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dp1 as a street shooter

gallery7

New member
well i thought i might offer up my impressions on the dp1 as a street camera. i shoot street stuff to sort of "chill" from the documentary work as it can be a little taxing (emotionally) at times.

i currently shoot press and commissioned documentary work for a living.

the dp1 as it turns out has a very strong niche in the hands of the "old school" street shooters. coming from a rangefinder i am very comfortable with zone focusing. the dp1 has a brilliant interface for manual zone focusing and my only quibble is that i wish the manual focus wheel was also in "feet" much like the display after firmware 2.0. old habits... i am surprised that so many reviews seemed fail to pick up on just how well suited the camera is for said approach to street shooting. mostly one is warned to stay away if you want a fast, responsive camera. well, beyond the write times when shooting raw and start up, the camera, with a little knowledge, can be set up to shoot as quick as you can press the shutter.

i have also set the ael button to lock focus distance (like the "snap" mode on the old gr1's). works brilliantly when you have the lighting to run small apertures providing lot's of DOF.

i was quite pleased, initially, with being able to set the top right buttons to toggle iso however i now find that is the exact point where i rest my thumb so i am quickly trying to figure out how to disengage them completely... it looks like "off" will do it!

the raw write times are a bother. if you are used to rattling a couple of frames off it will take some time to get used to. from a tech standpoint this can be seen as a serious flaw however as we all know limitation can serve you well. i found over the first day of using it i have become quite patient and wait for what i deem the "decisive moment" (please forgive me for using that phrase). i have only shot raw files and will try shooting jpegs soon on a suggestion from a member here.

as you all know the camera can be set-up to shoot completely silent. slap an external finder on there, turn off the display and auto review and you are running on the serious DL (down low).

i don't have enough time in with the files yet to comment but so far i am pleased. it is easily noticed that i am no "stickler" for megapixels and super clean images though. content, content, content is my mantra.

the software is, in my humble opinion, a royal pain in the arse! slow! slow! slow!

a few quibbles i thought i would throw out there as i am sure there is answers with the more experienced dp1 shooters.

1/ the playback button, after the camera is on for a while, doesn't playback images for me. in essence, after about 20 minutes of being ready to go (i have a habit of touching the shutter release every once in a while to keep the camera awake and ready) the playback button becomes a dud. after powering the camera off and back on again the playback button comes back online? not a BIG deal for me as i rarely use it but every once in a while i check lighting etc.

2/ running a 24" g5 imac with 10.4.11. the sigma software doesn't seem to recognize the camera when hooked up by usb. again not a big issue as i usually employ a card reader but as it stands it doesn't recognize the camera... the mac will register the camera as a drive.

3/ according to most of the literature i have read the dp1 has a 3 shot buffer? is that a 3 jpeg buffer only? my experience so far is 1 raw file and wait... and wait.

well i hope to add more as i learn and experience the dp1. i applaud sigma for the ba*$ to put the camera out and hope and pray that a firmware update will be forthcoming with a deeper buffer. please feel free to add comments or clear up any errors i may inadvertently have made.
 
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trisberg

New member
Great write-up on the DP1. I like it for much the same reasons you describe. It is a unique camera that is excellent for certain types of shooting. Plus I really like the results in B&W at ISO 400 and 800 - very pleasing.

Haven't noticed any issue with the replay button, but I seem to recall some issue with the camera not responding to some button presses at some point. I'll have to pay attention if this happens again.

I haven't even installed the Sigma software since I already was using Lightroom.

The 3 shot buffer only comes into play when you set the Drive Mode to Continuous. In that mode the camera quickly takes three raw shots that are later saved to the card. I find this feature pretty much useless since you can't control when the second and third shots are fired.

-Thomas
 
W

wbrandsma

Guest
the raw write times are a bother. if you are used to rattling a couple of frames off it will take some time to get used to. from a tech standpoint this can be seen as a serious flaw however as we all know limitation can serve you well. i found over the first day of using it i have become quite patient and wait for what i deem the "decisive moment" (please forgive me for using that phrase). i have only shot raw files and will try shooting jpegs soon on a suggestion from a member here.
Many thanks for your impression of the DP1. I pretty much made up my mind that I want this camera. But I am seriously interested in the quality of the jpegs. Are the differences in terms of quality really noticable for street photography? So keep us informed how you like the jpegs for street photography.
 

Streetshooter

Subscriber Member
The 3 shot buffer is actually right.....you can record while the red light blinks.....

I would suggest that you turn power save off in the menu. Just remember to turn off the camera when not in use or you'll be complaining about battery life rather quickly....

on the zoomie buttons...turn the "T" button off...and the "W" button to ISO....your thumb shouldn't hit the W button....it's nice to just change iso at the touch of a button....no pun intended...

I would suggest the hood only because us old school M Shooters will feel like we have a M4 in our hands......The camera will respond that way. I usually 1/2 press every few minutes not because the camera has to wake up but because I have a 1/2 press
neurosis ...but it does reassure me that the camera is awake.....

