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Sigma DP2 Merrill shots

gandolfi

Subscriber Member
Ceiling abstract, from Bury St Edmund's Cathedral today with the DP2M

Clap hands! Stamp your feet! Bangin' on the big bass drum! What a picture! What a photograph!

Must be the sensor.

Something odd about it though, tried looking upside down-was still odd.

Gandolfi.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Ceiling abstract, from Bury St Edmund's Cathedral today with the DP2M

Clap hands! Stamp your feet! Bangin' on the big bass drum! What a picture! What a photograph!

Must be the sensor.

Something odd about it though, tried looking upside down-was still odd.

Gandolfi.
Hi Gandolfi, know what you mean. The camera was pointing directly up, more or less, so the orientation is a matter of taste!

And it was on a tripod...pretty dark, those churches. Also being two dimentional, its not easy to see the top part is much higher than the bottom.

Quentin
 

woodmancy

Subscriber Member
:D
Ceiling abstract, from Bury St Edmund's Cathedral today with the DP2M

Clap hands! Stamp your feet! Bangin' on the big bass drum! What a picture! What a photograph!

Must be the sensor.

Something odd about it though, tried looking upside down-was still odd.

Gandolfi.
+1

Want to stop myself, but can't. Here goes . . .

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Sung it under that roof with a few hundred other teeny-boppers many years ago. This Merill is bringing back memories for me. Lets hope Quentin lays off the fish and chips . . We are moving closer to nowhere :D

Keith
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
Hi Quentin
Splendid!
I have a thought/wish, allow me to tell: I don't know how much pp. you do but I may doubt that I will be able to manage that. I guess I'm just a ordinary "slider-pusher" in C1. So I'm curious about if you could post some that has just got some "primitive pp.", sharpnes, saturation, clarity, brightnes. Just simple stuff. Or if any single colour is corrected, then tell.
Its just to cacht some sort of realistic picture of the game for my own part.
Best
Thorkil
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
:D
...

Sung it under that roof with a few hundred other teeny-boppers many years ago. This Merill is bringing back memories for me. Lets hope Quentin lays off the fish and chips . . We are moving closer to nowhere :D

Keith
It's not the fish and chips you need to be worried about, Keith... The Greene King brewery is in Bury, as I am sure you know, and they do a nice drop of ale..although I'd worry about your rendition of hymns if you tried the stuff first :ROTFL:

Thorkil, I do tend to do a fair bit of post processing when required. I will do a before and after if you like

Cheers
Quentin
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
One of the reasons for my visit to Bury, aparrt from wanting to see the Cathedral agian, was to push the DP2M to its limits as a medium format subsitute camera - bit extreme, but it got me thinking about possibly stitching images to further increase resolution / image size. No, its not a H4D-50, my usual weapon of choice, but its not that far off, and a heck of a lot more conveninet to carry

The following image of St Edmundsbury cathedral altar is a stich of 3 not particularly well aligned images, taken from left to right in manual mode, and stiched in PTGui.



Final image size after some perpective correction is 94mb, so about the equivalent to two standard DP2M images

A problem I have noticed is there is a tendancy in low light for the edges to go a bit green. This necesitates remedial action to correct.

It is also quite difficult to take such a small camera as seriously as this. You have to keep pinching yourself! You also might get dismissive looks from the large-DSLR-with-big-zoom-lens crowd :D
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
Thorkil, I do tend to do a fair bit of post processing when required. I will do a before and after if you like

Cheers
Quentin
Quentin, yes please, that I would like :)
Thorkil
(yes, one can see (some of the outstanding pp.), you are typical using different program also?, can you sketch the flow you use to do?, just a sketch)
 

Thorkil

Well-known member
That one, Quentin, the Cathedral, is just a mighty picture! Yes the medium/large format comes in mind.
Yes, you have to have a sign to put on your back "I AM a pro" when the DSLR's guyes have pity in their eyes and think, O lord, another poor father in law practicing for a wedding shot with his Instamatic...
Thorkil
 

scho

Well-known member
Oxalis blossoms. A 1200x1200 pixel crop at 100% resolution.



and another 1200x1200 pixel crop

 
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SlingBlade

New member
Man, these pics are killing me! The detail, the texture, the colors. Unbelievable. I had not even been considering the DP2M until stumbling upon this thread. I just got the Ricoh GXR/M to use as a travel setup but now I'm rethinking things. Ugh. Apparently sharpness is no problem across the frame, how about distortion for stitching? I see that you have been able to stitch, Quentin. Was that a chore at all?

Cheers,
Erik
(New to the forum, had to register just to reply to this thread. Great stuff)
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Re: Sigma DP2 Merrill - some conclusions

Having shot with the DP2M for the last couple of weeks, here is my thumbnail sketch of the good, bad and the ugly:

The Good

- Astonishing sharpness and micro detail, unprecedented in any similar camera I have used and exceeding by some margin the nominal 15mp spatial resolution of the Foveon sensor;

- the ability to interpolate to match or exceed higher resolution Bayer (mosaic) type sensors, approximating (in my tests) 28mp equivalency (maybe higher or lower depending on subject. As always, your mileage may and very probably will vary);

- Subtle differentiation of natural colours lending a fresh "veil has been lifted" appearance to images - the Foveon magic is in evidence here. Images just look "right"

- Superb class leading 30mm lens, with almost no CA, and outstanding resolution from center to edge;

- Simple minimalist design and easy menu system.

- tough metal construction

The bad (and ugly rolled in to one)

- Poor, under developed, raw software. Does the basics well enough, but no curves function, for example, and frequent crashes (on my Windows machine). Tendency to blocked shadows.

