Sigma SD15: Do you have one / much use?

Hello...

Just curious, do you have one, and how often do you use it?

Any photos to share, from it?

Thanks for your time,

Have a nice day...

Ed

I have an SD15, it's a nice DSLR, easy to handle, produces good files, nice color. I don't shoot with it as often as I should, mainly because its sensor is lower resolution than the Merrill sensor cameras. Its sensor is like the original DP generation.

I have 2 albums on Flickr specific to the SD15. The most recent is here

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandyfleischmann/albums/72177720301398366

Added: the earlier larger album


Ill be glad to answer any questions I can about the SD15.

ELSOK4ME said:

Hello...

Just curious, do you have one, and how often do you use it?

Any photos to share, from it?

Thanks for your time,

Have a nice day...

Ed

Click to expand...

ELSOK4ME,

I have one and use it with the 18-50mm f2.8 lens. I use it whenever I do not want the much larger files from the SD1M & the Quattros.

Two Straight out of the camera Jpegs, no processing.




St Mary's Anglican Cathedral Limerick




Carved out of a dead tree.

Ed and Ceistinne, Re file sizes, I might mention I've made quite nice large prints from that era SD15/ DP generation (non Merrill) sensor.

I'm just one of those people who want the most Foveon MPs as possible, as I often crop photos. Examples, Honolulu shoreline from a boat, cliff dwellings across a canyon... Even the Merrill cameras aren't really high enough MP. Quattro generation sensor has the most Foveon MPs to date, just about on the file size and detail of my 50MP Bayer Canon 5DS.

SandyF said:

Ed and Ceistinne, Re file sizes, I might mention I've made quite nice large prints from that era SD15/ DP generation (non Merrill) sensor.

I'm just one of those people who want the most Foveon MPs as possible, as I often crop photos. Examples, Honolulu shoreline from a boat, cliff dwellings across a canyon... Even the Merrill cameras aren't really high enough MP. Quattro generation sensor has the most Foveon MPs to date, just about on the file size and detail of my 50MP Bayer Canon 5DS.

Click to expand...

SandyF,

I print A4 (International) from all my Sigmas, occasionally A3 or A3 Plus. They are all capable of making prints up to A3 Plus. In fact for speed of use I use the Quattros on Low Res unless I know that I will need to crop severely. The low res helps greatly with speed of processing too on my "ancient" PC.

S

Here is one...printed 20x30:







--
It is a tough job living in Hawaii but somebody has to do it.
---

Ceistinne said:

SandyF said:

Ed and Ceistinne, Re file sizes, I might mention I've made quite nice large prints from that era SD15/ DP generation (non Merrill) sensor.

I'm just one of those people who want the most Foveon MPs as possible, as I often crop photos. Examples, Honolulu shoreline from a boat, cliff dwellings across a canyon... Even the Merrill cameras aren't really high enough MP. Quattro generation sensor has the most Foveon MPs to date, just about on the file size and detail of my 50MP Bayer Canon 5DS.

Click to expand...

SandyF,

I print A4 (International) from all my Sigmas, occasionally A3 or A3 Plus. They are all capable of making prints up to A3 Plus. In fact for speed of use I use the Quattros on Low Res unless I know that I will need to crop severely. The low res helps greatly with speed of processing too on my "ancient" PC.

S

Click to expand...

A3+ is about 13x19 inches, for US readers... I've home printed slightly larger too, I forget offhand from which cameras.

I'm in the process of photographing my old 70-200mm lens (with the SD15!). Then also I'll put up some photos taken Sunday with the SDQ+that 70-200mm as soon as I get them onto my computer.

Here's a photo taken WITH the SD15 + 17-70mm OS lens OF the Sigma SD Quattro with the 70-200mm lens attached. I'll put up some photos taken with the SDQ + 70-200mm on the 70-200 thread per request, when I get them onto my computer.

Light green sofa in front of daylight window,, shot RAW hand-held daylight wb processed standard colormode no adj of color slight adj of sliders as in my normal RAW. The 70-200mm is too heavy for me to use routinely. The SD15 battery was dead when I took out the camera, I didn't check the date after I put in a fresh battery, so the 2010 date is wrong.



processing

PS look at that on/off switch. Maybe this beast of a lens is stabilized?? Anyone? I shot hand-held with it off. Working on processing some photos now.

