD14 shot as comparism ....

sample 22.jpg

SD14 / SIGMA 18-200mm DC OS (@42mm OS ON) / ISO100 / ....1/20s ....

Anyway ... let us crop both shots for a closer look ....

DP1

sample 19.jpg

SD14

sample 23.JPG

Well, the DP1 lens draws sharp as a knife. There cannot be any doubt as far as its image quality is concerned. You really get bilboard-quality with a small pocket cam. It is really fascinating.

On the other hand .... I have always praised SIGMAs 18-200mm ultra-zooms (I have the old one without OS-technology and the DC OS).
Although the 18-200 is fully open here, it does not perform worse than the DP1 fixed fokal lens (which even is slowed down to 5.6 here compared to the OS working at 4.5 fully open.

To sum it up!

DP1's image quality is indisputably the finest a pocket can do. It is comparable to SD SLR results.

The only thing which I am asking myself now is, whether this was a camera for a photographer like me .... I am not quite sure. A D-SLR simply can do an awful lot of things more which a DP1 cannot do.
The question: What could I have done, if I had had my SD14 on the scene??! .... This question might annoy me when analyzing photo results. :)

See you with nice pictures

Klaus
 
N

netzuser

Banned
Hello Klaus,
thank you for this short but impressive comparison.
The results from the DP1 are in fact very close or similar to the SD14.
I agree,there are situations where the DP1 comes to its limits and the
SD14 still could manage.
I have my DP1 since mid april and I would not miss it.
Climbing over a fence or jumping over a ditch sometimes replaces the zoom.:z04_yes:
See you with nice DP1 pictures
Uwe
 
G

Guest .

Banned
Hi again .....,

finally I got light today. ;)

So, I can do a DP1 / SD14 comparism in a much more sophisticated way.

There is one thing, I always wanted to know .... i.e. whether the cheap SIGMA 18-50mm (3.5-5.6 DC) can match with the DP1 17mm lens??
Thus, I got the KIT-lens to 18mm (all right ... the DP1 is ca. 1.3 mm shorter .... I cannot help it).

To find out, I did testshots with both cams on the same scene with comparable focal lengthes and the same ISO, aperture and shutter values.

To exclude bad focussing, I did five shots each with both of the cams, to go for their most perfect shots.
Fortunately, there were no problems to observe with neither the DP1 nor the SD14 auto-focus systems.

So SD14 and DP1: ISO 100 / F: 4.0 / ... 1/50s ....each:

DP1:

sample 2.jpg

SD14:

sample 5.jpg

Well do not ask me, why the DP1-shot is notably darker, although exposure is exactly the same as SD14???

I checked the automatic iris of the KIT lens ... no problem ... works perfectly.

More pleasant .... there are practically no differences in white balance between DP1 and SD14 ... colours are absolutely comparable.

Exciting......;)

Let us compare the crops:

DP1:

sample 3.jpg

SD14:

sample 6.jpg

Well, I have always said that the cheap 18-50mm DC (3,5-5,6) is not a bad lens. Sure, barrel distortion can be noticed with the "kit". The DP1's fixed focal length frees it from this problem. However, the kit-lens is sharp!

To leave it at that .... it is worth its very low price and a good start with SIGMA DSLR-photography.

See you with nice pictures

Klaus
 
dirk

dirk

CI-Founder
Although it is difficult to compare, because the DP-1 shots are darker, I prefer in this comparison definitely the DP-1 image quality over the 18-55 zoom.

I have not had time yet to make a lot of photos with my DP1, but it is for me definitely a better choice as a walk-around solution when I have not the time for more.

And if you think about it: which compact camera can give you these kind of results as the DP1 does?

I know that you are a "DSLR-type of guy". But for me the DP1 is with me, when there is simply no option for a DSLR ;)

Unfortunately, the DP1 seduce you to invest more and more time with real photography, although I wanted originally use it only as a "P&S" :)

This IS fun!

Best wishes
 
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