Probably the best camera in the world for some scenarios

CallMeAlan wrote:

xpatUSA wrote:

CallMeAlan wrote:

Well said. I pretty much agree with all your findings.

I bought a dp0q brand new a few months go and was shocked rigid at how good the output was, and almost immediately thereafter I picked up an almost new dp2q. I love them both to bits and still can't believe the quality of the photographs it produces. I'm primarily landscape and general scenery.

The downside of these, and all Foveon cameras, is file format. Do I go DNG and Capture One / LightRoom? Or do I go X3F and struggle with SPP and take TIFFs across? I've played extensively with both routes, and still don't know if I'm getting the best the cameras can offer.

Why not shoot some targets?

For color, shoot a color-patch target such as the 24-patch X-rite Macbeth? Each patch has a defined color which you can compare to your C1/LR's color-picker and thereby determine color accuracy.

For resolution, shoot a slant-edge, and compare edge-spread response with a suitable application. There are a few, ranging from free (ImageJ with a plug-in) to bloody expensive (Imatest).

Well, I could, but really at present I'm basing my views on subjective 'goodness' of my results in real-world clicking.

Nothing wrong with that, as long we account for the compensating effects of human vision.

Something deep inside me niggles away saying that DNG isn't as 'good' as X3F, but at the same time I wonder if I'm making the right adjustments (or no adjustments?) with SPP. It's fun experimenting though.

You're on the right track with 'no adjustments', IMHO. Well, perhaps 'minimal' ?

I try my hardest to set just the so-called 'exposure' slider to correct minor actual exposure errors and just the sharpness slider for less-than-perfect capture sharpness. I try to avoid the easy temptation of 'Fill Light' but don't always succeed.

Then off in 16-bit ProPhoto TIFF to my favorite editor which beats SPP on just about every front.

Adobe pushes DNG as a replacement for proprietary raw files. Would you "correctly" dump the raws, or save both your raw AND your DNG files?

Remember that the Foveon DNG is a version known as 'Linear' - it has been said that not every editor can open those ...

I use SPP simply as an X3F to TIFF converter and zero all sliders and options. TBH I find SPP so slow to reflect adjustments that I just do the TIFF export and go for a cup of coffee or three while it deliberates. Then I'm into Lightroom or sometimes Capture One. I have a lot invested in LR, not only the Adobe subscription but a Behringer X-Touch Compact to drive it so I want to use those investments! LR does of course handle Sigma DNGs, but, as you say, they're linear, so I wonder if LR can get the best from them.

Can't help you there, my computer is Adobe-free ...

Your mention of ProPhoto for TIFFs is interesting. Must look into that.

Just so's we're clear - I have the working color space in SPP set to sRGB (I don't print and I don't have a "wide gamut" monitor). I export in ProPhoto only because that is the native working color space of my serious editor (RawTherapee).

If I'm exporting to FastStone Viewer for less serious or for just illustrative work, then I go 8-bit sRGB TIFF ...