Sigma SD14 at P.I.X.

[RichardSeah]

I had been curious about the Sigma SD14, particularly its Faveon (spelling??) CCD which records three colours at every position, supposed to produce very high quality images.

Finally had the chance to see, feel and shoot with the camera at the PIX show over the weekend.

Before I proceed, let me say that I do not own a digital camera and know little about them. Have been using film all along, but shopping for a DSLR that's why had been doing research and found the Sigma interesting.

The camera was fixed at the top of the Sigma booth and facing the PAS photo exhibition below, so the most practical thing to shoot was one of the photos.

After I shot, the real photo in front of me looked very different from the image on the LCD screen of the Sigma. Real photo skin of man was somewhat reddish, image on LCD looked more yellowish.

Guy from Sigma came over and tried to help. He suggested using flash, ie the tiny built in flash and the subject was some distance away. Still no good.

After taking 4 or 5 pixs of the same photograph, I told the Sigma guy I was unimpressed. And I went off.

AS mentioned, I know little about how to use a digital camera... but at least I know it was initially set to automatic white balance (AWB).

And my brief try out - about 10 minutes - surely does not constitute a "review".

I am just wondering, surely a camera selling at $3K++ for body only can't be all that bad?
Any Sigma SD14 users who are very happy with the camera and have fantastic images that will convince? If so, kindly share your experiences and photos.

[htthach]

color difference maybe due to lighting condition, white balance and other kind of stuff because when u review on camera it's jpeg right?
i just shot a few shot with that cam at iso 800 and i walk off.
too noisy

[calebk]

The Foveon sensor is not known for its noise handling, but its resolving power and colour reproduction is supposedly top notch.

[boredphuck]

i was happy to have had the chance to test the sigma 14 last weekend. walked away disappointed with the pics(although viewed only from lcd) and AF speed.

still, i would like to see the pic on a monitor first before i dismiss it as a utter waste of money. but the AF was really .... arrgghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

[RichardSeah]

Originally Posted by htthach color difference maybe due to lighting condition, white balance and other kind of stuff because when u review on camera it's jpeg right? i just shot a few shot with that cam at iso 800 and i walk off. too noisy

I was thinking it might be due to lighting conditions, but shouldn't AWB give a fairly accurate result - whether in jpeg or raw - especially for a somewhat high end camera? Didn't notice whether pix was jpeg or raw.

Or was it that the camera captured accurately but I was viewing the LCD under different lighting conditions. Again I think this is unlikely because although light was artificial, it was quite uniform throughout the hall so I would have viewed both the original picture and the LCD image under roughly same lighting.

Anyway my short experience was useful as I told me no need to stretch budget / no need to "risk" buying a non-popular brand.

[RichardSeah]

Originally Posted by boredphuck but the AF was really .... arrgghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

YES. I had forgotten about this but AF took a loooooong time to find correct focus.

[boredphuck]

having said that, i think the sigma is better off in a studio.

[calebk]

I do believe it's a studio camera. Heh.

[boredphuck]

Originally Posted by calebk I do believe it's a studio camera. Heh.

say it ain't so!!!

just saw a jap photog using for a outdoor shoot on the net. not very impressed for the price tag.

if it went down by 1k to 1.5k, then probably can give s5 a run for the money.

[RichardSeah]

Originally Posted by boredphuck if it went down by 1k to 1.5k, then probably can give s5 a run for the money.

Even then.... I don't think it is just a matter of price. Having shopped around and read reviews etc I have decided to get the Fuji S5. Would not go for the Sigma even if price was the same or lower - unless I was mistaken during that brief tryout and Sigma is actually much better than what it seemed.

[boredphuck]

Originally Posted by RichardSeah Even then.... I don't think it is just a matter of price. Having shopped around and read reviews etc I have decided to get the Fuji S5. Would not go for the Sigma even if price was the same or lower - unless I was mistaken during that brief tryout and Sigma is actually much better than what it seemed.

oic. i dunno. i dun really trust what i see on the lcd although the sd14's pic really looked terrible on it and it maybe not that far off from the big screen.

this was shot with the sd14 with the 18-50 lens.

jap shoot

[drakon09]

The images from the SD14 will benefit (a lot!) from post processing.

Having said that, and after handling the SD14 at PIX, the primary letdown was the build quality and the lenses.

I'd expect a solidly built cam for the three thousand smackers at the least.

[RichardSeah]

Originally Posted by boredphuck this was shot with the sd14 with the 18-50 lens. jap shoot

Thanks for the link.... they look like typical Jap cute girls pix, nothing great in terms of photography ;-)

[boredphuck]

Originally Posted by RichardSeah Thanks for the link.... they look like typical Jap cute girls pix, nothing great in terms of photography ;-)

asking u to see the details and range leh, not leer at barely naked girls.

[Dream Merchant]

I read the overseas reviews.

Most of them found that out of the cam, the images all look yellow, and generally quite horrid ... but after processing, the images were fine.

You can't judge a digital camera's performance based on what you see on the LCD or even out of the cam as I believe that no DSLR was designed to give optimally tweaked images straight out. PnS tend to be more impressive in that respect.

[RichardSeah]

Originally Posted by Dream Merchant I read the overseas reviews. Most of them found that out of the cam, the images all look yellow, and generally quite horrid ... but after processing, the images were fine. You can't judge a digital camera's performance based on what you see on the LCD or even out of the cam as I believe that no DSLR was designed to give optimally tweaked images straight out. PnS tend to be more impressive in that respect.

Ah, ok that explains it. Yes, pix was yellow and, although I did not use the word earlier, quite horrid! Anyway, the Sigma is somewhat beyond my budget... I had already extended budget from Pentax K10D to Fuji S5 pro.... I think I shall stop there.

BTW: where you found the reviews? I tried searching google but found very few, mostly "previews" that ended saying "depends on quality of pictures but we don't know yet...."

[Dream Merchant]

They were in US and UK (hard copy) magazines at Popular. Generally the larger rags get their hands on a full prototype or the first production models from major manufacturers for review before it's actually released to public. I'm not sure but it seems that online sites review the cameras after the production models have been released to the public.

Anyways, one mag showed the straight out of cam pix, and it was clearly YELLOW, low contrast and really weird looking (probably because of the yellow cast affecting all the colours). The after picture looked fine, but on the whole, the SD14, according to some reviewers, needed further work to be considered seriously at that price/performance point.

Hey, did you know what happened to the SD10? Was it successful in terms of quality? I forgot.

[RichardSeah]

Originally Posted by Dream Merchant Hey, did you know what happened to the SD10? Was it successful in terms of quality? I forgot.

Sorry, I only got interested in digital recently so won't know about old models like SD10...

I am still using film but feeling the cost of developing and scanning so finally started to look at digital.

Also, digital has improved greatly in recent years. 3 or 4 years ago, my feeling was that digital cost plenty money for not that great quality, but now I finally willing to invest in one (even though slides still have a certain magical quality)

[Dream Merchant]

No problem.

Anyways, if you like slides a lot, I think you might be happy with the Fuji. I hear that a lot or portrait amd wedding guys like the slide-like colours of the files. Also, you could always get filters for PhotoShop that allowa\s you to emulate the look and feel of pictures shot on different emulsions.

CHEERS!

[waycool]

checkout www.sigmauser.com

tons of photos for you to judge for yourself...