User reviews for Sigma DP1: Digital Photography Review

Opinion: A photographer's camera.
It demands more input than other cameras but the results are stunning. This will not appeal to somebody that wants an all singing and dancing camera, it is slow and limited in the type of photograph you can take.
I absolutely love this little gem and find it a perfect antidote to my cumbersome SLR equipment, my mindset is changing as I used to take a heavy camera bag stuffed to the gunnels to shoots. I now enjoy my photography more, as they say, 'less is more'!
In the UK you can now buy the original DP1 for £199, this is an absolute steal for the quality it produces.
Buy the hood adapter and hood with the Sigma UV filter if you can find one! The grip from the USA also transforms the feel of which is quite a slippery camera to hold.
Lensmate also produce a hood adapter but this makes use of the more commonly available 52mm filters.
I use a Voigtlander 21/28 finder which gives a lovely bright image and bright lines for a wide angle adapter should you wish to use one. (I did have to make an accesory shoe with an offset as the finder does not sit on the same axis plane as the lens).

Problems: Battery life is not great so get a backup.

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Opinion: Dp-1 is an good camera,it take great pictures,one of the best I saw even from an dslr point of view,I do not see the DP-1 as an dslr,but more like an top of the nodge compact.
It look indeed more to an compact camera to.
But give you dslr pictures instead of the tinny sensors other compacts have.
Can the DP-1 shoot like an dslr,the answer is no.
Can it shoot like an compact,the answer is yes.
The camera give you simple realy good pictures,have an exelent prime 28 mm lens but start abit slow at F/4
but in reward you get far better results from the DP-1 lens,then wat you get from an Dslr kit lens.
Eveything is keeping simple,no fancy stuf,just an real camera.
The focus is good but abit on the slow site,so the camera is limiting for landscape,buildings,and meaby street pictures.
Action pictures are not possible with this camera.
3 frames max and whriting times of several sec maked it to slow.
How do the camera compare then.
A good quistion,it is between dslr from an qality point of view,but act more like an simple compact.
Unfortenly with the DP-1 jpg are not great.
Raw have alot more options,and this also contribud the slowness of the camera,raw files are between 14 to 20 MB
But one thing is sure Image qality is defently there.
I would say To iso 400 you get exelent pictures.
Iso 800 need abit work,when you shoot raw it is not an problem,but for who shoot jpg Iso 800 will be disapointing.
the camera is sturdy robust,look sexy,and feel good in your hand.
all with all an great camera,but you need to know wat you are doing.it work not the way other compacts work.
Also there is no stabilization in this camera,keeping the camera still and use an not to slow shutter speed or pictures wil be bluring.
So in low light keep it between 1/40 1/60 ste

Problems: Altrou I do not have an single problem.
I like to set some of the shortcomings.
Furst the LCD screen,it is good for composing,but for reviewing the pictures,it is simple no go.
the camera focus exelent,and until now I thid not feel the need to use manuel focus.also not for iso 800 pictures.
Meaby becouse of the firmware update I do not know.
but wat I found is thad the camera in low light somtimes misfocus.
it always look for the closed part in the picture.
Batterie live is not great,and camera take its time to save the large raws to the sd card,however A fast card is defently alot faster then an slow card.
my timing come to this.
Sandisk ultra III 2 to 2,5 sec per file
Sandisk ultra 3 to 4 sec per file
Sandisk normal 6 to 8 sec per file
so thanks for reading.

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Opinion: Owned for 3 months now & I love this camera but it is by no means perfect (no camera is!). Firstly the image quality is superb, dynamic range is incredible, as is the detail recorded, I hesitate to say it but almost on a par with my Canon 5D with "L" lenses. Images suck you in, the combination of the sharp prime lens & DSLR size Foveon sensor produces dream-like images. ISO 50 is like looking through a window, 100 -,200 & 400 easily useable but 800 is strictly for B&W. The Sigma software is ok (it does a good job) but I prefer Lightroom & the raw files size-up massively without any degradation (don't ask me how, I don't care how, all I know is the results look amazing in print). The DP1 is not a P&S and shouldn't be viewed as such, it's quirky but very rewarding. It's not a pocketable SLR more a pocketable 10x8 (you're not gonna get grab shots with it). The fixed lens makes you think about composition & the slow write speeds mean you think about metering & exposure before pressing the shutter. Build quality is excellent, the body feels solid but not heavy, although the catch has broken in the SD card slot so mine's gone back to Sigma for repairs (missing it badly!). This camera is old school, it will take you back to the days of film, no instant gratification, you've got to take your time, enjoy it! I have no allegiance to Sigma/Foveon (or any camera manufacturer), it may seem that I'm overly critical to some or overly complimentary to others but this is just my experience with this particular camera, I love it so much I've actually bothered to write a review!

Problems: Like all cameras it has limitations, start-up is slow & you have to remember to take off the lens cap. AF is slow (anything moving is gone before the AF locks), jpegs are ordinary and the raw write-speeds are pedestrian. Once you've pressed the shutter, the camera locks up for a few seconds but you can shoot a burst just put the kettle on afterwards while you wait for 3 raw files to write to the card. Battery life is poor & why is there no viewfinder!! LCD is poor & histogram only available in playback. If you shoot into a direct light source the flare is bizarre (red-grid flare) and there are definite WB issues and a green colour cast. F4 lens and a max ISO of 800 means low-light grab-shots are out of the question. My advice, learn to work within the those limitations. Update the firmware, set-up the zoom buttons for ISO/AF point or WB etc (however you work), learn to use manual, aperture & shutter priority (it's not a P&S). Using MF wheel cuts down the shutter/AF lag & setting the WB reduces colour cast & write times (or that's just my imagination). Carry a mini tripod (£2 Tesco job does the trick!) & use 2 sec timer for long exposures, get spare batteries. Get a viewfinder as holding it against the face helps reduce camera shake and hence lets you use a shorter shutter speed. I also got the small grip attachment available on the internet which made holding the camera a joy. Like I say I love this camera but it's not for everyone so know what you're buying and whether it's what you're looking for.

