Luminous Landscape has posted a review of the strange and enticing Sigma DP1. The high-end compact camera promises a lot, from its large, DSLR sized Fovean image sensor to its fixed 28mm lens, it looked like being the stripped down, high-quality camera we have been wishing for.
The review, though, tells another story. A story of a camera which might have cut it circa 2002AD, but not today. No viewfinder, a maximum aperture of ƒ4 (pathetic for a fixed wide angle lens), a crappy LCD screen, no image stabilization, movies that are "barely big enough for use on YouTube", some very curious software decisions (everything, including focus-point selection, is buried in a hard to navigate menu) and poor low-light (high ISO) performance. For a $900, this is scandalous.
But does it take a good picture? Apparently, yes:
Strong praise. The lens, too, is very good – something you would expect of a lens manufacturer. But are great pictures enough? If the camera is so hard to use, will it ever make it out of the camera bag? A single flaw can ruin a great camera. My Canon G9, for instance, takes great pictures and is stunningly easy to use. The tiny viewfinder and shutter lag make it useless for portraits, though. So useless I actually had to buy a DSLR. Maybe we should wait for the DP2. That way we might get a 2008 standard camera, although probably not until 2012.
Is That a DSLR in Your Pocket...? [Luminous Landscape]
Product page [Sigma]
