Ladehaug
Senior Member
The image is outstanding. Unless you have used this camera, you
You are right, but a SD9 image (in its native size) is much sharper than any native sized bayer image. Most often this sharpness is a major advantage with exception of visible aliasing when the contrast gets very high. The SD9 doesn't suffer from color moire - and this is without exception a major advantage.This is true for every digital camera image, I don't see your
point. There have been posts made a number of ways including
translations from TIFFs.
Top comparison: SD9 aliasing. Bottom comparison: SD9 moire. Despite of this moire, the chroma (color) is correct. The D60 also suffer from moire in this sample crop, but it is color moire (notice how the color changes on the wall).
The "dull green" seems to appear in certain light conditions. Perhaps using filters (polarizing filter and/or an UV haze filter) will help under these conditions. Filters might also help with the "deep blue sky problem" and also when doing night shots.I think these have been noted by every review I have readI have yet to see the dull greens.
(including dpreview) and are evident in many of the pictures that
have been posted. You seem to be in a small minority having this
opinion.
Smeared out details or more structure?
What about the detail rendition in these darker areas and the water?
Does it matter with a little more noise, when you can get rid of the "color smearing", obtaining more correct and structured (= more realistic) details?
Every camera will blow out under extreme conditions. However, the blow outs in bayer images are smeared out because of the interpolation. Hence, they are not so visible (they appear to become more "hidden" this way).A person with the same "skills" is able to get a picture without
these blowouts with other cameras under the same conditions.
The SD9 can take night shots, but the results are poor compared to many other digital cameras. My Canon S40 can take night shots as well. But I can't say that my S40 pictures are so much better than the SD9 night pictures. The result will depend on the camera settings and the overall light conditions. In any case, if night shots will be very important, then I would recommend another camera than the SD9.Any other digital camera can take night shots,
why not this one. Have you ever thought that the problem with
There is no proof or evidence that any noise filtering is being done to the SD9 images. Anything said about this is based upon speculation. You'll have to ask Sigma about this to get some certain answers. As for the noise, the ISO100 images appears to be very clean in good light conditions. As I see it; ISO200 can be used in many cases with good result, and even ISO400 can be used in some cases with good result. It will depend on the overall light condition. The real question and challenge is to learn and use the camera the best way possible. It is the same situation for any camera with more than a "Auto" setting implemented (P&S cameras).It is not "what I say" it has been published in every review.High noise is just not there in my tiffs no matter
what you say.
Furthermore it seems from the reviews that in additions to being
very noisy at any ISO above ISO100, it also does some low pass
filtering to reduce the noise.
I don't agree with you. It is mostly depending on the photographer's knowledge and ability to take pictures in various situations. Look at Rick's sample pictures:Excuse me, but I am always making trade-offs between between theThe limited ISO is only a problem if you make it one.
light conditions, subject movement, DoF and camera shake, and ISO.
What you really seem to saying is that this camera is only good for
still lifes. I guess is still lifes and still people is all you
shoot and you are going to use a tripod everywhere, then this is
not a limitation.
http://www.pbase.com/rickdecker/sd9
Look at the pictures of the surfer. Looks pretty good to me, or what?
Well said! We are talking about equipment here that is (still to most people) quite expensive. Anyone who is considering to spend that much money on a dSLR needs to decide for themselves what camera will be most suitable for their needs and desires. I'm sure that there are (and will be) many happy SD9 owners. The main problem (as I see it) for Sigma is availability. Canon, Fuji and Nikon gear is not so difficult to find among a lot of resellers. That makes it more difficult to actually test the SD9 camera before you buy it. Luckily we have review sites and forums on the internet to help us. Lately we have seen a lot of new images, personal reviews and comments coming from several SD9 owners. There is no doubt in my mind that the SD9 will be the right camera for me. Unfortunately I cannot afford one right now, but that will change later on!If the camera works for you, that is fine and I hope you are happy
with it, but I don't think that this is the right camera for the
vast majority of photographers.
Cheers,
Geir