Ready to switch back!

Ok I think I would like you Sigma users opinions here.

My current rig.
Canon 5D2 w/grip
EF 28mm f/1.8 USM
EF 85 f/1.8 USM
EF 300 f/4.0L USM
580 EX2 Flash

Seriously thinking of switching to...

Sigma SD1M w/grip
30mm f/1.4 DG EX HSM
85mm f/1.4 DG EX HSM
150mm f/2.8 DG EX OS HSM
EF 610 DG ST Flash

The deciding factor for me is versatility. Can the SD1M handle a job like shooting a theater production under stage lights? Can I shoot an indoor wedding with flash and not have any problems? There are a lot of questions especially the big one... is the cost of the new equipment worth the images i'm going to get? Im a people photographer and only really do landscapes, nature, and macro for fun. Most of the posts here are of flowers, animals, and landscapes.

... either way Im going to wait for Adobe Lightroom support.... If LR support doesn't happen then I guess I just stick to the Canon, it hasn't let me down yet.. unlike Sigma has in the past.
Thoughts?

No actual thoughts on the proposed switch. But I will predict that the thread you've begun is going to be great fun to watch.

I'm off to get a comfortable chair and a large bowl of fresh popcorn. Let the games begin.

I'm in the same boat here. But I'm not considering to switch, just expanding.

For indoors photography, especially under low light conditions, I'll keep my D700, and I would recommend you to keep your 5dII. The SD1 can not replace it for these purposes, but you're going to be sad if you let the SD1 pass you by. I'm actually looking at it instead of going for a D800 for landscape. For high resolution, dynamic range, color and fine structures the SD1 wins big time for half the price.

But by all means, don't sell your 5DII. In low light the SD1 can not compete and will leave you completely alone in the dark.
Get the best of both worlds.
Greets
Michael

I have used the SD14 quite a bit and the SD1m a little for shooting events/theatre.You do need fast glass, I use the 70mm f2.8 and the 50mm f1.4. With the SD14 If the lighting was good enough to get away with iso400 then I could safely produce sellable pictures (some noise in the digital files but great looking 12x18" prints). At ISO 800 I would get some good shots but I would have to shoot more than I otherwise would to guarentee that there were some keepers. With the SD1m I shoot with Auto ISO which seems to be working quite well for me (iso 800 seems to be roughly the same quality as iso 400 on the sd14). One thing I have noticed is that in a stage lighting environment I get better results if I underexpose by 1 to 2 stops using the matrix metering mode. I found that I got the best results by putting SPP into natural mode.

The last show I did was conciderably darker than what I am used to and I was able to get usable results from the SD1m.





This shot has an overhead spot and when that was on getting good shots is pretty easy. This was a little bit darker than I am used to for say photographing bands.





This lighting was more or less typical for the show, the overheads were turned off and the lights had to be carefully angled to not be distracting for the acrobats.





Under these conditions I would definately benefit from a faster shutter speed I would have liked to see how this shot would have compared at iso 1600, also wish I had the camera pointing slightly higher.





This is where things start to get really challenging not that much difference in the camera settings between having the lenscap on and off here. again if I shot this again I would like to see what I was getting at ISO 1600.

As far as Lightroom support this shouldn't be a showstopper. you can use SPP to batch convert to 16bit per channel tiff files which will go into lightroom without AFAIK loosing any headroom. It does cost you a bit in disk space though. I batch convert to 16 bit per channel png which saves me 25% over the tiff.

I have yet to try SD1m with flash and diffuser, I would be interested in seeing some samples of those since that is the only way you would sanely do most wedding venues with a sigma SLR.

Danniii, these are fantastic...............how could you expect any more out of the SD1M box ?
Col

colinbm said:

Danniii, these are fantastic...............how could you expect any more out of the SD1M box ?
Col

Click to expand...

I don't really have anything to compare it with. It's still a new camera for me so I think I will be able to more out of it in time.

I have only shot a gig with one other camera in the last 5 years and that was with a kit lens. I did a lot of gig photography with the SD14 and a few weddings (thankfully only one in a church). I was quite happy with the results I was getting with the gigs but I would probably pick a different camera if I was doing a lot of weddings professionally (that or really work on my flash technique).

danniii,

Thanks for posting those stage photos. It's great to actually see what can be done with that camera in low light.

--

"If they're not screaming at you to get out of the way, you're not close enough" - I thought this was original, but it's very close to what someone else said. Oh, well.

"Not to compete whole-heartedly, with a will to win, degrades the sport and insults the competition" - anonymous Olympic long-distance runner

"Mongo not know ... Mongo just pawn in game of life." - Mongo

http://www.ChuckLantz.com

Sigma Nick said:

Seriously thinking of switching to...

Sigma SD1M w/grip
30mm f/1.4 DG EX HSM
85mm f/1.4 DG EX HSM
150mm f/2.8 DG EX OS HSM
EF 610 DG ST Flash

Click to expand...

if you are doing a lot of theater/gig work I would look at the 20mm prime or the 10-20mm if you can get to the side of the stage you can get good stage+audience shots and a lot of bands/actors really like these.

As a guide I the 50mm works best from the front row to about the second row of the audience. With the 70mm I can usually work at about 8 rows or just behind the dancefloor/moshpit at a concert (the 85 would probably be a better choice and about the same). with a 150mm or a 180mm I could probably work from the back row but a tripod would be absolutely essential (although the new 180mm with image stabilisation might be another story).

