Sigma Endless and Forever

Innocentius wrote:

Joris1632 wrote:

AdamT wrote:

It just seems to me that a lot of photographers, people that I  to be very talented, greatly prefer the SD14 to just about everything else.

Which is bizarre because it was the worst camera Sigma ever made , the numerous design and build issues plagued users until they finally fixed it with the SD15 .. even the almost prototype-like SD9 had far less issues than the SD14 . One SD14 I had , after soldering wires inside the base to beef up the battery supply feed wasn't too bad but it would still corrupt files if you even thought of doing anything while it was writing to card .

I've had 2. With the first had problems as you describe. Liked the images very much so bought a second. Same problems ........

Have one SD14, it crashes sometimes. But this camera almost seems to be made for the 18-200 Sigma Lens. Still produces fine images, especially landscape stitched

So I'm unlucky or you're lucky?  Or both?    I just want to enjoy life and not have to worry about my camera disagreeing with my philosophy. 

Cheers,

mike earussi wrote:

Best in that it was the only camera that ever produced absolutely noise free skies and shadows when shot at iso 50. Once the shot was color balanced up it produced the cleanest clearest photos I've ever had.

Worse in build quality (one brand new body had the mirror fall out after a few weeks use), horrible AF and MF as the mirror wasn't aligned accurately enough to even MF, every shot had to be color balanced to remove that strong yellow/green cast, very slow processing time, etc.

My hope is that the new FF body will have the clean zero noise look of the SD14 with none of its flaws. We'll see.

Ditto, all around for the SD14! Heartily concur.

Frequently a lot of work getting the colour to avoid that "No Man's Sky"/expired Polaroid T59 film look, but most of the time worth the effort in the end.

The 'cleanest' is so true. 95% of my images shot at ISO50, and usually needed zero noise removal, zero sharpening (and not just via Sigma's SPP software). Upscaled flawlessly every time. Still in awe, when reopening RAWs many years since taken.

Flipside: sooooo many hangs/lockups & lost images, occasional glitches. Some focus challenges too. I won't sell it though. Of all cameras, it has earned a special place.

Innocentius wrote:

Joris1632 wrote:

Innocentius wrote:

Joris1632 wrote:

AdamT wrote:

It just seems to me that a lot of photographers, people that I to be very talented, greatly prefer the SD14 to just about everything else.

Which is bizarre because it was the worst camera Sigma ever made , the numerous design and build issues plagued users until they finally fixed it with the SD15 .. even the almost prototype-like SD9 had far less issues than the SD14 . One SD14 I had , after soldering wires inside the base to beef up the battery supply feed wasn't too bad but it would still corrupt files if you even thought of doing anything while it was writing to card .

I've had 2. With the first had problems as you describe. Liked the images very much so bought a second. Same problems ........

Have one SD14, it crashes sometimes. But this camera almost seems to be made for the 18-200 Sigma Lens. Still produces fine images, especially landscape stitched

So I'm unlucky or you're lucky? Or both? I just want to enjoy life and not have to worry about my camera disagreeing with my philosophy.

Cheers,

I admit, I have had times that the camera only beeped and needed a cold restart several times which drained the battery, and many potential good shots where lost. Pinned this down to the CF card, switching CF card does help.

Come to think of it, my DP1X is sometimes a bit headstrong too... Only my Fuji comes near with reliability issues, the other cameras just soldier on. Must say my beloved DP3M always delivers.

Yes!, I'm on my third DP3M, my first and still favorite Sigma. Went to SD*/ dpQ for longer focal lengths and I'm praying the upcoming FF 1:1:1 will be affordable (for me) . Used DPMs are increasingly rare and expensive ...  c'est la vie .......

mike earussi wrote:

I've owned four bodies, and it's both the best and worse Sigma camera I ever had.

Best in that it was the only camera that ever produced absolutely noise free skies and shadows when shot at iso 50. Once the shot was color balanced it produced the cleanest clearest photos I've ever had.

https://pbase.com/mikeearussi/sd14_iso_50

Worse in build quality (one brand new body had the mirror fall out after a few weeks use), horrible AF and MF as the mirror wasn't aligned accurately enough to even MF (when I complained to a Sigma repair tech about the misaligned mirror he told me that the mirror was just to aid in composition , not to be used for focus, but if the AF isn't accurate either then what do you do?).

Plus every shot had to be color balanced to remove that strong yellow/green cast. Add to that the very slow processing time and you have a real PITA camera body.

The SD15 fixed most of these problems (the AF still sucked) but at the expense of adding a lot of noise to the picture.

My hope is that the new FF body will have the clean zero noise look of the SD14 with none of its flaws. We'll see.

Over the years I have read accounts like yours above. I know it is a bit mad to be even discussing a 12 year old digital camera, but I have never had had any of what you describe except the occasional stuck writing to card problem which necessitates popping the batt out and rebooting the camera. Other than that, I have had rock solid performance within the capabilities of camera. And, I must admit that my determined affection and long use of the SD14 as made me both more capable of dealing with its quirks, and too less aware of them.

I made the picture below two days ago as a red channel test to discuss with a friend. The green cast along the right edge is curtesy of the attached 55 year old lens.

SD14 DWB 400ISO SPP352 minimal edits handheld at f2.8

xpatUSA wrote:

Joris1632 wrote:

Innocentius wrote:

Joris1632 wrote:

Innocentius wrote:

Joris1632 wrote:

AdamT wrote:

It just seems to me that a lot of photographers, people that I to be very talented, greatly prefer the SD14 to just about everything else.

Which is bizarre because it was the worst camera Sigma ever made , the numerous design and build issues plagued users until they finally fixed it with the SD15 .. even the almost prototype-like SD9 had far less issues than the SD14 . One SD14 I had , after soldering wires inside the base to beef up the battery supply feed wasn't too bad but it would still corrupt files if you even thought of doing anything while it was writing to card .

I've had 2. With the first had problems as you describe. Liked the images very much so bought a second. Same problems ........

Have one SD14, it crashes sometimes. But this camera almost seems to be made for the 18-200 Sigma Lens. Still produces fine images, especially landscape stitched

So I'm unlucky or you're lucky? Or both? I just want to enjoy life and not have to worry about my camera disagreeing with my philosophy.

Cheers,

I admit, I have had times that the camera only beeped and needed a cold restart several times which drained the battery, and many potential good shots where lost. Pinned this down to the CF card, switching CF card does help.

Come to think of it, my DP1X is sometimes a bit headstrong too... Only my Fuji comes near with reliability issues, the other cameras just soldier on. Must say my beloved DP3M always delivers.

Yes!, I'm on my third DP3M, my first and still favorite Sigma. <>

May I ask why you like the DP3M as opposed to the other DPs, George?

OT, but I'm sticking with the DP2M because of the normal angle of view - already sold several DP1's mainly because of the wider angle ...

Simply? -  the focal length.  I never want/need to shoot WA,  I'm  happy with the crop factor of the sdQ v sdQ-H .