Before we decided to post this, we did a little bit of research and confirmed it to be true. Sigma’s DP line of point and shoots such as the DP1, DP2 and DP3 Merrill have been hacked by the Chinese to use an M Mount. We first heard about this via Mirrorless Rumors, and it is indeed real. There are some more images of the hack in this Google translated forum and a company is charging to do it for users.
So what does this mean? Well first off, this is one of the most exciting pieces of news that we’ve heard in a while. Sigma’s Foveon sensor is actually quite good if you can think of it as a Hasselblad Medium format camera–which means that you need to use proprietary software to get the best results and that the ISO range isn’t up to par with others. In this way, you could probably call it the closest thing to a Mamiya 7 II in terms of digital formats–but many of us who have used that camera know that nothing could ever touch it.
But the bigger question is why isn’t Sigma doing this themselves? Back at CES, I spoke with the President of the company–and his desk (he doesn’t have an office) is in the same area as the engineers. But I really wonder what he’s thinking, and am confident he’s reading this and looking at it with great curiosity
Today, Sigma has announced the price of their new DP3 digital camera. For just under $1,000 smackaroos, you too can own a fixed lens compact camera with a 50mm f2.8 lens.
Sound a bit crazy to you? Not really when you consider how much Sigma is embracing what the Foveon sensor can do at both low ISO settings and high ISO settings (with their new Photo Pro software.) We had some play time with the camera at CES–and we actually liked it quite a bit.
Granted, there are other things that I’d personally spend $1,000 on.
Sigma’s DP3 was just announced at CES 2013. The new camera once again Sigma’s Foveon sensor technology and finds a way to differentiate itself from the other DP camera models. What’s so different about this camera is the fact that there is a 50mm f2.8 lens permanently attached to it: rendering the field of view to 75mm.
In my original news post, I bashed this a bit. And then, I tried it.
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CES 2013 is bringing some interesting new products as well as some that make us yawn. And while Sigma is doing the whole point and shoot bandwagon thing, they’re creating yet another addition to their DP line. The new DP3 is a addition to the lineup that sports a fixed 50mm f2.8 lens. Wait, what?! Yes; a camera with a 75mm field of view, 7fps shooting, and what the company claims to be an advanced user interface in front of that APS-C sized sensor.
Sigma states that this completes the trio with the DP1 having a 19mm (28mm field of view), DP2 having 30mm (45mm field of view) and the DP3 having a 50mm (75mm) field of view: suggesting that they recommend that you to purchase all three cameras.
But that’s not all, hit the jump for more.
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