Noise:
What I found out, is that generally one has to underexpose when shooting digitally, in order to not blow out the highlights. But the Foveon sensor used in the Sigma SD14 behaves a lot more like color negative film. That is, rather overexpose a little, and bring back the highlights when developing. Then there’s no noise problems whatsoever. That said, it ain’t no sports camera, or press photographer camera either. Too slow, and low ISO (max 1600)… But for portraits and fashion at 800 ISO and below, my god!

Bulkiness? You’re kidding right? It is so nice to hold, almost perfect ergonomics, and simple, to-the-point, KISS, controls of the camera, which I like, since when the going gets tough, I just wanna shoot, shoot, shoot, and shoot some more, and be 200% sure the ISO, exposure, RAW, etc are all set as I intended. No deep submenus here. Very cool. But if one is looking for a blingblong beepbeep technodynamic piece of gear, that has a million+ features you can impress your friends with, you’ll be let down with no mercy, by the workhorse that is the Sigma SD14.

And the shutter is so sexy, much smoother sounding than a 5D. For the people who care about that;-)

PS: It is a minority camera, alright. Why bully it? You, as a photo guy, and news reporter, blogger, etc, should be delighted the world is not just full of, but limited to, bayer-sensor cameras, but that brave (INDEED) companies like Sigma, Ricoh, and Fuji, amongst others, dare to swin against the mainstream, in the name of INNOVATION!

There is no war here. I don’t dislike bayer sensor cameras. I just happen to really see a difference in the way the Sigma/Foveon “thing” is portraying my subjects and objects. And, since I happen to like that difference, I choose one over the other.

Essentially, I find the Sigma SD14 to be a worthy digital alternative to my former system, the Pentax 67. Which was also a special camera, dear to many fashion and portrait shooters who liked its unique images.

i quite disagree.
Nikon misses a competitior for 5D, the high-end. prosumer FF market.
a d300x, FF, 3-5 fps, would be highly appreciated

I haven’t heard anything about any lenses other than the superteles that Canon recently announced were in development. Often times, we are surprised at the new/updated lenses that Canon releases at these events. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised at a “II” version of the 24-70 L coming out at PMA. If I hear whispers of it, I’ll be sure to pass that along.

I read all this whole article/blog wanting to know more about the next Pentax replacement for the K10D. What about the Pentax 645? The K10D has been great, but I want something to go against the upper end Nikons.

Thanks,

EB

I’ve not seen much fanfare for the SD-14. Even though some people are impressed with the IQ, I’ve seen a lot of complaints re: noise and general clunkiness of the camera. My apologies if you’re offended, but when you say “Sigma”, I’m thinking about lenses – not cameras. I’d be surprised to find anything but a small minority that disagree with me.

Cheers!