Throwback Thursday: Sigma SD1

I just shot some high ISO photos today with my SD1 Merrill. I was actually surprised how reasonable they looked. Here's an ISO 3200 shot processed from raw:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60217597

'Announced in 2010' but came out in 2012.
It's not THAT old.

When do we have a wood version of the D850?

Throwback? I'm still using mine. A lot.

I'm a DP3 Merrill user and most of the images in my DPREVIEW gallery are recorded with it. It was destroyed 3 weeks ago in a car crash and subsequent fire so I will be replacing it with an SD1 Merrill shortly.

I wish SIGMA make a follow-up SD2 DSLR. There is much to be offered from the old foveon sensor. I firmly believe as many others that SD1 is still quite capable camera. According to other reviews of actual users it is a hidden gem. Just googling the name i stumbled upon a fan review appreciating SD1 as many does here. You can find it at:
https://www.classicdslr.com/sigma/sigma-sd1-still-worth-buying/

I shoot with the SD1 Merrill and have done so for some time. It's not an easy camera to master but once you do, you will never look back. Paired with quality Sigma lenses not many cameras come close for studio, landscape and macro work. The Sigma DP3 and DP2 Merrill is in the same class. These are special cameras; work slowly in good light and reap the rewards.

Wow, the wood veneer edition.

I shoot with both Sigma and Canon.
The Canon 7D is great for low light and action. It produces acceptable images most of the time.
The SD1 Merrill is not good in low light (although I have been surprised how good it can be at lower resolution with pixel binning). Focusing is variable and the buffer takes way too long to clear. But in good light it is capable of taking images that make me realise why I put up with all its shortcomings.

I hired an Olympus EM1 Mark ii and shot a still life using the Hi-Res mode that produces an 80MP image using the 12-40 Pro lens. I took the same image using a Sigma DP3M.

I was surprised, but the Sigma DP3M absolutely destroyed the 80MP Hi-Res image. The Sigma image was so so sharp, even across a room in the evening light the Sigma highlighted hairs and dust on the still life which were not clearly visible with the Olympus.

Look at the studio scenes on this website, the Sigma DP2Q produces cleaner and sharper images than 90% of non-MF cameras.

Even the D850 has colour artifacts and moire in the etching that the DP2Q does not have and the Sigma is just as sharp as the best DSLR on the market!

For people who have the time and patience for MF output, the Sigma cameras are stunning. I like that no-one else has them. They are for connoisseurs.

I have the SD1 Merrill. The operation is disconcerting, autofocus, redundant buttons, metering, computer processing, but, but, when I take another camera out for pictures I always think "Oh this would have looked so much better if taken with my SD1... because it does". It's like you have a tiger for a pet.
And you can make prints the size of a bus out of its files.
Something that dpreview always refused to compare were files taken with Foveon in double against the same Bayer size. It always refused to compare Bayer enlargements i.e. a 24MP bayer enlarged to 48MP against a 15MP Foveon against 48MP. A Foveon native file enlarges so much better.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/azuzarte/

I owned an SD1 for some time, but I often struggled with the autofocus. The viewfinder is too small for manual focus and the accuracy of the autofocus wasn't too good.
It would have been great if it had live view with magnification of the focus point even if that would have meant carrying a lot of batteries with me.

There is nothing to remember. I have it and I use it.
It takes excellent pictures.

The Merrill generation (SD1 and DP series) is the last real Foveon camera.
The SD/DP Quattro generation failed without the original Foveon sensor architecture, and the SD Quattro is missing a decent Oled EVF, and a new real mirrorless bayonet.
That's all I will buy tomorrow an SD Quattro with the Merrill sensor Oled EVF, up to date AF, with a real mirrorless bayonet.

For anyone wondering what the SIGMA Foveon Merrill sensor can do, among other images perhaps take a look at these from photographer Mark James Ford, made with the SIGMA DP3 Merrill.

