Sigma SD10 review

I belong to the wave of recent European buyers attracted by the superlative value for money this dslr has right now (we're talking 600/700 euros for a new kit).

Coming from years of film SLRs and semi-compact digitals (of the Powershot G..family) I decided to give the SD10 a try and preferred it to the Eos 350D; initially for its much more proportionate look and better built feel (the Canon seemed way more fragile), then for the originality of the sensor.

Two things can put down a potential amateur buyer: lack of in-camera jpeg processing and being tied to Sigma lens. Beginning with the latter I found that's not completely true, I have several M42 old screw mount lens (Zeiss, Pentax and Zenit) I can use on the SD10 via an adaptor (I also have a Canon Eos 50 1.4 lens converted to Sigma mount and electronics that's fully working). For the lack of onboard jpeg I must admit that it helped me a lot to make better images...I would have been to lazy to always shoot raw, but if you really want total control and stunning results, that's the way to go, otherwise why bother using a dslr?

One other aspect that worried me was power consumption (I read a lot about it in the forums), well after a few tries with NiMh AA cells I spent some 60 Euros for a set of RCRV3 and a charger and I can shoot all day...

This will probably sound like a broken record but megapixels aren't everything. The absence of artifacts from color interpolation lets you upscale the image so much more that someone (on the dpreview sigma forum) printed A0 prints on 180dpi with stunning results.

IN BRIEF:
great value for money,
no excessive features,
stunning results,
so easy it's almost analogue-like to operate,
lets you concentrate on the quality of the results.

Problems:

Couldn't rely on rechargeable AA NiMh batteries' life (number of shots before discharge was unpredictable); solved using now-inexpensive rechargeable CRV3 cells.