Harold66
Forum Pro
Hello everyone,
About a year ago , I bought a DP2 X. I own several other digital cameras but as an avid street photographer , I was attracted by the unique ability of the Dp2x to function as a very discreet tool for street photography. First , the 40mm focal lens equivalent is the perfect walk around lens and my favorite focal lens for street photography. As Sean Reid wrote in his excellent reviews on the Dp2 and DP2s , the 40mm choice made the sigma DP2 the worthy digital successor of the Rollei 35 ( a film camera which despite its names got mostly produced with a 40mm lens).
the Sigma DP2X has a mediocre LCD , only offers 5MP files making large prints problematic but had the best design for street photographers who wanted to use an OVF and snap focus for discreet photography
and THEN NOW Sigma comes with a DP2 M which now features a very rich 15MP sensor , a current high def LCD and even the possibility to shoot RAW+JPEG ( allowing B&W photographers to review images in B&W while keeping the RAW files)
so all seems that we have only reasons to rejoice , yes ?
ALAS, Sigma in one of its surprising and ill-conceived moves has chosen to cripple its camera by removing its two most unique features for street photography. First , the new SIGMA DPM are doing away with the unique and outstanding wheel for snap and manual focus
( . This could have been compensated by having distance markings on the lens barrell . But no such luck.
To make things worse, SIGMA decided to change the focal lens from 41mm to 45mm ( a poor decision IMO) making the current OVF obsolete . I am not aware of any 45mm external finder available today and SIGMA does not seem to make one available for the new DP2M.
As a result , the new DP2M would be restricted to LCD only for composing and manual focusing . a VERY, VERY bad choice which is going to alienate a part of the current DP users and make it very difficult to compose and or manual focus in bright sunlight
I have made some great images with my Dp2x which would have been almost impossible to make with another camera. if someone had told me a few months ago that Sigma DP2x successor would bring a sensor with 3 times as much resolution , with a better LCD and a RAW+JPEG option , and that I would have ZERO interest in getting one , I would have not believed it.
Sigma seems to have an uncanny ability to develop some products with unique features and yet preventing those products from being as popular as they could be by making some unreasonable decisions in terms of pricing , availabilty or design..
Feedback or comments welcome
Harold
--
http://www.harold-glit.com
http://www.modelmayhem.com/haroldglit
About a year ago , I bought a DP2 X. I own several other digital cameras but as an avid street photographer , I was attracted by the unique ability of the Dp2x to function as a very discreet tool for street photography. First , the 40mm focal lens equivalent is the perfect walk around lens and my favorite focal lens for street photography. As Sean Reid wrote in his excellent reviews on the Dp2 and DP2s , the 40mm choice made the sigma DP2 the worthy digital successor of the Rollei 35 ( a film camera which despite its names got mostly produced with a 40mm lens).
the Sigma DP2X has a mediocre LCD , only offers 5MP files making large prints problematic but had the best design for street photographers who wanted to use an OVF and snap focus for discreet photography
and THEN NOW Sigma comes with a DP2 M which now features a very rich 15MP sensor , a current high def LCD and even the possibility to shoot RAW+JPEG ( allowing B&W photographers to review images in B&W while keeping the RAW files)
so all seems that we have only reasons to rejoice , yes ?
ALAS, Sigma in one of its surprising and ill-conceived moves has chosen to cripple its camera by removing its two most unique features for street photography. First , the new SIGMA DPM are doing away with the unique and outstanding wheel for snap and manual focus
( . This could have been compensated by having distance markings on the lens barrell . But no such luck.To make things worse, SIGMA decided to change the focal lens from 41mm to 45mm ( a poor decision IMO) making the current OVF obsolete . I am not aware of any 45mm external finder available today and SIGMA does not seem to make one available for the new DP2M.
As a result , the new DP2M would be restricted to LCD only for composing and manual focusing . a VERY, VERY bad choice which is going to alienate a part of the current DP users and make it very difficult to compose and or manual focus in bright sunlight
I have made some great images with my Dp2x which would have been almost impossible to make with another camera. if someone had told me a few months ago that Sigma DP2x successor would bring a sensor with 3 times as much resolution , with a better LCD and a RAW+JPEG option , and that I would have ZERO interest in getting one , I would have not believed it.
Sigma seems to have an uncanny ability to develop some products with unique features and yet preventing those products from being as popular as they could be by making some unreasonable decisions in terms of pricing , availabilty or design..
Feedback or comments welcome
Harold
--
http://www.harold-glit.com
http://www.modelmayhem.com/haroldglit