- Not good above 400 ISO, where noise becomes an issue;

- Some vertical fine "banding" sometimes seen in areas of even colour such as the sky. There is a lot of noise (excuse the pun) about this on some forums. My take is that the issue is overstated. I have seen it, but a quick run though your favorite NR program (mine is Neat Image) selectively applied cures the issue. However, it is unclear whether or not this is as inherent hardware problem that cannot be fixed in firmware of software, or if we might expect a firmware / software update to attack and solve the problem. If it is an inherent problem, why, and what is the future for yet higher resolution Foveon sensors? For my part, give me the occasional banding, if removing it would reduce resolution.

- a tendency to go a bit "green" at the edges in low light, and some faint purple blotching at ISO 200 and above in some shadow areas, requiring remedial work in Photoshop

- fixed focal length lens (but what a lens! Who needs zooms anyway!!)

- no built in flash (if you like that kind of thing) and no viewfinder (optional accessory available but of limited use, but better than a poke in the eye, I suppose)

For me, this camera has been a total revelation. The heck with the problems (real as they are), the upsides are so great (for me) I have scarcely been able to pick up any other camera in the last few days. I have never before seen, in any camera short of high end medium format and digital scan backs, such pixel level quality and resolution.

Game changer? Sorry, its a whole new game.

Quentin
 
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Thorkil

Well-known member
Thank you very much, Quentin. Well pronounced! Thats a relief, a sort of reassuance. I'm longing for the simple yet loaded with inner quality.
Well, I have "settled down" about that I won't be able to do these pictures that you are doing, just simple pp for my part, but what the heck. I'm convinced that this camera (the DP1M it will be, and one would expect the same quality-lens etc. here) will make me much happier(and M-like) than my D800E, and I guess I'll let the 800E go. Simplicity I need. There will be "a lot" of pictures you can't make. But does it matter? Does your brain need all those possibilities existing in our fast running world? If we don't get this or that picture, we get the other picture. And you'll just be aware of the limitations. And that will be what will make you happy. People are looking for all sorts of salvation, aware or unaware. But why go to India, travel all the world around (or buy tons of gear) to find your inner Zen-Buddist or your outmost mental relaxation/conviction(/or ultimate photografic skills), when it just lies in front of you: Sell all your awefull competent (and overdone)DSLR's etc. grab out and pick up a DP1/2M instead:rolleyes:, go primitive, go simple, and your brain will like you and apreciate you, and send you a friendly thought. Less is more.
I know I sound ironic now, but I'm not. Just my word that are overtaking.
Well done Quentin!
Best
Thorkil
 

gandolfi

Subscriber Member
Well done indeed to the pair of you :thumbs:

Quentin for the big testing and the great photos.

Thorkil for his thoughts and his ability to make so many words funny.

My hat is off for you both ;).

Cheers,

Gandolfi.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
Well, Dear all, its been fun, and thank you to everyone for all the contributions, amusing, serious and somewhere in between, so far made. I guess my testing phase is more or less at an end now, although with others getting their hands on the camera, new tests and reviews no doubt coming out, I suspect there will be a lot more debate about the Merrils (we await the DP1M of course).

Time to take some more photos...and maybe post a few more... in due course.

Quentin
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Great contribution to the forum Quentin.

If this does not stoke the fires nothing will.

Now if they will just introduce a M-mount body......


Bob
 

scho

Well-known member
Re: Sigma DP2 Merrill - some conclusions

Having shot with the DP2M for the last couple of weeks, here is my thumbnail sketch of the good, bad and the ugly:

The Good

- Astonishing sharpness and micro detail, unprecedented in any similar camera I have used and exceeding by some margin the nominal 15mp spacial resolution of the Foveon sensor;

- the ability to interpolate to match or exceed higher resolution Bayer (mosaic) type sensors, approximating (in my tests) 28mp equivalency (maybe higher or lower depending on subject. As always, your mileage may and very probably will vary);

- Subtle differentiation of natural colours lending a fresh "veil has been lifted" appearance to images - the Foveon magic is in evidence here. Images just look "right"

- Superb class leading 30mm lens, with almost no CA, and outstanding resolution from center to edge;

- Simple minimalist design and easy menu system.

- tough metal construction

The bad (and ugly rolled in to one)

- Poor, under developed, raw software. Does the basics well enough, but no curves function, for example, and frequent crashes (on my Windows machine). Tendency to blocked shadows.

- Not good above 400 ISO, where noise becomes an issue;

- Some vertical fine "banding" sometimes seen in areas of even colour such as the sky. There is a lot of noise (excuse the pun) about this on some forums. My take is that the issue is overstated. I have seen it, but a quick run though your favorite NR program (mine is Neat Image) selectively applied cures the issue. However, it is unclear whether or not this is as inherent hardware problem that cannot be fixed in firmware of software, or if we might expect a firmware / software update to attack and solve the problem. If it is an inherent problem, why, and what is the future for yet higher resolution Foveon sensors? For my part, give me the occasional banding, if removing it would reduce resolution.

- a tendency to go a bit "green" at the edges in low light, and some faint purple blotching at ISO 200 and above in some shadow areas, requiring remedial work in Photoshop

- fixed focal length lens (but what a lens! Who needs zooms anyway!!)

- no built in flash (if you like that kind of thing) and no viewfinder (optional accessory available but of limited use, but better than a poke in the eye, I suppose)

For me, this camera has been a total revelation. The heck with the problems (real as they are), the upsides are so great (for me) I have scarcely been able to pick up any other camera in the last few days. I have never before seen, in any camera short of high end medium format and digital scan backs, such pixel level quality and resolution.

Game changer? Sorry, its a whole new game.

Quentin
+1 Great summary and review.
 
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