In my opinion, there is no other digital camera or sensor that creates images that appear so alive and real. I am including in this assessment the SIGMA SD1 Merrill and the SIGMA DP[1,2,3] Merrill. The SIGMA Foveon Quattro cameras are also very impressive, but the Merrill has something a bit unique.

https://1x.com/photo/721714/

https://1x.com/photo/1104071/

Throw back?! I still want one. Anyway I do own a DP2 Merrill and its 45mm f/2.8 (equivalent) lens is sharp enough for the sensor.
Bayer sensors are pretty good these days and a Sony a6300, for example, is only a little behind in absolute resolution and superior in all other respects. The brain would say buy that instead.

"For those who wanted to carry around something a bit more 'classy,' Sigma released a model with a burl wood veneer, which was priced at €10,000,"

ah! so this is where Hasselblad got their idea for Lunar and Stellar from. I wonder how many of that poop-colored camera Sigma managed to sell.

Because of the fans and detractors of foveon vs bayer below, I had a look in the new comparison between the D850 and the Sigma Quattro H, specifically examining the eye of the peacock feather at 100 iso jpeg. I was surprised to find the Sigma more detailed, but it could be due to the lens - ideally all the cameras would use the same physical lens with an adapter.

As you read the comments it seems the detractors and defenders of this camera have one thing in common, most of them have never used it.

Yes when I got the Canon 5D I considered the SD15 which cost the same.
I was disappointed with the pricing fiasco with the SD1 as the rumored price was more realistic and it seemed that some executive just doubled it.

A favorite feature, but so few of these recently describe the author's own use of the camera.

Jeff, I would have noted the initial pricing fiasco.

Shout-out for the dinosaurs at Crystal Palace.

This remains to this day an ultimate tool for garment shoots, sabotaged to this day by the lack of any civilized/non-geek way of creating dcp color profiles for it.

From a happy SD1m; DP1/2/3m; DP2Q; SDQ (between others) owner.

I'm big fan of Sigmas, however never owned SD1. I like my DP2m, and my SD-Q. Mainly shoot at low iso, so for me the best IQ at low iso is the most important. I can get great, somwhere similar results from PP $2500+ high resolution bayer camera. But I barely afford my SD-Q for $900. And the dp2m is a little gem, only RX-1R/2 can get close at low iso for again 3x price.
And no other camera can deliver me the same crystar clear, pop IQ of DP2m.

Under a low ISO and with the color temp well balanced, no camera matches the color depth of a Foveon sensor. No camera, not even the al-galaxy-mighty D850. It would be the ultimate advance (even more than flexible sensors, in my opinion) in sensor technology if Sigma manages to acheive better high ISO's and video from it.

The SD1-M body was great, dials/controls were well placed. Not having a top LCD was a poor decision, it also affected the battery life because you had to rely on the rear LCD screen for everything, (battery life was mediocre, I would use 3 batteries in a studio session) the rear LCD was a novelty due to the low-res Jpeg previews generated by the camera. AF points were limited but well placed, however, where the autofocus was hitting was anyone's guess and it had to be checked constantly for critical focus, even after calibrating the lenses to the body.

That being said, shooting with it tethered at ISO 100 in a studio could be magical, as long as you set a custom WB and didn't overrun the buffer, in which case you got to make small talk with the talent while you both waited. Foveon is what it is, you either love it, despite it's quirks - or it made you want to bounce the camera off of the studio's concrete floor.

Have used the similar dp2 Quattro (yes, sensor is slightly different) and what I can say is that the image quality at ISO 100 is superb, although there are caveats, as others mention.

Re: mrgum's continual slagging of Foveon sensor: absorption of colors at different layers of silicon is well-studied, and used in many other applications, not just Foveon. Google "silicon spectral transmissivity image sensor" for instance.

You can see that the sensor does reproduce color, so exactly what is being absorbed at what depth is a false criticism: the sensor does reliably reproduce colors.

i dont know why sigma use the SA mount... will be better to do a nikon F and Canon EF mount like Kodak did ...all mount patents are out of date and sigma use canon protocol already for lens communication with the SD1 and the flange distance is evan the same as canon ..i think sigma will have sold many more units if they did

Wow that wood veneer version is absolutely hideous!

I think of Sigma cameras as my Idiot Savants.

