Sigma SD10....

miketaylor01

Does anyone know anything about the Sigma SD10? I had never even hear of it until a friend of the family who owns one for professional use just told me that it is the best professional camera he has ever seen no matter what the price.

Something about Fovean x3 image sensor..

Any information would be helpful as I am in the market for a high performance digital SLR at this time and the Sigma appears to be almost too good to be true for the price

PerezDesignGroup

You're going to be limited with long exposures and night shooting. Check out the reviews...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sigmasd10/page19.asp

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/sigma_sd10.html

Steve Cavigliano

Mike,

The SD10 is a very nice Dslr with an extremely loyal, albeit small, following. It does have a different type of sensor than all other Dslrs. If you read the reviews posted in the previous message you will get the full story. As mentioned, this camera does have some issues with long exposures and higher ISO's. But, under the right conditions and in the right hands it can yield stellar results. Some of the loyalists, I mentioned above, have put together an SD10 gallery. Click on some of the thumbnails to see the results they have been able to achieve. http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/user_sd10

Sigma also provides one of the best photo editing software packages with their cameras, Sigma Photo Pro. The current version is v2.1.

I noticed that you are in Tikrit. Whether you're in the service or a just a civilian trying to straighten things out over there, God Bless and Thank You

Steve

wxwax

I echo what Steve said, Mike. Be safe, man. The Foveon sounds like ground breaking technology. but without broad adoption, who knows how long it will take to reach its full potential? Canon's committed to the CMOS, and Nikon's just produced its first CMOS camera. So the market's not moving towards Foveon, despite how promising it sounds.

Guzzler

The Foveon chip is amazing!! Give it a gen or two more and it will rule the digital domain. IMHO I just hope more cameras come out using the chip.

miketaylor01

Thats for all the responses. I think I have decided to go with the Sigma.. even against everything I have read on here about cannon and Nikon products. If the technology is as groudbreaking as everyone says it couldnt hurt for one more person to share in the experience and share with others. Maybe I can even create a couple converts here in this forum... Not much hope of that im sure, but I will be sure to start posting pics as soon as I start taking some pics down here. Thanks again and if anyone else has an opinion or first hand knowledge please let me know. It will be about a week before I actually make the purchase.

Mike

wxwax

Very cool. I really look forward to seeing your pics and hearing about your experiences with the camera. What lenses do you have your eyes on?

miketaylor01

I am definitely going to buy a wide angle. at least an 18mm maybe smaller. probably an 18-50. I prefer to do landscapes so this suits me the bast. I am also considering a 70-200mm. Totally depends on price though. hey can get pretty expensive. Any suggestions? Also, I have always wanted a fisheye so this may be the time to start playing with one.

Does anyone know of any really good quality sigma lenses that dont cost an arm and a leg?

Steve Cavigliano

Mike,

Personally, I think the SD10 is a great choice, congratulations

The only thing that has kept me from going that direction is the Sigma lens mount. IOW, the lenses you purchase will only be able to be used on a Sigma camera. Lenses will likely make up the lion's share of $ spent on your kit. And as they say "Cameras come and go, but lenses are forever" :-) Although, I understand that you can get the mount changed/adapted, to a Nikon or a Canon mount, for about $150/lens.

Sigma makes some really nice lenses. My advice would be to stick to the EX's. They are more expensive but, from what I've seen/read, they are definitely worth the extra $.


Good luck and keep us informed on your experiences with the SD10 and please post some of your pics :-)


Steve

miketaylor01

Just thought id let you all know... I made my first purchase for my new sigma outfit. I just bought the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 EX. I cant wait to try it out....

Mike

Steve Cavigliano

Mike,

Nice lens ^5 I've read nothing but good things about it

Please let us know how it works for you. I'm looking at it as a cost effective outdoor sports lens, to be used on a soon to be purchased Dslr. The price is definitely right :-)


Steve

miketaylor01

Just Waiting for Delivery!!!
An update for all...

I finally purchased my camera and was able to get it for an unbelievable price.

Below is everything I got for $650
Sigma SD9 Body
Sigma 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX DG
Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 EX
Cable Release

Theres over $1000 worth of lenses there let alone the SD9 body..

Now all I have to do is wait for it all to arrive, unfortunately takes about 2 weeks to get stuff shipped here, and the learn how to use the damn thing

With the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 EX I have already purchased I believe I have put together a pretty nice setup to get some great photos.. Done shopping so now its time to start shooting. I am just as curous about the X3 technology as everyone else im sure.

Mike

wxwax

Great deal! I agree, you're perfectly set-up. This should be good - almost like waiting for Christmas to come, eh?

miketaylor01

Wooo Hooo!!!
My Sigma 70-200 EX arrived today....

Now if only my camera would arrive.. Two or three days I hope..

Mike

miketaylor01

Finally.....
I finally got my Sigma SD9 in the mail today and cant wait to start shooting..

The batteries are charging as I type this and its desert dark outside right now so no pictures until the morning unfortunately..

I also recieved the Sigma 15-30 EX and Sigma 28-70 f2.8 EX as well...

