Sigma DP2 Image Quality: The Wow Factor Sigma DP2 vs. DSLR: Image Quality Comparison

More Thoughts on the Sigma DP2

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Posted by Patrick on Jun 18, 2009 in Cameras

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Well, I’ve got a couple of outings under my belt now with the Sigma DP2 and three things are very clear:

The DP2 takes very, very good pictures. Better than any compact I’ve seen or used.
The LCD of the DP2 in no way, shape or form is adequate enough for image analysis.
The DP2 is not to be thought of a “point and shoot”.

On the image quality, I find it quite captivating. The images are very inticing, there’s something about them I can’t put my finger on. There is a color shift to the green/blue side of things in some photos, but like a lot of things, there can be beauty in certain “flaws”, and whatever might be wrong with the DP2 images is in fact quite right to me. It’s all subjective though. The detail isn’t subjective, and the lens on the DP2 is sharp, very sharp and though I’d heard some AF complaints in other coverage, I’m finding it to be quite good, or rather effective. Press the shutter halfway, and there’s quite a bit of noise, and it takes about a second for AF confirmation. You won’t be using it for sports, but it’d be an odd choice for that type of work anyway.

The problem comes with the DP2’s LCD. It’s of the 230K variety, but seems sub-par even relative to other 230K LCDs. It’s not very bright, easily consumed by outdoor light, and shows a rather poor rendition of your subject. On playback, you get very little to no sense of what you captured, in fact you might be a bit disappointed if you never got the images home and opened on the computer. I’m guessing the image you see is a JPEG rendition of the captured raw file, but it typically looks very under saturated with little contrast. In the field you basically have to trust your experience, and the live histogram, and let the LCD serve for composition purposes only.

When you get the files on your computer, you’ll be using Sigma’s Photo Pro to develop the images. Open one up and you get that lifeless JPEG rendition from the LCD, but in a couple of moments, Photo Pro completes it’s magic, and presto, you’ve got a stunning image. The files typically need very little tweaking, they look that good straight from the camera, but Photo Pro is very tuned into making the DP2 images look really amazing with very minor tweaks. I keep wanting to take photos of just about anything to see just how they actually turn out.

Which leads me to the third point. I think it’s really important to emphasize the DP2 should not be thought of as a point and shoot, it doesn’t have that type of feature set or hand-holding. But if you’re a photographer, familiar with P, A, S, and Manual shooting modes you’ll have no problems. Then it’s just a matter of accepting the confines of the DP2, the fixed length lens, the LCD, etc. If you can find your picture, the DP2 can capture it in a strikingly beautiful fashion.

A few more samples, a composed shot, a couple of “snapshots”, a couple of landscapes, and a black and white from Photo Pro. You can click each image for a larger view, but you’ll really want to check out the original size link below each image for actual results.