Sigma this morning saw fit to upgrade its original Foveon-based camera with features borrowed from the DP2 as well as others. The DP1s gets the Quick Set shortcut function from the second-generation camera and assigns it to the digital zoom button found on the original DP1 controls. It also supports shooting RAW and JPEG images at the same time, much like DSLRs.
Sigma on Thursday acted on its word and launched the long-delayed DP2 in the UK. The 14-megapixel camera is a cross between regular compacts and digital SLRs and continues to hinge on its FOVEON sensor, which is significantly larger than in point-and-shoots and helps produce more professional images, particularly in RAW mode. It also gets full manual controls and, since it was first shown last year, now has light sensitivity up to ISO 3,200 as well as a quick-access button for some of the more common camera settings.
On Tuesday at the PMA expo, Sigma has demonstrated the DP2 digital camera, a successor to the DP1. First seen back in September, the DP2 shares its 14-megapixel FOVEON X3 image sensor with the company's digital SLR, the SD14, which is much larger than the sensor in other digital cameras. Touted as a compact digital camera with most of the functionality of a DSLR, the DP2 also has an ISO sensitivity range that tops out at ISO 3,200.
Kawasaki, Japan-based digital camera maker Sigma Corporation has purchased all stock of Foveon Inc., a company that developed the original three-layer image sensor for digital cameras. Prior to this Tuesday announcement, the two companies have worked together on the Foveon X3 sensors used in all Sigma digital cameras, including the recently introduced SD15 and DP2.
Lens and camera maker Sigma has announced the existence of two new cameras hinted at earlier in the year, the SD15 and the DP2. The former is a DSLR, and a successor to the SD14, which originally premiered two years ago. The 15 makes use of a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor, and a new image processing engine, TRUE II. Few other details available, though Sigma says it will have a three-inch LCD.
In an interview with the British publication Amateur Photographer, Sigma founder Michihiro Yamaki has revealed that his company is already working on successors to its yet-to-be-released DP1 compact camera (pictured right). Although no specifications have been published, the DP2 and DP3 are expected to be announced by the end of the year, and will presumably share in common the same sort of full-frame sensor that reduces noise while still increasing sensitivity. Most compacts and even DSLRs use cropped technology, which also artificially shifts the focal length of lenses.
Sigma today set pricing for its long-delayed DP1 high-end compact camera. Set to launch worldwide in the spring, the camera will now be priced in Sigma's UK home at a minimum £550 ($1,083) including tax for the standard version and £600 ($1,181) for a version that bundles a hot-shoe mounted digital viewfinder for photographers who prefer composing shots in a similar fashion to a digital SLR.
Sigma at the PMA photo expo has committed to a release window for the DP1, its unusual crossover between compact cameras and digital SLRs. Now due sometime in spring, the final camera still maintains the 14-megapixel Foveon sensor that defines its shooting characteristics. The new three-layer silicon technology (also used in the SD14) captures each portion an RGB image in one pixel instead of three and allows the sensor to be several times larger than for other point-and-shoots this size; this provides both a major lift both to resolution as well as color response, Sigma says. The DP1 also comes with a custom-tailored 16.6mm f4 lens that can produce a shallow depth of field effect normally impossible with compact cameras.
Sigma, best known as a maker of third-party lenses, has at last issued an explanation as to why its long-awaited DP1 camera has yet to go on sale. The compact was first revealed at Photokina 2006, and had actually reached the pre-beta stage by early this summer; testing revealed however that the image pipeline was badly optimized, reducing image quality in favor of speed. As such Sigma decided to completely re-engineer the pipeline, as well as other specifications. The revised camera has just recently entered alpha testing, and as such is still an unknown distance away from release.