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Opinion: Images are full of life.

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Opinion: I tried many so called high end compacts and I just couldn't get good quality results. The LX3 and G10 were a let down. I finally bought the dP1 and at last, I have found a compact that gives excellent results. I found the Panasonic to be a toy compared to the Sigma. The Canon G10 is much better but the DP1 is better.
It's a pleasure to use because it makes you think more about getting the perfect shot. It's back to basic again! Something that was missing with modern compacts that do everything but give good image quality.
The camera is perfect for the more serious photographer. I am very happy with it and don't understand why there are so many negative comments.
If you know what you want from this camera, the DP1 is perfect. It's not a toy!

Problems: I was aware of its limitations but they are not that bad if you know what you are doing. I wasn't too happy with it at first because I was using it like a normal P&S but after using it like an old SLR for day, I am now very happy with it.

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Opinion: In short this is the best image quality I have seen on any digital camera be it P&S or DSLR.
Sigma has still some way to go as to processing speed. Sigma RAW processing software is getting more out of the images than Adobe RAW does but it is slow and not user friendly. Ideal for landscape , architecture etc.
Prices are down , best time to buy one.
Awaiting the SD 15, I may change away from my many Nikons....

Problems: Image processing very slow, lens hood design faulty.

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Opinion: I've been DP1 user for one month. I have a Nikon D50 so I wanted DSLR quality.
IQ is excellent, outdoor it outperforms my D50. The most advantage over any other compats the huge, almost APSC sized sensor. It beats them in overall IQ, sharpnes, and iso performance. Iso400 still very clean, on iso800 there is some color problem, but friendly film-like chroma noise.
An excellent prime glass serves the outstanding image sensor, this is a real camera!
Really good bulid quality, well placed buttons, I can controll everything without searching in menus, nice work Sigma! No idiotic scene modes.
I get mine for 280EUR new, very good price.
Overall, it is an excellent outdoor camera for street and holiday photography with light weigh and dslr IQ. I'm really satisfied.

Problems: So first the relative cons:
Like other products, it isn't for everything use. If you need point&shoot, keep looking forward. If you want camera for sport, animal or kid photos, buy a DSLR, forget any compact cameras. But if you are tired to carry your DSLR gear all time on your holiday and want outstanding IQ, this is the one for you!
The new m43, especially the PEN seems very good option too. But it isn't pocetable, only with primes! But the m43 prime choice is very poor yet (only 34mm). And almost three times expensive.

Real problems:
-In low light it's almost impossible to find focus. AF is unusable in poor light without contrast, and MF difficult to use.
-Writing time on card takes forever, although you can shoot during writing, but without metering.
-LCD's drawbacks, I'm looking for OVF, I hate compose on screen.

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Opinion: I'm using the DP1 now for almost a year and I am still very satisfied. I love the superb image quality (even better than the first shots I saw from the olympus E-P1, especially in ISO 50 and 100), the reliable (but slow) focus and the very good dynamic range.
Although I did know before I bought the camera, the slow operation was sometimes anoying.

But what a surprise - the firmware-update 2.0 releases some of the pain. Saving JPEGs is now extremly fast compared to before and even the RAW-saving seems faster to me. But I am very pleased, that while the camera is saving a picture to the card, it is now usable and you can go on taking pictures! Before this update the camera was almost locked and you had to wait for the very slow saving operation to complete.

In addition its now also possible to assign different functions to the (to me usless) zoom-buttons. I configured ISO-Setting and focus-area. Now I don't need the user interface anymore to change the most important settings, all is done with dedicated buttons.

To me the firmware 2.0 is a big plus and disarms or at least weakens some of the "cons" in the "in-depth-review".

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Opinion: Hi all.....I had own a canon g10, leica dlux-3, panny
lx3....& canon 400d...if compare to the dp1, i would
say only my canon 400d can come close to the my
dp1 but only iQ not the rest. Everyone will know more
about dp1 if doing more reviews.......The very very
good thing about the dp1 is the depths of field,non of
the compact camera in the world can do like
dp1....even the panny lx3 with leica f2.0 cant even
better compare with f5.6 of the dp1....Very very
sharp focusing,again non of the compact camera in the
world can do like dp1..... excellent iQ at
50,100,200...400 iso,again & again non of the
compact camera can do like the dp1.....review more &
more before decide to buy because...the only beauty
of dp1 is only the IQ, DOF like dslr, SHARP
FOCUSING.......Cheers!

Problems: I accept almost every cons of dp1 because i know dp1
behaviour before i buy, but only one thing i cant
accept is the auto white balance of the dp1.....the
colour of orange,red turns far diffrent until pink colour
if under the sunlight..night shot too much yellow
under the incandescent lighting......can sigma pls do
something with the firmware????????????.....thats
all.....tks..........Cheers!

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