Photokina 2002: EXCLUSIVE: We have had an opportunity to shoot some sample images with a late pre-production Sigma SD9. Thanks to the weather here in Cologne (wet and heavily overcast) we have been struggling with very slow shutter speeds but have managed to put together a few samples. If the weather improves tomorrow or the day after we'll get some nicer sunlit shots for you too. In addition we also have two images provided by Foveon.

Sigma and Foveon describe this camera as 'the last of the pre-production' so you can assume that image quality is very close to what we'd expect from the final camera. That said please consider that (a) this is still a pre-production unit and (b) we were struggling with poor lighting conditions (quite a few taken in our hotel room!). As noted above we will replace these shots if and when the weather improves. Note also that we have provided TIFF versions of two of the images, bear in mind that although we have saved the JPEG images at a very low compression level there may still be some JPEG compression artifacts.

All images below (taken by ourselves, I can't speak for the supplied images) were saved straight out of the RAW processing software as TIFF and then re-saved in Photoshop as a JPEG Quality 11, no other processing, no levels or curve adjustment, no additional sharpening.

Technical notes: Most images taken in Aperture Priority, hand-held (thus some images will have a little shake). RAW .X3F images between 6 and 8 MB each.

Click here to discuss these samples on our new Sigma SLR Talk forum

Sigma SD9 pre-production camera image samples

50 mm, 1/20 sec, F4.0, ISO 100 (50 mm lens)	50 mm, 1/8 sec, F8.0, ISO 100 (50 mm lens) Click to download TIFF (10 MB)
50 mm, 1/20 sec, F6.7, ISO 200 (50 mm lens)	50 mm, 1/20 sec, F5.6, ISO 400 (50 mm lens)
50 mm, 1/20 sec, F6.7, ISO 200 (50 mm lens)	50 mm, 1/45 sec, F6.7, ISO 400 (50 mm lens)
50 mm, 1/8 sec, F8.0, ISO 200 (50 mm lens)

RAW exposure latitude example

In the example below (saved at the half-size 1134 x 756 size) you can see the image on the left as it would appear 'out of the camera', on the right we have applied -2.0 EV exposure compensation and some wires in the sky, details on the car bonnets and windscreens as well as detail around the leaves has been restored. This is a fairly good example of the latitude available in X3 RAW images.

50 mm, 1/30 sec, F4.0, ISO 100 (50 mm lens) +0.0 EV digital exposure compensation	50 mm, 1/30 sec, F4.0, ISO 100 (50 mm lens) -2.0 EV digital exposure compensation

Supplied Sigma SD9 samples

Click to download TIFF (10 MB)

Click here to discuss these samples on our new Sigma SLR Talk forum