It's a sweet camera but a devil in disguise. I can't use anything else with commitment because of the results the DP1 creates....other cameras bar NONE just don't have that life in their images.....sad but true for me....

Oh, don't ever feel funny about using the words..."The Decisive Moment". We as photographers have a duty and responsibility to continue and encourage the genre' of
street photography. Those words belong to all of us not just Henri.

shooter
 

Will

New member
I've just decided to set the camera up internally for b&W jpg then the W zoom button for image quality. You can then choose to shoot RAW or B&W or just use the B&W setting as a sort of preview for composing in B&W, then shoot RAW.
 
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ddk

Guest
gallery 7, where did you take this picture? The streets look like a war zone and the woman are stylishly dolled up with 60's hairdos and glasses, very interesting!
 

ecliffordsmith

New member
Hi David,

My guess would be Quebec somewhere judging by the presence of French and English and a North American kind of look. Gallery7 states Montreal as one of his locations too.
 

gallery7

New member
toronto... canada. out on queen st. west. bit gritty on that stretch. montreal would be a very good guess as i do have a flat there! the canadian press images office is in toronto so i spend a few days a month there.

it was a very strange chain of events... the extremely warm day, in an otherwise very, very cold and snowy winter provided a very messy street scene and then these two came waking straight out of the 60's manhattan?!?! it all just came together then vanished almost as quickly.

i will try the single button for iso change today streetshooter. if it works out i will be very pleased. perhaps my issue's with the playback button are in fact the camera not responding as a whole. it will still take the photo. i just have no playback that i know of. i'll give it a try today. it's interesting that the battery life was mentioned as i am less than pleased with the battery life so far... i didn't comment on it directly as i am sure there are some tricks to extend the life. i currently shoot with an optical finder and the display off most of the day. i do however have the same "half shutter twitch" which keeps the camera on for hours on end so perhaps this is my issue? i currently work on a d700 and d3 and the battery life on those things has set a very, very high bar. must keep that in perspective i suppose.

i'll rattle off some jpegs today and see how they work out. again, please keep in mind that i tend to favor an old pushed tri-x kind of look. what you will see is not necessarily the same file the dp1 will put out.
 

Streetshooter

Subscriber Member
G7,
I'm there with you with the Tri-X look.
Mitch over at RFF sold me on Silver Efex. He was right.
The battery issue was covered well at the DP Review
Sigma forum. Get 2 backups...you need them.

the button trick I got from here. There are some very
good shooters here. If you keep the lcd set to off...
then it only comes on when you change something.
Then just 1/2 press the release and the screen goes
off again....
The finder works well but sometimes I struggle
to see the frame lines.... because of the shape/size,
there isn't a good alternative.....
But it's a great camera anyway.....
 
V

VladimirV

Guest
The finder works well but sometimes I struggle
to see the frame lines.... because of the shape/size,
there isn't a good alternative...
You should have a look at the GV2 finder from Ricoh, it is relatively inexpensive but is of higher quality than the Sigma one. It is made by Cosina/Voigtländer and full metal. The framelines are much easier to see there.
But don't take the GV1 finder, although it is much better, it won't fit on the DP1 due to the mode dial being in the way.
 

trisberg

New member
I used the Voigtlander 28/35 mini finder as well but it requires me to put my eye really close to see the 28mm frame lines. Just got the Voigtlander 28mm finder and it has better eye relief plus there are no distracting 35mm frames. It's a bit bigger but I find it better for my use. It's also a little higher so the hood blocks less of the view.

-Thomas
 

gallery7

New member
it does require that eyeball up close but it also fit's very well in my pocket. i would prefer the larger 28mm finder but alas that would not fit that well in my pocket. i tried it with a grd to no avail. and when i say pocket i mean jeans... back pocket while i ride my jalopy bike around town.
 

Streetshooter

Subscriber Member
Yeah, even my Leica finders are to big.
The mini works well but I hate the double framelines ..
made me crazy with the R-D1s. I might try the
Ricoh GV2 if it's as good as youse say....
shooter
 

trisberg

New member
The issue with the Ricoh finder is that it's 3:4 ratio rather than 2:3, so you need to be aware of the difference when framing.

-Thomas
 
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wbrandsma

Guest
i'll rattle off some jpegs today and see how they work out. again, please keep in mind that i tend to favor an old pushed tri-x kind of look. what you will see is not necessarily the same file the dp1 will put out.
I am not so much interested in the original file too. Based on how the processed file lookes it gives me a sense of what is possible with the file. And that is what matters to me, so many thanks in advance.
 

gallery7

New member
sorry folks, it's late and i just wanted to add a few of the jpegs for the interested...

quite a bit of the work at www.galler7.com has been and will be shot with the dp1. please look at the "unity" gallery to check it out. of course any and all feedback is welcome... no need to be kind.

cheers!
 
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