To buy an SD1 or not?

mikeodial wrote:

Scottelly wrote:

Get an SD1 for sure. I suggest the 70mm f2.8 macro as the first lens for it. Then maybe the 8-16mm. Eventually you're going to want a longer lens, so maybe get the 105mm f2.8 macro after that. Your decision to get a 50mm f1.4 A or a DP3 Merrill can be the last one you make. I suspect you'll go with the DP3 Quattro instead maybe, depending on your love of the cloud rendering from the Merrill cameras. If you decide to get the Quattro DSLR (which might be on the market by that time), you will want to have the ability to switch your lenses to that camera. If you get a DP3 Quattro to start (as your 50mm lens), you won't have that worry. I don't suggest eh 18-35mm f1.8 Art lens only because that'll make your DP2 Merrill redundant. Remember that your choice of a 50mm will allow you to use it on the next DSLR, while getting a DP camera is going to limit your use of that lens to just that camera for the rest of time.

Time does fly by. Before you know it you'll say, "Wow! I can't believe it's been five years!" Sigma might have their full-frame camera on the market by then . . . if they ever make one. If that happens, you will kick yourself for investing in another DP, rather than a 50mm f1.4 Art lens instead. Don't forget though, you could always sell your DP camera for almost what you pay for it, as long as you get it for the right price, so you might just get a DP3 Merrill now. Some people took advantage of the amazing sale on the DP2 Quattro, buying it six months ago for less than they could sell it used right now. THAT's the way to buy. I'd wait for a sale on the DP3 Quattro, even if it takes another six months. Get the SD1 now though, because that's a camera you will keep for years and years.

Thank you for this amazing advice. Certainly has me thinking. I agree with the overlap on the 18-35 lens to begin with. Do you see a difference in quality in images between a well equipped lens on the SD1 versus the DPm series?

No. I don't. Some say they can see a difference, but for all intents and purposes, if you shoot at f4 or f5.6, you're unlikely to see any difference between the DP2 Merrill and the SD1 Merrill with the 35mm f1.4 Art lens or the 18-35mm f1.8 Art lens. The 70mm f2.8 macro is a stellar lens too, which doesn't focus quickly, because it's a macro lens, and it doesn't have OS (optical image stabilization), but it captures extremely fine detail. The original SD1 print tour had a few photos that were shot with that lens, and you could tell which ones they were. The others were shot with the 17-50mm f2.8 and other lenses, but the shots made with the 70mm f2.8 macro held the finest detail. I was amazed, and ever since then I've wanted an SD1 with that lens. Some day I'll get one . . . after I get a DP3 Merrill, which I've decided to get, because I prefer the way the cameras with the Merrill sensor render/capture clouds.

The first lens I'll be getting is the 70mm f2.8 macro, unless I find the 18-35mm f1.8 A on sale for close to the same price. I already have a 28-80mm with a macro function, so I could definitely use that and the 18-35mm. Then I could get the 105mm f2.8 macro and the 8-16. But I've wanted that 70mm for so long that I can taste it!

I've looked long and hard at a LOT of raw files from various SD1 cameras, shot with various lenses . . . and even more jpeg images. Still, I definitely can't give you the same advice that people like Rick and Kendall can, because their advice from first-hand experience with a variety of Merrills and Quattros. Hopefully one of them will chime in here.

Good luck with your decision.

Mike