Yes, I like that the files can be read by LR as well as in SPP. It’s a simple to use camera which I also like. It’s the camera I tend to want to pick up and use.

ELSOK4ME said:

Hello...

Just curious, do you have one, and how often do you use it?

Click to expand...

Had one and used it quite often.

One point is that it has the Analog Front End: so no extra headroom for shots >ISO 100.

ELSOK4ME said:

Any photos to share, from it?

Click to expand...

Street shot:



Evening with dustcover removed:



HTH. :-D

Yes that has been the biggest issue for it.

SandyF said:

Here's a photo taken WITH the SD15 + 17-70mm OS lens OF the Sigma SD Quattro with the 70-200mm lens attached. I'll put up some photos taken with the SDQ + 70-200mm on the 70-200 thread per request, when I get them onto my computer.

Light green sofa in front of daylight window,, shot RAW hand-held daylight wb processed standard colormode no adj of color slight adj of sliders as in my normal RAW. The 70-200mm is too heavy for me to use routinely. The SD15 battery was dead when I took out the camera, I didn't check the date after I put in a fresh battery, so the 2010 date is wrong.



processing

Click to expand...

SandyF,

Thank you for posting. I am very pleased to know that that lens Auto Focuses perfectly on the sd Quattros. I must keep an eye out for one at a decent price somewhere in the EU.

S

xpatUSA said:

ELSOK4ME said:

Hello...

Just curious, do you have one, and how often do you use it?

Click to expand...

Had one and used it quite often.

One point is that it has the Analog Front End: so no extra headroom for shots >ISO 100.

xpatUSA said:

Any photos to share, from it?

Click to expand...

Street shot:



Evening with dustcover removed:



HTH. :-D

Click to expand...

What is / does " Analog Front End " (mean) ?

Advantages / Disadvantages?

See my Flickr photostream for some photos taken with the 70-200mm EX APO HSM. I'm still puzzled as to whether this model has stabilization or not. It has an on/off switch on the side whose function I don't understand, if not being stabilization.


Outdoors it snapped into focus quite readily. The only time it did not was when I was trying to take photos of the boys' sandbox at 70mm from too close to the sandbox, which I call the dinosaur sand quarry!

Best regards, Sandy

ELSOK4ME said:

xpatUSA said:

ELSOK4ME said:

Hello...

Just curious, do you have one, and how often do you use it?

Click to expand...

Had one and used it quite often.

One point is that it has the Analog Front End: so no extra headroom for shots >ISO 100.

Click to expand...

What is / does " Analog Front End " (mean) ?

Click to expand...

In the beginning, Sigma digital cameras connected the three sensor outputs directly*** to each channel Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). Therefore if the sensor exposure was low, so were the three sensor outputs and so was their ADC raw data written to the card.

With that simple system, setting ISO to 400 would result in 1/4 of sensor exposure. That would be a dark image unless something was done. The ISO setting for a raw image was embedded in the X3F and SPP would brighten the raw data by 400/100 i.e. X4. Because the sensor was underexposed to 25% that left 75% "headroom" to accommodate very bright (specular) scene highlights (think sunlit motorcycle metalwork).

But, starting with the SD15***, the brightening for ISO was applied onboard in the camera by a Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA), one before each ADC. So for 400 ISO, the PGAs were told to multiply the under-exposed sensor signals X4. That means no headroom any more: with specular highlights possibly maxing out the ADCs at any ISO setting.

*** namely SD15, DP1x, DP2x and all Quattros ... not Merrills though.

ELSOK4ME said:

Advantages / Disadvantages?

Click to expand...

Advantage is for Sigma because an AFE is single chip either three-channel or four-channel (think Bayer) giving less board space and probably lower power drain.

Disadvantage is for Users who can not understand why they can get raw data clipping even at high ISO settings.

When I had an SD15, which is otherwise excellent, I rarely shot anything at other than ISO 100.

*** I say "directly" for the sake of simplicity - there may well be a buffer amplifier between a sensor output and an ADC input.

Hope this helps, Ed!

Sandy, I think that your sigma 70-200mm lens does not have optical stabilization. The lens with the OS looks like this.

Peter

You're correct, Peter, it doesn't look the same, but then for what purpose could the on/off switch serve?

Sandy, in your picture of the camera with the lens, I only see a switch for AF (autofocus) and M (manual focus). Is this what you mean?

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