My ideal lens lineup for gigging would be
10-20 f3.5 or 20mm f1.8
50mm f1.4
85mm f1.4
180mm f2.8 is

One more





this was done using only the spill light from the stage. You better believe I held my breath while taking this one, as you can see f1.4 gives you a very narrow depth of field but not as bad as it would be if it were a full frame camera.

I would recommend the 610 SUPER flash. It gives much more fredom to move the flash away from the camera, more flashes and so on. I love my 610 SUPER!

Henrik

Sigma Nick said:

The deciding factor for me is versatility.

Click to expand...

Guys, while I love Foveon output in the best of conditions, the last thing I would call the Sigma cameras is versatile.

While you may be able to get some shots in here and there, I think you'd be putting yourself in for a lot more effort to take those shots than you would with other cams.

The SD1m is a base ISO, take-your-time kind of camera.

I don't want to offend the poster of the pics in this thread, but I think theyre out of focus and not very convincing an argument.

You'd be better served with a 5DMark3, if anything...

Thanks for all that feedback. (especially Dannii) Great real life shots there. I have perviously owed a SD15 and a whole set of EX zoom lenses. I have found that i've only been truly happy with the image quality of primes. Recently I have mostly been shooting Models, High school seniors, and Family Portraits. In the last few years I have shot 4 to 6 weddings per year but have since cut back and am about 2 or 3 per year at most.... People expect the photographer to make them "look good" on their wedding day.. and for the most part, you just cant fix ugly. LOL

I've been using PocketWizard Plus2's to fire off my flash into a XS Octobox NXT Light reach kit. I assume that the 610 ST would work fine with that set up. The beauty with fully manual flash and the pocket wizards is that I can use all different types of flash guns including Metz, and Quantum... although since its not the most popular brand camera there is no one reviewing Sigma DSLR's with a variety of flash set ups.

While I do think it's possible to shoot stage with the SD1, I cannot imagine why anyone in their right mind would do so - given another choice.

I am a massive fan of the SD1, but even I can't recommend this. There are so many other cameras that will do a better job under those circumstances.

kuri said:

I don't want to offend the poster of the pics in this thread, but I think theyre out of focus and not very convincing an argument.

Click to expand...

No offence taken, the pictures are there to give some idea of what to expect from the camera under difficult lighting conditions. It's up to you to decide whether you like the quality (I am not sure why I should care what camera you use). One thing I forgot to mention is that apart from the first pic (which represents more typical stage lighting conditions) all the shots were shot with manual focus - the last thing I wanted to do was blast the acrobats in the face with a focus beam.

At the risk of being pedantic I would say that the focus isn't so much the problem as the shutter speed and the depth of field, it was my second gig with the SD1 next time I will be bringing a tripod and I will try at least a few shots at iso 1600.
.

cinefeel said:

While I do think it's possible to shoot stage with the SD1, I cannot imagine why anyone in their right mind would do so - given another choice.

I am a massive fan of the SD1, but even I can't recommend this. There are so many other cameras that will do a better job under those circumstances.

Click to expand...

I probably shouldn't comment since I don't have hands-on experience with th SD1/M but here goes anyway... especially since I do have the same camera (but not lenses) as the original poster's Canon 5DII.

I would think that the 5DII will give you 'better' and easier results (and easy to process in Canon's DPP) at ISO800 and possibly anything above. I'm a low-ISO fanatic, and really haven't had to use above ISO800-1600 on the 5DII, but the output is very clean at those ISOs... probably better than the SD1/M... I know from first hand experience, better than SD14/DP1/DP2 at ISO800.

For theatre, your problem might be you don't have a fast enough long lens. I found the Canon L's f/4's are really too 'slow' for stage and dance movement. You need the mm 'reach' PLUS a fast aperture. I'm using a (Canon) 135mm f/2.8L for stage and performances. So from Sigma the 150mm would be the option (Canon mount for 5DII or Sigma mount if you decide to go SD1/M of course). It's not a small lens (larger than the Canon 135mmL) and not versatile for weddings certainly.

I rather process hundreds of wedding shots from a 5DII I think than a SD1/M .....

I personally use the DPx/M as a landscape camera when it comes out FWIW not an indoor camera primarily.

Best regards, Sandy
http://www.pbase.com/sandyfleischman (archival)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyfleischmann (current)

A bit OT because I shoot bench macro, but I did switch from SD9 to Nikon D90 and then back to Sigma SD10. However, I kept the Nikon D50/kit lens which is what I always use outside and for Wifey's eBay indoor jewelry shots.

I would comment that, from my point of view and with no experience of later Sigmas, if I were doing the OP's kind of photography I would probably not buy an SD1 - just based on the consensus of what little I've read about it.
--
Best Regards,

Ted.

I wouldn't buy the SD1m unless my primary photography involved either studio lighting or natural lighting but the camera is in my opinion is quite enjoyable to use for stage/gig photography. (I will not say the same about most other photography under artificial lighting). I don't feel that my keeper rate is significantly different to the people I shoot with who are using more conventional gear. I have some friends who shoot gigs with film (I am not including that in more conventional gear).