User Review on DP2M (Is it a poor man Sony A7, resolution wise?)

Background

Experience with DP2M: 50 Days, 1200 shoots

Photography Experience: Amature, 12 years, 70% digital , 30% film , 35mm to 8x10 view camera.

Other Digital Cameras ownership: Canon 40D, Sony A350 , Samsung NX300

My road to my purchase of DP2 Merrill:

As a slide film shooter , I have always intrigued by some of images produced by Sigma cameras for being so much slide film alike. But then when I looked at A/B comparison shoots available on internet, between Sigma's and other major brands' , the difference seems insignificant to my eyes, especially when one is not pixel peering. Being a Sigma's photos follower, I of course know too much about its short coming, in terms of control, shadow colour shift and notorious SSP software.

Back in March, I planned myself a 12 days tour to Kazakhstan, wanting to capture the less traveled landscape. Initially, I was thinking to take along my Canon 40D (and possibly make a new purchase of 6D or 5DIII )system together with my Ebony 4x5 view camera. After learning that their airline would only offer 20kg luggage allowance and that I would also spend 3-4 days on horse back together with some hike in the mountains, I knew I need to get something much lighter.

I seriously considered Sony A7, although it is within my budget, but I still rejected the idea because when I take a camera to hostile condition from Rain, desert storm, bumpy ride, etc. I prefer to use my camera without much reserve , to a point that I do not mind it being damaged or even lost. Sigma DM2 Merrill ($500 USD brand new )seems to fit very well to this task.

Along with this DP2M , I have also purchased a Samsung NX300 with 18-55mm kit lens ($420USD) , 12-24mm( $220USD used) , 45mm 1.8mm ( $200USD used) , MD-NX adaptor ($30USD) for my Minolta MD 85mm 1.7 lens & 70-200mm (already own)

Review:

I made around 100 test shots with my DP2M before my trip, operation wise, I don't have any new input to share.(I have bought 4 spares batteries) I do have something to say about picture IQ and post processing. The tediously slow SSP software would crash every 15-30 pictures. ( computer i7-920 with 6GB Ram, video card with 2GB ram). When playing with my trial shoots , I was patience enough to use SSP to tune every single pictures to their best before exporting as TIFF 16 Bit to ligthroom for a final touch. However when i came back from my trip with 300 plus X3F files, it would take way too long to process them with SSP. First, I would have to create many folders and allocate around 60 shots in each of the, so the SSP could render the preview with a reasonable time (15 sec for 30 pictures , 52 sec for 112 files, i have just timed) Anyway, with so many files, I have given up on Using SSP, and only use it to batch process X3F to convert them to TIFF 16bits to be worked with other software.

So is there still a place for SSP? I think if you work with LR only, you might miss the X3 fill light from SSP that gives a HDR look to the picture. However, I work with "perfect effect 8.0" plugin with LR with gives similar effect with more control. Some people argue that X3F file's white balance can only be perfectly corrected with SSP, but I haven't found this to be the case, LR served my very well, even with eliminating the green cast in X3 file's shadow. But you have to bear in mind that I have not done any serious test to justify my claims.

Picture IQ, I share the same views with most users that in the sharpness department it is excellent, tests shown it is close or equal to Nikon's D800E or Sony A7. However, like some have reported, DP2M is "too sharp" for portrait, for my experience, I suspect Sigma's X3F file is not a true RAW file, rather it has preset software sharpness into in when you set sharpness level at 0. I mean when I shoot a portrait with 8x10 Fujifilm RDP III, yes, i might choose to use a softer portrait lens, however, even with tac sharp lens, nothing can be too sharp to a point that one would feel it is unrealistic and artificial, which the Simga X3F files sometimes are. Therefore, I think Sigma has cheated on this , what do you think?

Conclusion

So , I have treated my DP2M as a disposable Sony A7, which means if money were nothing for me, I would have gone Sony route instead. That being said, this Sigma product served me very well, and I am very glad that this product existed, as there seems to be no similar offer at this price point. The tedious Post processing work wtih X3F file reminds of me of film scanning, and whenever I need to change battery after around 70 shoots, film cartridge reload come to my mind. Considering a roll of RDP III would set me back for $15 USD cheapest nowadays, DP2M offer seems great after all.

My DP2M album from this trip on flickr.

Velvet Man wrote:

However, like some have reported, DP2M is "too sharp" for portrait, for my experience, I suspect Sigma's X3F file is not a true RAW file, rather it has preset software sharpness into in when you set sharpness level at 0.

The X3F file is as RAW as they get. It's all about the defaults in Sigma Photo Pro, which appears to apply a bit of sharpening at level 0. You can compare with other software that supports X3F or even with SPP itself when used in B&W mode or when you select half size output file (in both cases the sharpness is more neutral).

Note that at low ISO and especially for portraits, you want to reduce Chroma NR to the lowest level. Its side effects add to the feeling of over-sharpening.

Flying with an Ebony? You certainly cover all bases.

Who knew Kazakhstan is such a beautiful country?  Nice pix!

Thanks everyone for the inputs especially tips on shooting portraits with X3F cameras.

In that blogpost the screencaps seem to show three adjusters in the noise reduction segment, I only see two on my SPP. Is he referring to an older version or am I doing something wrong?

Ah, yes, I clicked on a raw file that was colour in the SPP "library" but I had been doing some mono experimenting on it previously so it opened up as mono. Thanks.