Tim
Active member
You bring some very interesting points. One small change is the DP2M had a 49mm filter, the DP2Q looks to have 58mm, so I wonder if there may be a tweak to the lens requiring the bigger filter size?I'm excited. I own the DP3 Merrill and was about to buy the DP2 when and if the prices dropped a bit. Well, now I can wait for the Quatro. Why? We know the lens is great . . . it's the same lens. The lens should be designed for the Foveon sensor. Here's what looks new to me. If the image quality is 30% better (forget using MP's), then it will have higher resolution than the current Nikon D800. Why? It already close to the resolution of the D800. Second, this may be the second best b&w camera after the Leica MM. Why? The improvement is in the blue channel for luminance. Converting to b&w in the the new SP raw converter will optimize the quality of b&w. This is already true for the DP2/3 Merrills which produce great b&w images. Third, processing should be much faster now. I noticed on my dp3 merrill that the writing speed to the new, ultra fast cards only takes a second or so, but the preliminary image processing is what is slowing down the transfer. So, it should be much faster now. Fourth, the battery should be larger and last longer. Fifth, well high ISO levels remains an unknown. Sixth, economics. Look closely at the photo. Pure design "outside the box." Literally and so quite innovative. Look again and take away the grip and battery on the right hand side. Looks the same as the original dp merrill but thinner. And then someone said, let's just add a battery and grip on the right hands side! Look at the specs: it's lighter than the dp3 merrill. You can wear it around your neck with another camera. Finally, with the 1 and 2 lenses, it looks like it really could fit into a jacket pocket. Post finally, the tripod sits squarely under the middle of the lens. Adds up well. But it will attract attention for a while, won't it?
I hear you on the BW. A lot of people ask for a pure BW Ricoh GR for example. Using the Blue channel here may yield a interesting result. As for the body, I like the way they have reduced the body to be thin ala a Nex, leaving room for the battery in the grip. The design has warmed on me a lot. I'd like to see it next to something common as a size reference. I think they will be small cameras.