Sigma SD9 Review: Digital Photography Review

Top of camera controls (left)

Top of the camera on the left hand side is situated the main power / drive mode dial, beside and below this are settings buttons which are used in combination with the command dial (surrounding the shutter release button). Note that we will also describe the RES and ISO buttons here even though they are actual on the 'rear' of the camera.

Drive Mode Dial

Icon	Description
	Power Off Camera is powered off, any images still in the buffer will continue to be written out to the Compact Flash card. The top status LCD will show 'CF' to indicate that the Compact Flash card is still active.
	Single Drive Camera shoots in single drive mode, one depression of the shutter release results in one frame taken (assuming AF locks).
	Continuous Drive Camera shoots in continuous drive mode, camera shoots continuously while shutter release is held down as long as their is buffer space. This equates to approximately 1.9 fps at full resolution for up to 6 frames. If the buffer fills the camera will take the next shot when buffer space is available.
	Ten second self-timer After depressing the shutter release the camera will beep for ten seconds before taking the exposure. Countdown is displayed on the top status panel.
	Two second self-timer After depressing the shutter release the camera will beep for two seconds before taking the exposure. Countdown is displayed on the top status panel.
	Mirror lockup exposure After depressing the shutter release the mirror is raised, release and then a gentle half-press of the shutter release will take the final exposure. This allows you to reduce vibration transmitted through the camera body by the mirror when taking long exposures or macros. It would have been nice to have a combined Mirror lockup and two second self-timer option.
	Auto Bracketing After turning to this mode you can set the auto bracketing step to 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0 EV. Turn back to a normal drive mode to take the automatically bracketed exposures. Use continuous drive mode and it will stop after the three bracketed exposures have been taken.

Buttons

Button	Description
	Metering mode Hold button and rotate command dial to select metering mode: • 8-segment Evaluative • Center • Center-Weighted Average
	Function Press once to change remote control channel (1-3). Press again to enable / disable the camera beep.
	Auto Focus mode Hold button and rotate command dial to select auto focus mode: • Single Servo AF (S) • Continuous Servo AF (C)
	Resolution Hold button and rotate command dial to select image resolution, this results in smaller RAW files but obviously less resolution recorded: • 2268 x 1512 (HI) • 1512 x 1008 (MED) • 1134 x 756 (LOW)
	ISO sensitivity Hold button and rotate command dial to select ISO sensitivity: • ISO 100 • ISO 200 • ISO 400

Top of camera controls (right)

Top of the camera on the right hand side is situated the shutter release button which is surrounded by the command dial. Below this is the status LCD panel, to its left is the exposure mode dial which has shutter speed wheel on top, as indicated on the top of the wheel turn it clockwise for faster shutter speeds and anticlockwise for slower (in S or M modes). Note that we will also describe the AEL and Exposure Compensation buttons here even though they are actual on the 'rear' of the camera.

Exposure Mode Dial

There are four exposure modes available on the SD9 which can be quickly selected by turning the exposure mode dial.

Icon	Mode
P	Program Auto Exposure (Shiftable) Automatic Exposure mode, half-press the shutter release and the camera will select an exposure which matches the metered light value, sensitivity and exposure compensation settings. The Program AE on the SD9 is shiftable which means you can can select one of a variety of equivalent exposures by rolling the command dial. Minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds at ISO 100, 1 second at ISO 200 or 400. Example: • 1/125 F3.5 (roll dial right one click) • 1/90 F4.0 (automatic) • 1/60 F4.5 (roll dial left one click)
A	Aperture Priority Auto Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will attempt to select the best shutter speed for a proper exposure (based on the current metering mode). Aperture is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD, roll the command dial to select different apertures. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the shutter speed, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range the shutter speed will blink. Available apertures will differ depending on the lens used. Apertures are available in half stop steps, exact range will depend on the lens used.
S	Shutter Priority Auto Exposure In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will attempt to select the best aperture for a proper exposure (based on the current metering mode). Shutter speed is displayed on the viewfinder status bar and on the top LCD, roll the shutter speed dial to select different shutter speeds. A half-press of the shutter release causes the cameras exposure system to calculate the aperture, if it's outside of the cameras exposure range (for instance trying to take a shot at 1/500s in darkness) the aperture will blink. Shutter speeds are available in half stop steps. Minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds at ISO 100, 1 second at ISO 200 or 400. 15, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.5, 1, 0.7, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8, 1/10, 1/15, 1/20, 1/30, 1/45, 1/60, 1/90, 1/125, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/750, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/4000, 1/6000 sec
M	Full Manual Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the shutter speed from any combination of the above (plus Bulb for shutter speed, apertures limited by the lens used). Half-press the shutter release and the meter on the viewfinder status bar and top LCD will reflect the exposure level compared to the calculated ideal exposure, if it's outside of +/- 3 EV the indicator bar will blink.

Buttons

Button	Description
	Auto-Exposure Lock Press and hold this button then half-press the shutter release to lock the exposure. The exposure can be locked for a single or multiple shots.
	Exposure Compensation Hold button and rotate the command dial to set an exposure compensation level. Compensation is available in half stop (0.5 EV) steps from -3 EV to +3 EV.

It's a pity that shutter speed / aperture and exposure compensation can only be selected in half stop steps, most other digital SLR's provide third stop steps which can provide that little bit of additional control.