Will start posing as soon as i fugre out how to use this damn thing and get some descent photos... I am really curious to see how you all like the quality this camera can provide again all your cannon's and nikon's..

ian408

miketaylor01 wrote:

I am really curious to see how you all like the quality this camera can provide again all your cannon's and nikon's..

Congratulations on the new camera!

Just as a thought, maybe you could re-shoot a couple of the hangers?
That'd give you some comparison.

Looking forward to the shots...

Ian

miketaylor01

Ian
I am uploading alot of my pictures to my smugmug account which is

http://miketaylor01.smugmug.com

Also I have posted some in the thread

SD9 first shots... Sunrise of course..

in the Nature, wildlife & landscape forum..

I have uploaded stuff every day. Also I just entered a pic in the challenge 23 that I felt like I didnt have to do any post to at all I was so happy with the results right from the camera. Check it out.

Unfortunately I dont think I could get a shot to compare with the hangars shot due to the fact that the clouds that night were one of a kind.. Plus I do not live on that base any longer and would have to be extremely lucky to get back there during a sunset like that again. Wish I could redo it though. Am happy with what I got though.

Mike

ian408

miketaylor01 wrote:

I am uploading alot of my pictures to my smugmug account ,,,

Mike

I took a look at your pix. Very nice!

Ian

Steve Cavigliano

Lookin Good Mike Like Ginger, I'm waiting for that low pass over the swamp pic


How are you liking the lenses you got? Especially the 70-200?


Steve

cmr164

miketaylor01 wrote:

I am uploading alot of my pictures to my smugmug account which is

http://miketaylor01.smugmug.com

Also I have posted some in the thread

SD9 first shots... Sunrise of course..

in the Nature, wildlife & landscape forum..
...
Mike

Mike;
The technology of the foveon chip is to trade resolution for more accurate color rendition and reduction of calculation artifacts introduced by the beyer mask. Thus a 10mp foveon has the detail of a 3.3mp beyer mask dslr. The question as to the effectiveness requires that we compare full size snips to see the differences. I do know that I felt my 2mp DCS520 was superior to the 3mp D30 and superior to any 4mp-5mp consumer digicam to date. So I do not need to be sold on the benefits of pixel quality. On the otherhand, I am pretty sure that I would rather have an 8.2 mp 1DMII than an equivalent sensor count foveon.

But... crop out some full size snips or make an actual raw file available. (as opposed to a reduced jpeg from raw) I am dieing of curiosity to see the foveon output.

miketaylor01

Here you go cmr164
Ok, I created a new gallery in my smugmug account which is here

http://miketaylor01.smugmug.com/gallery/249692

All I did to these pictures is convert them to jpg's. I dont think the raw images from the sigma can be downloaded from any programs other than Sigma Photo Pro. At least I cannot even view the raw files in elements 2.0, but that doesnt mean it cant be done with other programs as i know nothing about other programs but the ones I use.

Also interesting that you compared the SD9 to the 1DMII. I never thought I would see a $1000 camera compared to the quality of a $5000 camera. Please dont think im trying to make converts out of anyone here. I decided to go with the SD9 because to me for the price I thought the quality of images produced by it were incredible. Plus I wanted to see the technolog for myself and just happened to be in the market for my first dslr. I have seen this debate get pretty heated on some other forums and it just seemed to me that everyone couldnt do anything but argue that their equipment was the best. Thats not me and I hope that doesnt happen here. I am here to learn and to gain as much knowledge as possible about techniques used by every one of you and to share my work as it progresses with everyone here. Keep an open mind and check out what you see over time. Remember that the two pics I put on this page were taken with my second day ever with a dslr and with this camera.

I hope you all enjoy

Mike

miketaylor01

Lenses
I love all three of the lenses. I hadnt shot with the 70-200 until this morning and loved it. All of the pics on my smugmug page after the sunrise ones were taken this mornong with the 70-200 handheld. It can get kinda tiring but I am completely satisfied with the results. I cant tell any difference whatsoever between the pictures I took at 70 and 200. Most of them were at 200. I need some more time with all three to get a really good idea of what they are capable of but first indications are that they are all great. I will be doing lens tests with all three at some point this week and will post the results on smugmug.

Mike

wxwax

cmr164 wrote:

Mike;
The technology of the foveon chip is to trade resolution for more accurate color rendition and reduction of calculation artifacts introduced by the beyer mask. Thus a 10mp foveon has the detail of a 3.3mp beyer mask dslr. The question as to the effectiveness requires that we compare full size snips to see the differences.

I love reading your technical responses, Charles, I learn a great deal every time.

Mike, cool camera. BTW, didja notice you have your first dust on the sensor? Top left corner, the dot's in the same place in both shots. Must be hard to avoid in your environment. Be safe, man.

miketaylor01

yeah I cant figure out where it is, I think the dust is behind the dust sheild because I cant see it on the sheild and that spot is there with all three of my lenses, Good thing it is easy to remove in post..

Mike

Sigmaworld

Mike,

Just joined this forum. Belated congrates on your purchase. SD series is great.

Oh, do come to Pbase to join the groups.

Sigmaworld