Sigma and Foveon resource (usage tips) and information thread.

What mode are u using for the light meter and also are u shooting jpg or raw? I find that auto wb to be part of the problem w/ the sigma cameras.

In terms if 1s at f8 for both iso changes, that should not happen unless there was a cloud cover change between shots. I have never shoot slower than 1/15th w/ the sigma cameras. Iso 800 is the start of what I would call acceptable but ymmv area if u are shooting color. Better to stay 400 and under. The jpgs will look horrible starting around 400 sometimes where as the raw files will hold up better.

I tend to use matrix and average meter modes. In bright sunlight I tend to use minus 1/3 to 2/3 on exposure compensation.

For myself, of the three dp Merrill cameras I don't have the dp3m. But I intend to get the dp2q. If this works out I will pick up the dp3q. I tend to shoot more b&w w/ the dp series anyway. If u have friends in countries like Australia or England or Japan for example, right now they seem to have better deals on the Merrill cameras then what we are currently seeing in US.

Gary
 
Using center weighted at the moment and looking at the jpg's (but taking jpg + raw). There was no cloud cover between shots as it was a cloudless day and the shots were just the time apart to change the iso with the qs menu. I'll give it a try with a handheld lightmeter and see if that makes a difference.

I agree that 400 looks the max for colour (b&w is not my thing) but I got some flunky colour at iso100 as well. Wood looking rust coloured while 200 and 400 are fine. OK, some not very scientific tests.

I do like the way it works. Not fast and 400 is a limit. Not worse than medium format.
 
In strong light or low sun in horizon, blue from sky can have a slight magenta cast. I think the blue layer is getting overwhelmed and bleeding into the adjacent layers.

In the recent Quattro info from Sigma, they have mentioned that the blue layer acts as a luminous layer for the green and red layer as well, it us not clear if that is also the way the Merrill works as well.. But it could explain some of this issues that are sometimes seen when the sensor gets too much light.

Some of the other issues seem to be related to auto wb to me. I tend to adjust awb in post using spp or aperture, since I shoot b&w most of the time w/ dp.

There has been a debate going in the past, on whether...the true base iso for the foveon is 100 or 200. I have always felt 200 worked better in general.

Just bring up spp and check out what the default setting produce. Play around w/ the raw file.. There is a world of difference.. Things that looked bad in the jpg look much better running the raw thru spp. I think this is because the camera does not have the CPU horsepower to do everything correctly to create the jpg vs what can be done in post.

Good luck
Gary
 
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Gary- what you're saying makes sense to me now. After testing the cameras for a couple of weeks my feeling is that the AWB is pretty hit or miss. Most often in the miss part of the program. SPP was able to correct to an almost perfect image in every case but the applied settings were way off. I'm also finding that asa 200 is the sweet spot. I ran outside today and shot this in my yard. It was very overcast and I expected to need to use some correction to get the color to be accurate. I was amazed to find that I only need a minor exposure tweak and all other settings were right on.
i-QJTFqSW-L.jpg
 
After a year or so hiatus, I have returned to the Sigma fold.

I had sold my original DP1 and DP2m while regrouping my gear and my thoughts and I finally returned this week.

After reviewing my previous images, I made what some might consider an interesting choice. I bought a DP1x.

Looking forward to contributing!
 
welcome back! curious to hear about the difference between the dp2x and the merrills, gary started me thinking of an older model because of a slightly different output, about which i've seen other similar comments.
 
Has anyone put out a how-to book about the merrill cameras yet? Something like what Rick Pfirstinger did for the Fuji X cameras?
 
Not sure if this is old news but I recently had a "Eureka" moment with SPP.

I always watched in dismay while the file was processing in SPP, the out of focus areas would go from not too bad and reasonably smooth to ugly. I just figured out that this was due to the default application of luminance noise reduction.

To try for yourself, once SPP has processed file move luminance slider all the way to the right.

