DP1 Quattro tips for first time Sigma owner?

stefbuckle said:

Ok so a bkit overwhelmed.

Any advice on getting best out of this camera?

I know its iso 100 except b/w, focussing is an adventure to say the least

S

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stefbuckle,

It should be good for landscape, architectural photography. Excellent at ISO 100 but I would have no problem going ISO 640 with it as long as there is some daylight. I would use daylight WB mostly or Auto WB in mixed indoor light.

I do not have dp1 Q but I'm sure it's much the same as the dp2 Q that I use. I have never had any focusing issues it.

S

stefbuckle said:

Ok so a bkit overwhelmed.

Any advice on getting best out of this camera?

I know its iso 100 except b/w, focussing is an adventure to say the least

S

Click to expand...

I'm guessing you chose a Sigma to get better image quality. In that vein I suggest a tripod. Tripods aren't always necessary, of course, but they are the best way to hold a camera steady at ISO 100 most of the time, and they are pretty much essential for dim light shooting. If you already have one, try shooting from your tripod with manual focus. You may find you like that better. I believe the manual focus feature on the dp series cameras works pretty well, once you get used to it. I've heard those little fixed-lens cameras have reasonably good auto-focus though. I guess it depends on what you're used to. Whether they are "good" or something else depends on your perspective. I'd guess you might find it to be pretty slow. That's what the focus in my medium format Fuji GFX100 is too - slow . . . but not as slow as the focus in my Sigma SD Quattro H. My Nikon D810 is relatively fast at focusing, but it's a DSLR, so it's a different beast.

Your Sigma dp1 Quattro should be able to focus pretty well in auto-focus mode, but you may have trouble with getting infinity when you want it (I can imagine it focusing on something closer than infinity), and you may find it focusing on a wall of a distant house, rather than the gates you are trying to get in focus (or vice-versa). I have such problems with cameras that aren't great at focusing, and you just have to get used to how the camera focuses, and deal with it. Often I would use my first SD Quattro H in manual focus mode, but I had mostly old lenses then, which didn't work really well on the newer mirrorless Quattros. These days I have a lot of newer Art lenses, so I use auto-focus mode more often. For example, this morning I went out shooting with my 40mm f1.4 Art, and I only manual focused a handful of shots. Most of my shots today were done with auto-focus, and most of them were focused properly.

Good luck S.

Foveon loves light, so I use a flash a lot with my dp2 Quattro. Both a small Metz 20 C-2 manual flash and a Sigma EF-630 which I also shoot in manual, bounced against ceiling or wall.

For in-camera JPEGs, make sure to set Sharpness to -1.0 in your color mode of choice (mine is Portrait) to avoid artifacts.

stefbuckle said:

Ok so a bkit overwhelmed.

Any advice on getting best out of this camera?

I know its iso 100 except b/w, focussing is an adventure to say the least

S

Click to expand...

Hi S, pls see my comments in the fpL thread Re: fp L with new Pana 28-200: Sigma Camera Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Same goes for shooting dp x Quattros and dp x Merrills really. Shoot X3F+JPEG, process at least initially in Sigma's software. I'll keep my dp Quattro camera at auto ISO within tight parameters, I recall ISO100-400. If ISO100 results in too slow a hand-holding shutter speed, I'll gently set and gently raise my ISO, often ISO160. Metering mode depending upon the scene and how tricky the highlights may be. I've always used one spot metering, but I usually don't shoot fast moving objects, although I can and have (grandkids) usually by tight pre-focus rather than chasing them around with auto focus. I usually shoot P mode but will very often "stop down" ie manually change my aperture, usually selecting a smaller aperture (higher f/stop#) than what the camera often "chooses" depending upon the depth of field I wish to achieve. I'll set an exposure compensation (EV change) as seems needed.

I don't go along with the negative sharpening school-of-thought. I like sharp, crispy photos, so I'll keep sharpening around the default that the camera and SPP software give.

For indoor use, I'll go with the little Sigma flash designed for the Merrill and Quattro cameras.

I’ve got the dp0Q. I only use iso 100. Shoot X3i files and process in Sigma SPP ( free) to make tif files and then process these to jpegs . I use LightRoom.

