Gvie up on SD1? Pentax K-1/ar7ii? Need advice.

There's these things mentioned by Ted:

1) NO color aliasing:

http://kronometric.org/phot/sensor/fov/Color_Alias_White_Paper_FinalHiRes.pdf

2) The SD1 Merrill correctly processed in SPP is well-endowed with acutance, some say too much.

3) Just pop out the dust-cover, slap an IR filter on the lens - and IR photography is ready and waiting.

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I'll add that the Merrill sensor does monochrome very well (full spectrum or color > B&W).

If you are going to experiment with actual IR photography, the Merrill sensor will be better than a Quattro sensor. But, still not the same a IR with a Bayer camera.

To add to (3) above, it is possible to do full spectrum photography when the dust protector is removed, but no IR filter is on the lens. These images will be red, but Sigma Photo Pro takes care of that.

I have found camera metering to be spotty in full spectrum or IR mode unless the viewfinder is covered. Maybe it's just me or my camera.

The dust protector is still available new from Sigma.

The SD1/M can use most of, if not all of, Sigma lenses without issue.

The not so good?

No live view.

Limited number of AF points.

Besides the limited number of AF points, the AF capabilities of this camera do not match a Rebel Canon from the same era.

Focusing using the viewfinder? Good luck. Unless you have really excellent vision or are doing macro stuff on a tripod (besides the difficulty of manually focusing most lenses designed for auto focus with their limited focus throw).

If you happen to like full spectrum/IR and want to "go back" to color, nothing works as well as the OEM Sigma dust protector, making lens hot mirrors not a good choice.

I don't know anything about Pentax cameras, and only a little more about Sony.

There are a number of Quattro haters on this forum...

With the exception of a limited number of specific uses where a case can be made for a Merril or earlier Foveon sensor (mainly IR), the Quattro sensor, in my opinion, still delivers something that takes a 50mp+ Bayer based camera to equal. Foveon/Quattro can be enlarged more than Bayer because of Bayer edge detail losses- at least when comparing to Bayer sensor cameras at 50mp or lower.

I prefer the colors out of the box from a Quattro over Merrill.

Apparently, a Quattro camera can be set in low res mode to mimic a SD14/15 1:1:1 image.

The Quattro cameras have live view, with magnification for manual focusing. Custom white balance, monochrome viewfinder and more.

Many, many more autofocus points than any other Sigma camera with interchangeable lenses.

Super Fine Detail mode (as useful as Pixel Shift on a windy day).

The bad?

Poor to no autofocus outside of the Global Vision lens family. While autofocus accuracy is much better than the SD1/M, it still is not fast in acquiring lock and then attaining focus compared to many other cameras.

Battery life- a penalty of live view and tiny batteries.

If you do not want to exchange your SD1/M for another one, I'd suggest looking at the replacement model if you want to stay with Sigma cameras, a sdQ or sdH model.

Otherwise, many more lenses can be adapted to Sony.