I googled it to see if I could find more info, I came across this link:
http://x3magazine.com/2013/03/smoother-portraits/

I am pretty happy about this discovery as I along with others have had issues with the extreme almost over sharpened and crunchy look of some of the files out of SPP.
start at post #157
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125465&page=7
 
Is it me or does RRS not sell the grip for DPxM's any more? Looks like they only sell plates now. Any other solid options if that is indeed the case?

What's a good travel tripod to recommend for these cameras, (well) short of something like a $700 Gitzo?
 
Not sure if anyone noticed my in my initial impressions comments about the dp2q.....but the blue channel trick for reducing noise on a Quattro camera does not work the way it does on a Merrill. I personal have not found a work around. The above site documented some of the things he tried to get a pure blue channel by using other software tools designed to read out the blue layer info from the raw fill and convert it to a tiff.

Btw.. As far as I know unless it has been broken lately, the blue channel trick continues to work for Merrill sensors.

Gary
 
Keith said:
I thought it might be useful to collect what we know about using the Sigma cameras and in particular the foveon sensored variety into one thread. They are definitely not your average straight forward digicam and my own learning curve has been quite steep to my surprise.

Also helpful for people, new owners in particular, in coming to grips with the SPP software.

:)
Click to expand...
Excellent Idea. I'm a transplant from DPR, but have be using Foveon/Sigma sense 2000. I use only SPP for my Foveon work.
 
Keith said:
Interesting link ... thanks. I was surprised to read that the camera's base ISO is 200.
Click to expand...

10 years later:

"base" ISO for Sigma digital cameras is 100, not 200 and is calculated by the ISO/CIPA Recommended Exposure Index method.

People who "always set 200 ISO" are generally under-exposing their sensor by 1EV.
 
xparUSA said:
10 years later:

"base" ISO for Sigma digital cameras is 100, not 200 and is calculated by the ISO/CIPA Recommended Exposure Index method.

People who "always set 200 ISO" are generally under-exposing their sensor by 1EV.
Click to expand...
I found an old thread over at DPR discussing it ... quite interesting. I never realised there was group of fairly dedicated Sigma users over there but I guess it was a fairly comprehensive site compared to this place. When I first joined here (RFF) in 2006 posting images in the gallery from an SLR or DSLR was frowned upon! lol :LOL:
 
Greetings to the Sigma transplant people, which I'm one of. As for the Sigma Foveon being ASA 100 I found the early models SD9 SD10 were good from 100 to 400 depending on how you used the camera. Think positive film. As for the later models SD14 through the SDQ-H I used up to 3200 ISO
Here are a few snaps at higher ISO Also SPP works excellent for PP which I hate to do so I try to get it right in the camera. One has to learn SPP and it's Free works excellent with the FP series cameras also.

elitephoto9.zenfolio.com

Sigma Foveon High ASA/ISO

Elitefoto9
elitephoto9.zenfolio.com
Enjoy
Roger J.
 
Roger J said:
Greetings to the Sigma transplant people, which I'm one of. As for the Sigma Foveon being ASA 100 I found the early models SD9 SD10 were good from 100 to 400 depending on how you used the camera. Think positive film. As for the later models SD14 through the SDQ-H I used up to 3200 ISO
Here are a few snaps at higher ISO Also SPP works excellent for PP which I hate to do so I try to get it right in the camera. One has to learn SPP and it's Free works excellent with the FP series cameras also.

elitephoto9.zenfolio.com

Sigma Foveon High ASA/ISO

Elitefoto9
elitephoto9.zenfolio.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for those few (over 90) snaps, Roger, but Zenfolio seems to block the camera settings and the images are shown downsized, making it difficult to assess quality.

Ted
 
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xparUSA said:
Thanks for those few (over 90) snaps, Roger, but Zenfolio seems to block the camera settings and the images are shown downsized, making it difficult to assess quality.

Ted
Click to expand...
Greetings Ted
If you click on the right arrow and go through each slide it gives you all information. As for the small size I have no idea.
Good luck
Roger J.
 
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