Focusing will be fine in auto. I bracket three exposures as the camera will happily clip highlights. I tend to use EV -0.3, 0, -0.7.

SFD mode is good but needs a tripod

buy a big external hard drive

Best tip ive been given here when it comes to quattros is to use Affinity photo. It gives a very neutral image. SPP cooks it too much imo.

Portrait color mode, detail slider down a few points and sharpness down 1 or 2 works too, but I often found that it looks too orange in the yellows. Ymvv!

I don't have a Quattro but I found with my DP1 and DP2M is that it is very important to avoid camera movement. These cameras are so sharp that any camera movement at all affects the picture. I rarely use a tripod but I have developed several ways to steady my cameras using my body. I put on the neck strap and hold the camera out so the tension on the strap steadies it. I also have a viewer so with it mounted on the camera I can press it against my face to steady it. I also hold it against trees or walls if convenient.

With my DP2M if I turn the camera on with the focus set to auto, it will turn on with the lens at infinity. I then turn it to manual to hold that focus. That is useful if you are shooting stars, actually possible with these cameras because they respond well to long shutter speeds. That trick may also work with your Quattro.

Jan

jande9 said:

I don't have a Quattro but I found with my DP1 and DP2M is that it is very important to avoid camera movement. These cameras are so sharp that any camera movement at all affects the picture. I rarely use a tripod but I have developed several ways to steady my cameras using my body. I put on the neck strap and hold the camera out so the tension on the strap steadies it. I also have a viewer so with it mounted on the camera I can press it against my face to steady it. I also hold it against trees or walls if convenient.

With my DP2M if I turn the camera on with the focus set to auto, it will turn on with the lens at infinity. I then turn it to manual to hold that focus. That is useful if you are shooting stars, actually possible with these cameras because they respond well to long shutter speeds. That trick may also work with your Quattro.

Jan

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I find that on occasion the "camera movement" occurs when pressing the shutter button, especially if using a slow/slower shutter speed (in order to keep the ISO at 100 +)

If the "situation" allows for it (static subject/landscape, etc.) I set the shutter to 2 sec. delay and hold the the camera steady with the composition that I like and let the camera fire the shutter 2 sec. after I push the shutter button.

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Quattros and Merrills DPx takes silghly different kinds of pictures. Merrill sensor gets both crispy micro details and great ambiant-light rendering, it's known to like good lighted scenes but also covered autumn skys... very impressionistic. Shooting with Merrill is teadious or fragile but gives astonishing results when "right on".

Quattros gets sharp details as well, but with better defined colors —like combining the good sides of Canon & Sony's sensors. Color separation is amazing. So instead of lowering sharpness I'll advice to lower saturation. Quattro sensors do good on their own in many situations -so just concentrate on framing...

AF is good enough for rapid shooting as well as for a first positioning to complete manually. The main thing to get used to, &/or configure buttons for, is the enlargement the cam gives you to fine tune your focus. The 8x enlargement start either with any move on the lens ring Or with a dedicated button (which I prefer).

On the SPP software, there is a small learning curve, and the noise reduction options on the left panel needs full testing to give desired smoother or crispier images. Take SPP step as a pre-ACR like dematricing : the idea is to keep all the data in good shape for further post-prod. Also, following your work-flow, take notice how both ends of the spectrogram given in SPP come out on the software you use to futher process the Tiff SPP gives.

Anyway it's a beautiful cam with a beautiful angle of view. Congrats !

Lots of good advice but no response. Classic internet or too busy to reply ..

If there is one tip that I'd give you as first time DPQ shooter is DON'T CLIP THE HIGHLIGHTS, there is very very little headroom for recovery in them, as most of the sensor's dynamic range is in the shadows, so if in doubt, just tend to underexpose a bit in high contrast situations.

It's basically the opposite I do with the Merrrils, which have almost zero tolerance to underexposure but recover highlights pretty well up to almost a couple of stops.

Personally I tend to like Quattro's colors much more, and with proper processing, pictures can look as crispy as the Merrill ones, if you like that look.