DP1M - pleasantly surprised

While recently mulling getting the 3rd of the DPxMs to complete my troika of Merrills I was a little put off by some corner softness/smearing and quite high levels of CA for a lens that I can't change

But the price was right and so I took the plunge and it arrived today. Been a bit busy to give it much more than a few test shots to check it works and to get a quick idea of how it performs. I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised.

It might be due to the subject matter - Rick Decker has previously stated the corner performance seems better with some subjects - but I'm not seeing a great deal of corner softness.

Csa are present on high contrast edges but SPP renders this away - even if at a glacial speed with the odd crash.

Resistance to flare is excellent - shots taken nearly into the sun with strong reflections off water were handled very well from wide apertures to narrow ones.

Dull test shot below, those of an artistic disposition should look away now ...

I chose this as it has high contrast edges particularly near the edge of the frame, some grass to check edge and corner performance and some fiddly bits to check sharpness. View at 100% for the full picture - this is with lens profile off.

A little soft in the extreme corners but you have to look hard, and of course CAs on the lampposts and tree branches on the left.

With the lens profile turned on the CAs virtually disappear, certainly good enough for my purposes,

Now all Sigma need to do is produce a DPM body that has a mount for me to use my old MF lenses, with a plug in EVF so that in daylight I don't have to try and shade the LCD whilst trying to keep the camera steady. Oh, and bin SPP for a decent RAW developer ...

Nick