"Foveon sensors capture color in a completely different way than Bayer sensors, with each 15MP layer capturing a primary color."

I'm afraid this is incorrect. Sigma would like you to believe othewise, but the layers don't capture primary colours, but a somewhat blueish, a somewhat greenish, and a somewhat reddish colour. Examine the RAW files if you don't believe me. There's not nearly as much colour separation as there is on a Bayer sensor. This is at least part of the reason for Foveon's high-ISO colour blotches. Even though it isn't interpolating spatially, it is extrapolating chromatically.

I don't want to take anything out of Sigma's achievements. The Foveon sensor is a unique idea, and Sigma's Art lenses are wonderful (I have the 50/1.4A, and MAN!). I love the company for its innovations! But, the turth of it is that Foveon sensors for sure don't capture three primary colours as such.

So many hatin' on the SD1! I own one purchased from Sigma for 899 2 years ago. It is not my favorite camera, but I don't hate it. First, it is a very solidly built tank of a camera. Second, it is slow as molasses at xmas in processing images. But then, the images and what you can do with them! Oh my!

I also have a little DP2s bought off ebay for 200. Like its big brother it has some limitations, but produces superb images which are very amenable to processing with Sigma's proprietary software.

Sigmas are niche cameras. Always were. Alwsys will be.

In resume:
Great resolution, bad DR, noise noise and noise even at iso 100, slow as hell, color shift and... At the bargain of...8000 usd... Ok, then they got real and the price went down almost 6000usd..lol
Oh, wait, I forgot, it's better than medium format according to some users, even with all the above

The Foveon concept is sadly flawed. Instead of recording a neat red green blue sample at each pixel like the marketing implies, it really records something like white, pale yellow, dirty red. From this a lot of matrix operations are required to estimate halfway reasonable colour values. Additionally light spreads out as it penetrates deeper in the silicon necessitating heavy sharpening operations on the lower layers (this is why they abandoned the original concept when producing the quattro), this is also partially responsible for the sharpness and microcontrast (compare the SPP output to a third party converter).

All in a Foveon image requires a lot more "conversion" than a Bayer image. An oversampled Bayer sensor offers the same resolution, will less processing required, more accurate colours, increased dynamic range and orders of magnitude better sensitivity in low light. And oversampling also gets rid of the problems that Foveon sought to solve (aliasing, demosaicing artifacts).

The SD1 is exactly the opposite of my Eos 20D and Eos 5D :
- Never shoot with a Canon Eos under ISO 400 in low light !
- Never shoot with a Sigma SDn above ISO 400 ditto !
But they all share a narrow dynamic range

This uninformed and unjustly brief Throwback Review begs the question, "Why was the SD1 even selected for this segment?"

The SD1, like nearly all Foveon-based cameras, draws criticism like flies to fly paper. It's so very easy to criticize, isn't it. But for low-ISO shooters who use fast, quality lenses and who have mastered the craft of taking a picture, the benefits of the Foveon sensor (even going back to the SD9) far, far outweigh what the Foveons can't do or don't do very well.

There is NO Bayer-based 35mm format camera that can deliver the image quality of the SD1 (and current Foveons) when shooting base ISO to ISO 200. Simply removing the AA filter from a Bayer camera does not a Foveon make. Yes, in less skilled hands the Foveons can be, and often are, problematic, especially if one thinks the camera should do all the work.

Read the reviews on Luminous Landscape and on ReidReviews if you want to know what the SD1 is truly capable of. This Throwback Review is a joke.

I have this camera, and I love it. There are no sharpening halos, even when the photos are super sharp. I shoot with a Sony A65 and the SD1 Merrill. The Sony is my "fast" camera, and it can do video too. I can't imagine a camera that could shoot better image quality than an SD1 Merrill for less than $3,000. Hopefully one day Sigma will make a camera with a full-frame Merrill sensor. You can still buy a Sigma SD1 Merrill at B&H: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/846208-REG/Sigma_C26900_SD1_Merrill_Digital_SLR.html

I plan to get an SD Quattro H, but I can see myself still using my SD1 Merrill in the future, to get its special look.