Dear Sigma, I'm not keeping the DP1 Merrill.

Because I'm fed up with your slow clunky raw file software.

If other camera companies can get what's needed to the likes of Adobe Lightroom, then why can't you? Or at least tell us you are working on doing that instead of keeping us in the dark!



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It's just photography, lighten up.

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That's not the point. looks like you've accepted this cr@p they released to handle the files.

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It's just photography, lighten up.

I kept reading about this part of using the DP2M and such. So I downloaded the SPP program and found some RAW files to do some personal testing on.

Yep, a clunky program.

Reading around, the most common solution is to process in SPP to a standard level, save as a tiff, and then use your favorite program for the 'real' processing.

My point being, people should probably do what I did to see if the SPP program is going to drive you batty. If so, think about getting into a different camera family. Just seems to be the reality.If you want the Foveon, this is the situation at the moment; common knowledge all in all.

Not sure what the issues are for Sigma, Adobe, and the other companies who make RAW processors. It does hurt Sigma, makes many people look elsewhere. I hope you find the time to communicate with Sigma directly about your reasons for returning the camera.

Wow wish my time was that important.  SPP works fine for me.

I don't mean to be snarky but surely with all the posts here and the camera reviews (which I suspect you must also have read some of before taking the plunge to get this hardly mainstream camera) about the software issues you should have known what a major P.I.T.A. it was for many. That it has been buggy and crashed. That it was slower than molasses. (And along with other issues like slow as crap AF in modest light, batteries good for about 80 shots and an ISO window limited to 100-400 for color and maybe up to 1600 or even 4000 with Topaz fantastic DeNoise if going with BW.) But was the only means to turn 46 million Foveon pixels into a file that could be dealt with elsewhere. Either to be viewed or tweaked further in another program (like LR or Photoshop).

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Life is an infinite series of moments called now. My job is to capture them.

A bit extreme eh?     SPP is a fine RAW converter.   I actually like it, as an excellent RAW converter.   I do all of my post-processing in Photoshop, so my expectations of SPP are limited to RAW conversion, which it does very well.  I don't just 'tolerate' it, I actually like SPP and appreciate it, as a RAW converter.

The DP1M is SO awesome that I cannot imagine sending it back simply because I was a bit frustrated with the RAW converter.   I don't understand this extreme attitude.  Anyway, to each his own.

Sad for you, good picture...

It's your signature, not mine... But seems like sage advice.

Hello, Neil -

Curious to know what version of SPP you are running and how long it takes to create a 16bpc TIFF file ; what platform are you using ?

Also if anyone like Zoner Photo Studio, Adobe, Microsoft, FastPictureViewer or even FastStone releases a high performance Merrill raw decoder before the end of the year, what would be your reaction ?

Anything else than a Raytrix R29 or a PhaseOne that can shift a Bayer sensor as an alternative ?

Cheers,

Chris

LOL

What I find lots easier is to batch convert to 16-bit tiff files, and edit those.  You only really need SPP when you want to recover highlights.

It goes even faster still if you shoot raw+jpg and only batch convert the good images based on review of the JPG files.

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---> Kendall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kigiphoto/
http://www.pbase.com/kgelner
http://www.pbase.com/sigmadslr/user_home

yeah. lighten up.

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"There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." -Ansel Adams
http://www.pbase.com/sigmadslr (Sigma Users Gallery)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chunsum
http://500px.com/chunsum
http://www.pbase.com/chunsum

Yep. That'll do it because there's always bugger all good images.

Dear Sigma,

Thanks for the terrific DP2M.  I love it.  I'm thinking about buying the DP1M too later this month so I can be a two fisted shooter---DP2M in one hand and the DP1M in the other hand!

Gary Mercer

P.S.  Ditto on the Lighten up thing.  Everyone's way too serious!  Go argue about the D800 E please! LOL

Lightroom is a popular program that allows (in a lot of cases) end to end processing of a raw from cataloguing to print. It is designed to be a complete workflow in one program. For someone who uses more than one camera, having to step outside a regular workflow just to handle one extra camera is too disruptive.

I replaced about 7 or 8 separate pieces of software when I moved to LR.  I also gained the benefits of keeping the entire workflow in the non destructive raw domain. I am not interested in disrupting that workflow. The Ms look like terrific little cameras but until they fit seamlessly in my existing workflow (as the SD9 and 14 do), I won't be buying.

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As far as I know, Neil, Sigma has made information available to Adobe but they simply haven't done anything about it. I remember reading this in an interview with Kazuto Yamaki not so long ago.

BTW: I don't have problem with SPP + another photo editor. If I was shooting weddings exclusively on Sigma cameras, I certainly would. But I have used batch processing to get me though in the past, and it's not that bad.

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Regards,
Vitée
Capture all the light and colour!
http://www.pbase.com/vitee/image/98008547/small.jpg
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I am one of those people who enjoy the DPM series and am able to use SPP  for the initial Raw conversion, then on to either Lightroom or CS6.  The IQ is worth the effort to me. When Raw Developer comes out with its latest update we will have a second Raw converter option.

I certainly understand that the camera is not for everyone, but it IS for me.  Mike P

I assume that everyone here understands that a Bayer color filter array sensor consists of light detecting units (aka pixels) that are covered by color filters, R, G, or B. In order to determine the color at a given pixel position, the processor has a computational algorithm that uses the info from not only that monocolor pixel but from the surrounding pixels. I would expect that image manipulation with RAW images continues to use those RGB integration algorithms all through the process. Every slider starts from the array data when working in RAW.

The Foveon sensor RAW processor doesn't need to integrate spacial data from monochrome sensor pixels. What it does need to do is to assign relative weights to the B-level signal, the G-level signal, and the R-level signal within an individual sensor pixel. So the actual computational algorithms are very different from those of the Bayer CFA interpreting RAW processors, and like the CFA RAW processors, the algorithms are used for all image manipulation.

For LR, etc to take on Foveon sensor data, it would need to build an entirely new parallel program except for the Library LR module. I think that the Foveon sensor share of the camera market would have to be higher than that at the current time in order for this significant programming effort to pay off for LR, etc.

Of course LR can be used to catalog Foveon sensor photos that have been converted to TIFF. Metadata handling is likely the same for both sensor types, due to the international standards for metadata format.

The best hope for a smoother program for Foveon RAW file conversion lies with Sigma, for whom this is a major financial issue.

I haven't been posting much lately, but I and other posters have recommended many, many times to anyone considering the DPxMerrill or SD1(Merrill) cameras that they try out the SPP RAW processor program even before buying a Sigma camera... it's free online and available on Sigma websites. Didn't you try SPP in advance?

Best regards, Sandy
http://www.pbase.com/sandyfleischman (archival)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyfleischmann (current DP2Merrill photos)