Sigma DP2 - Test Shots - ISO Performance

Over the next few pages we show a range of test shots. On this page the full size image at the minimum and maximum ISO settings have been reduced to let you see the full image, and a series of full resolution crops have taken from original images at a range of ISO settings to show the overall image quality.
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This the full frame at ISO50

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At the base setting of ISO50 image quality is very high, with excellent colour and reasonable detail.

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There's not much difference to the image at ISO100, there's a very slight increase in contrast and sharpness.

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Images at ISO200 are still silky smooth, though colour saturation is slightly lower.

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At ISO400 there's the first evidence of slightly gritty luminance noise, meanwhile colour accuracy slips further.

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By ISO800 it's very obvious that strong noise reduction is removing colour leaving quite pronounced gritty noise.

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Noise reduction is letting through colour blotches and shadow detail is blocking up.

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At ISO3200 there's more of the same and it's not particularly attractive.

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This is the full frame at ISO3200.

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Comments

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15 comments

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DVDM

11:45 AM on 9 June, 2009

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Sigma DP2 deserves 10 from 10 for it's picture quality. About deepen shadows and punch highlights - try to use original software. Also price is very low for such a camera - it's picture quality better than most DSLR cameras. It's really funny to see that many point-and-shoot cameras got higher rating in your reviews. Maybe you need to improve your personal skill as a photographer?

Score:

Ed

12:01 PM on 9 June, 2009

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Ok, where to begin...

High ISO performance is mediocre, fixed lens is highly restrictive, price is ridiculous.

Quite simply, if you want a highly accomplished compact camera the vast majority of people will be better off with something like a Panasonic LX3. Conversely if you're serious about your photography then get an SLR. For £540 you can get an entry level SLR with a kit lens for general photography as well as a half decent 50mm prime lens.

Maybe you need to get a clue about what's a realistic purchase for most people?

Lupti

1:09 PM on 9 June, 2009

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A quote from a forum:

"And to make it worse, the distance between the foveon and the IR filter-

ca. 5mm.With this "construction", it became clear, why all the DPs suffer from "green corners"-"

I own the DP1 and think Sigmas DP cameras are only for very special use. The operation is fairly archaic.

Voldenuit

2:51 AM on 10 June, 2009

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Arg!

The 16.6 mm lens was one of the best things about the Sigma DP1.

Wide is the way to go with street photography/landscape/architecture.

The new 24 lens on the DP2 misses the point about what the users and fans of the DP1 wanted it for.

hurworld

11:23 AM on 10 June, 2009

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"Wide is the way to go with street photography/landscape/architecture."

HCB would beg to differ.

Personally, I value fast, normal FOV lens above slow, wide FOV lens.

steph

12:05 PM on 10 June, 2009

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actually, if one wants to raise a long-term universal comparison standard, valid for compact and consumer-DSLRs, one should take the double HD width as standard. This is 3840 pixel wide. This enables pixel-peepers to magnify at 2:1 using a full-HD monitor. Basically, for consumer-market, the advantage of photo over 1080/30p video will be 4 times more pixels. This is 8.1 Mpix in 16:9, so nearly 12 Mpix in 4:3 format (more height than 16:9). All next generation CMOS sensors will be 12 Mpix for coping with this scheme. The Foveon sensor, with 14 Mpix, is thus still in the race. One shall always remember that a conventional bayer-filtered 12 Mpix CCD or CMOS is only delivering 3 red Mpix + 6 green Mpix + 3 blue Mpix, with the built-in JPG camera software processing all this holy mud for guessing a nice 12 Mpix to be marketed as a "native" RGB image. What a joke, indeed ! In fact you already knew about this joke, knowing how you can get different results when outputting the RAW data (shooting RAW) and using an external RAW to JPG converter. Actually, if one wants to play ultrasafe using a conventional bayer-filtered 12 Mpix CCD or CMOS, one should opt for a 3 Mpix non-compressed RGB output format. This way, each RGB triplet in the output format gets calculated using 4 physical sub-pixels R-G-B-G, HOWEVER SHIFTED IN SPACE. It therefore sounds ultrasafe, but is still inaccurate due to the geometric shifts. Now you understand why Foveon does exist and does survive. Please note that the Foveon sensor, with 14 Mpix, is able to output a 4.7 Mpix "native ultrasafe" RGB output, with each RGB site being made of perfectly superimposed RGB sub-pixels. That's ideal. Knowing that Sony can now use a 90 nanometer design rule to their 1/2.5 inch imaging CMOS sensors (IMX060PQ), with the photodiodes sitting at the back (Exmor-R), one may guess that Sony is already testing a RGB Exmor-R CMOS sensor with 3 stacked layers at the back, aka Foveon. And no RGB Bayer filter anymore. This is where money matters. If Sony suceeds in throwing away (or embed using CMOS lithography) the low-pass filter, then we will get something new, simple, and accurate. Shall we expect a 14 Mpix Sony Foveon-R CMOS sensor, APS-C size, also good for 1080/60p video ? With or without microlenses ? Can you imagine that a high-efficiency RGB Exmor-R APS-C sized, sensitive enough for dispensing with microlenses, could replace a CCD, the RGB bayer filter, the optical low-pass filter, and the microlenses ? Amazing ! This is where Foveon technology leads to.

Ardjuna

12:42 PM on 10 June, 2009

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@steph:

o_0

12:44 PM on 10 June, 2009

@Steph: Please either break up your comments into paragraphs or keep your points succinct. Perhaps more to the point, from what I can gather, you don't seem to actually be addressing anything relevant to either the comments or the article.

1:39 PM on 10 June, 2009

20 lines are actually needed for commenting about the Foveon sensor technology. Especially when Sony just initated a significant change with their Exmor-R CMOS sensors. Feel free to erase my comment if you find it unappropriate here. Let us hope there will be a Sigma DP3 offering video capability and interchangeable lenses, like Pana G1HD.

Omar

2:49 PM on 10 June, 2009

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I was inetersted in the DP2 as a lighter alternative when I don't want to lug around my D700. Sounds like none of the problems with the DP1 have really been fixed - they've just been reduced slightly. I've got high hopes for the new Olympus E-P1 which should be launched next week.

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