Sigma sd Quattro Images

[scho]

First walkabout with the new sd Quattro at the Cornell Arboretum. Lens used was the Sigma 18-35 A. All shots taken on a tripod. SPP 6.40 processing. Harsh, contrasty early afternoon lighting. Used SFD mode for the last image and processed as x3f, S-Hi.

 

[scho]

A couple of countertop still life shots taken with the sdQ + 18-35. Very dim lighting and the second monochrome taken in almost complete darkness using SFD mode and S-Hi size. The 7 exposures ranged form about 0.5 sec to 30 sec at f/8.

 

[scho]

A quick hand held snap using the Sigma 70mm f/2.8 Macro on the sdQ. Will do some more with this lens on a tripod later. AF is not reliable and would need some unwanted calibration, so I will just use it in MF mode which is very good with the LV, peaking, and magnification available on the sdQ.

 

[Malina DZ]

Carl, thank you for sharing these full size JPGs. Are you happy with the IQ SDQ provides?

 

[scho]

Carl, thank you for sharing these full size JPGs. Are you happy with the IQ SDQ provides?

Malina,

I don't know yet as I'm still in learning mode with this camera.

Carl

 

[scho]

Persian Shield leaf with the 70mm f/2.8 Macro.

Sugar maple catching a ray of light from the setting sun. 70mm f/2.8 Macro.

 

[scho]

A few garden flower shots with the sdQ + 70/2.8 Macro.

 

[scho]

A late evening shot using the 18-35/1.8 Art lens on the sdQ in SFD mode. The seven images were processed in SPP 6.4 and a S-Hi tif exported to LR for additional processing. Tonality is very smooth, low noise, with some slight decrease also in micro contrast. Click image for the 39 MP jpg.

 

[ggibson]

Thanks for sharing. How's the handling, size and weight?

 

[biglouis]

Thanks for posting these samples. Much to think about.

LouisB

 

[scho]

Thanks for sharing. How's the handling, size and weight?

No question that this is a heavy (weight with my 18-35/1.8 is 1.68 kg) camera for a mirrorless, but handling is quite good. All controls are nicely placed and easily accessible with good, solid construction. Shutter noise is similar to my A7r, but better damped. I just received two extra Wasabi batteries and compact charger designed for the Panasonic GH4, that work perfectly with sdQ. AF performance is lens dependant, perfect with the 18-35/1.8 Art, but unreliable with the 70 macro. I'm still trying to work out best processing routines for the x3f and x3i raw files, but otherwise no major issues using SPP 6.40.

 

[Sapphie]

No question that this is a heavy (weight with my 18-35/1.8 is 1.68 kg) camera for a mirrorless, but handling is quite good. All controls are nicely placed and easily accessible with good, solid construction. Shutter noise is similar to my A7r, but better damped. I just received two extra Wasabi batteries and compact charger designed for the Panasonic GH4, that work perfectly with sdQ. AF performance is lens dependant, perfect with the 18-35/1.8 Art, but unreliable with the 70 macro. I'm still trying to work out best processing routines for the x3f and x3i raw files, but otherwise no major issues using SPP 6.40.

Hi Carl

Great stuff. Just wondering how the EVF compares to other cameras in your experience?

Lee

 

[scho]

Hi Carl

Great stuff. Just wondering how the EVF compares to other cameras in your experience?

Lee

Thanks Lee. The EVF is horrible and I would not use it for critical MF work. EVF is OK for framing and quick snapshot AF work but quality like first generation EVF and nowhere near the performance of recent Sony cams. The LCD is very good and works well with magnification and/or peaking for MF work.

 

[scho]

Ithaca falls the day after some heavy thunderstorms replenished our dwindling water flow in the streams.

Taken in SFD mode , but quality of the composite was so bad I had to pull one of the better exposed frames for this image. Still a lot of artifacts and poor rendering. Seems like I can't get too far from still life shooting without running into image quality problems with this camera.

 

[ggibson]

LOL yikes, so I guess SFD is doing some processing akin to a pixel-shift mode. These modes are intriguing, but seem like they are really difficult to take advantage of outside of a studio or still life environment. The Pentax K1 and E-M5II have the same issues with any motion at all. I wonder if a slow shutter speed to smooth all of the water would have helped?

 

[scho]

LOL yikes, so I guess SFD is doing some processing akin to a pixel-shift mode. These modes are intriguing, but seem like they are really difficult to take advantage of outside of a studio or still life environment. The Pentax K1 and E-M5II have the same issues with any motion at all. I wonder if a slow shutter speed to smooth all of the water would have helped?

The artifacts look very reminiscent of the early Fuji X sensor demosaicing issues in ACR. Kendall H over at DPR thinks it might be a SPP 6.4 processing bug and so do I. Hopefully, Sigma will correct this in the next SPP release. Strange thing is that the artifacts are present also in the individual x3f files as well as the composite.

 

[scho]

The artifacts look very reminiscent of the early Fuji X sensor demosaicing issues in ACR. Kendall H over at DPR thinks it might be a SPP 6.4 processing bug and so do I. Hopefully, Sigma will correct this in the next SPP release. Strange thing is that the artifacts are present also in the individual x3f files as well as the composite.

OK, ignore all of above. There are some serious x3i processing issues here in SPP 6.4.0. After comparing the individual frame processing I finally realized that despite selecting one, unique frame for processing SPP continued to use multi frame processing. Despite claims that individual x3f shots from the 7 shot SFD series in the x3i file can be extracted I have not found a way of doing that. Unless you are shooting absolutely still subjects, using SFD is a total waste of time.

Edit: Finally have a way of extracting x3f raw files from the 7 frames in the x3i SFD file. Need to first select the frame you want in the x3i edit window, click the copy x3f file button, then go back to the main file list window, paste and the x3f file is placed in the file list. Just as a trial exercise I extracted the 3 middle frames (-1, 0, +1) generated tiffs, and then composited the tiffs using Aurora HDR. Somewhat garish results, but at least no scatter of motion artifacts. Now I wait and see if Sigma can come up with a fix for SFD processing in SPP.

 

[foveon]

.. I extracted the 3 middle frames (-1, 0, +1) generated tiffs, and then composited the tiffs using Aurora HDR. Somewhat garish results, but at least no scatter of motion artifacts....

so the 3 middle frames were taken at the same time?^^

 

[Malina DZ]

Edit: Finally have a way of extracting x3f raw files from the 7 frames in the x3i SFD file.

iso 100... and there is plenty of magenta and green pattern noise in shadow areas of this file. Do you have a single frame of this scene shot in a normal mode (not SFD)? Does it have as much pattern noise before lifting shadows?

 

[scho]

so the 3 middle frames were taken at the same time?^^

They were all taken within SFD with whatever the lag time is between shots.

- - - Updated - - -

iso 100... and there is plenty of magenta and green pattern noise in shadow areas of this file. Do you have a single frame of this scene shot in a normal mode (not SFD)? Does it have as much pattern noise before lifting shadows?

The noise appeared after processing in Aurora. Unfortunately I did not take a shot in normal mode for this scene.