The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Sigma DP2 Merrill shots

Ramana

New member
I really like the pictures posted in this thread and I'm tempted to buy a DP2M for myself. But I'm not a landscape photography enthusiast and I don't use tripod. My only opportunities to shoot pictures is during my early morning walks or late afternoon walks. I shoot both moving and non-moving subjects. In my country sunlight is plenty for most part of the year. I'm considering DP2M as a everyday walk-around camera. But I've read in almost every review of this camera that tripod use is advised for optimum sharpness. Is tripod an absolute necessity in your experience? For my kind of use does DP2M make sense? Your advice will be much appreciated.
 

retow

Member
I really like the pictures posted in this thread and I'm tempted to buy a DP2M for myself. But I'm not a landscape photography enthusiast and I don't use tripod. My only opportunities to shoot pictures is during my early morning walks or late afternoon walks. I shoot both moving and non-moving subjects. In my country sunlight is plenty for most part of the year. I'm considering DP2M as a everyday walk-around camera. But I've read in almost every review of this camera that tripod use is advised for optimum sharpness. Is tripod an absolute necessity in your experience? For my kind of use does DP2M make sense? Your advice will be much appreciated.
If you pay attention to shutter speed a tripod is not needed to get perfectly sharp pictures. The DP3M is a little more demanding in this respect. The DP2M can also used for street with zone focusing. Sharpness at 200% magnification is not priority for this kind of shots imo. Zone focused shots from earlier today in Bangkok:
 

Ramana

New member
If you pay attention to shutter speed a tripod is not needed to get perfectly sharp pictures. The DP3M is a little more demanding in this respect. The DP2M can also used for street with zone focusing. Sharpness at 200% magnification is not priority for this kind of shots imo. Zone focused shots from earlier today in Bangkok:
Thanks for your insightful response. I don't shoot slower than 1/40 on street and if the subject is human I don't shoot slower than 1/100. And I avoid shooting with ISO larger than 800. If I stick to this discipline I should be fine with DP2M?

P.s. Your street pictures are nice! Thanks for sharing.
 
Wonderful advice from retow and beautiful photos to prove his point.

Prior to purchasing the DP2M and DP3M I also was led to believe a tripod or monopod was useful if not a necessity. I've been shooting with these two Merrills for about a month now and I've only used a tripod once for a panorama. I will use a surface here and there occasionally for longer exposures but for the most part my shots are handheld.

Here are a few photos (mostly street stuff) I've taken over the past month.

http://www.thesmokingcamera.com/sigma_merrill_hawaii_new_york_california

Good luck.
 

adrewdecourcy

New member
Wonderful advice from retow and beautiful photos to prove his point.

Prior to purchasing the DP2M and DP3M I also was led to believe a tripod or monopod was useful if not a necessity. I've been shooting with these two Merrills for about a month now and I've only used a tripod once for a panorama. I will use a surface here and there occasionally for longer exposures but for the most part my shots are handheld.

Here are a few photos (mostly street stuff) I've taken over the past month.

http://www.thesmokingcamera.com/sigma_merrill_hawaii_new_york_california

Good luck.
Good insight . I'd also add that if you wish to use raw's for B+W and using the blue channel in the SPP monochrome converter , there is no concern whatever for high iso's 3200 is as clean as clean if exposed correctly, enabling the shutter speed to be kept high.
 

Ramana

New member
Wonderful advice from retow and beautiful photos to prove his point.

Prior to purchasing the DP2M and DP3M I also was led to believe a tripod or monopod was useful if not a necessity. I've been shooting with these two Merrills for about a month now and I've only used a tripod once for a panorama. I will use a surface here and there occasionally for longer exposures but for the most part my shots are handheld.

Here are a few photos (mostly street stuff) I've taken over the past month.

Joe Marquez - The Smoking Camera | Sigma Merrill Dp2 Dp3 Photography

Good luck.
Those are lovely street pictures! And thanks for sharing your experience.
When using zone focus perhaps an external viewfinder can help reduce shake since one can press the camera against the forehead. Shooting handheld using live view at an,arms distance is always prone to shake.
 
Last edited:

Ramana

New member
Good insight . I'd also add that if you wish to use raw's for B+W and using the blue channel in the SPP monochrome converter , there is no concern whatever for high iso's 3200 is as clean as clean if exposed correctly, enabling the shutter speed to be kept high.
Great tip! Not a bad idea for me to switch to b&w when the lighting conditions demand high ISO, thanks.
 
Those are lovely street pictures! And thanks for sharing your experience.
When using zone focus perhaps an external viewfinder can help reduce shake since one can press the camera against the forehead. Shooting handheld using live view at an,arms distance is always prone to shake.
Thanks. At slower shutter speeds I use my lightweight neckstrap and hold it taut around my neck and outstretched arms to reduce camera shake. My guess is it gives me an extra stop or so. And another great tip from adrewdecourcy. Some very talented and intelligent photographers using Merrills.
 

Ramana

New member
Thanks. At slower shutter speeds I use my lightweight neckstrap and hold it taut around my neck and outstretched arms to reduce camera shake. My guess is it gives me an extra stop or so. And another great tip from adrewdecourcy. Some very talented and intelligent photographers using Merrills.
That's another great tip! Thanks for sharing.
 

retow

Member
retow, how do you meter? Faces are all too dark
Thanks for your input. Mostly they are matrix metered, spot metering would have been better it seems. However, I started using Lightroom recently (Aperture before) and am still learning how best to tweak the Foveon tiff files. Most of my Sigma tiffs seem underexposed once imported into Lightroom. Not something I was used to when working with Aperture.
 

retow

Member
These are quite sharp at least to my eyes. Did you prefocus and lock the focus? That's the method Joe recommended to me earlier, I was wondering if there are any other method of zone focusing?
Except the last one, these are all zone focused.
 

adrewdecourcy

New member
Thanks for your input. Mostly they are matrix metered, spot metering would have been better it seems. However, I started using Lightroom recently (Aperture before) and am still learning how best to tweak the Foveon tiff files. Most of my Sigma tiffs seem underexposed once imported into Lightroom. Not something I was used to when working with Aperture.
Interesting this. I will always say to myself to treat every file as an individual file and treat it as is required. Yet of late I have been exporting from SPP with the Tiff 16bit files on the darker side. I have been finding in general it easier to bring the Tiff file and not lose detail colour etc in the shadows, this being slightly easier than bring back highlights. This is of course if the Raw has been exposed well in the shadows. I read someone else doing this with success and the way I work it suits as well.
I do though have a preference for Cs6 over LR and start the Tiff in camera raw, but that's because I am more attuned to CS6
 
Top