Sigma SD1

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Sigma SD1
Sigma SD1 03.jpg
Sigma SD1 with 50mm, f/1.4
Overview
Type Digital single-lens reflex
Intro price$9799 USD
Lens
Lens Interchangeable (Sigma SA mount)
Sensor/medium
Sensor 23.5×15.7mm APS-C 1.5x crop (Foveon X3)
Maximum resolution 4704 × 3136 × 3 (44.3 million effective pixels, 14.8 megapixel output image size)
Film speed 100–6400
Storage media CompactFlash (CF) Type I (Not microdrive or CF Type II)
Focusing
Focus modesSingle AF, Continuous AF (with AF motion prediction function) and Manual
Focus areas11-point twin-cross AF
Viewfinder
Viewfinder Optical, pentaprism
Image processing
Image processor True II Image processing engine
General
LCD screen3 in (63 mm), 460,000 pixels
Made in Japan

The Sigma SD1 is a digital SLR camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. The camera uses a Foveon X3 sensor, which comprises 3 layers of 4800 x 3200 pixels (46 megapixels), giving much higher chromatic resolution than the equivalent Bayer array. It uses a Milbeaut image processor. The Foveon sensor does not use an aliasing filter, thus further improving the resolution.

Contents

The SD1 was announced by Sigma at photokina 2010 on September 21, 2010. It was officially put on sale in May 2011 at a RRP of nearly US$10,000. [1]

Sigma SD1 Merrill

In February 2012, the SD1 was relaunched as the SD1 Merrill, honoring the late Richard B. Merrill, inventor of the Foveon sensor. With the relaunch, the price was dramatically cut, to a recommended price of US$3300 and a minimum advertised price of $2299. Sigma gave existing SD1 owners credit toward the company's lenses and accessories equal to the price cut. [2]

Related Research Articles

The Foveon X3 sensor is a digital camera image sensor designed by Foveon, Inc., and manufactured by Dongbu Electronics. It uses an array of photosites that consist of three vertically stacked photodiodes. Each of the three stacked photodiodes has a different spectral sensitivity, allowing it to respond differently to different wavelengths. The signals from the three photodiodes are then processed as additive color data that are transformed to a standard RGB color space. In the late 1970s, a similar color sensor having three stacked photo detectors at each pixel location, with different spectral responses due to the differential absorption of light by the semiconductor, had been developed and patented by Kodak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital camera back</span> Digital image sensor that attaches to the back of a film camera

A digital camera back is a device that attaches to the back of a camera in place of the traditional negative film holder and contains an electronic image sensor. This allows cameras that were designed to use film take digital photographs. These camera backs are generally expensive by consumer standards and are primarily built to be attached on medium- and large-format cameras used by professional photographers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital single-lens reflex camera</span> Digital cameras combining the parts of a single-lens reflex camera and a digital camera back

A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that combines the optics and mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma Corporation</span> Japanese camera and camera lens manufacturer

Sigma Corporation is a Japanese company, manufacturing cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan. Although Sigma produces several camera models, the company is best known for producing high-quality lenses and other accessories that are compatible with the cameras produced by other companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma SD10</span> Camera model

The Sigma SD10 is a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) manufactured by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It was announced on October 27, 2003, and is an evolution of the previous SD9 model, addressing many of the shortcomings of that camera. The Sigma SD10 cameras are unique in the digital DSLR field in using full-color sensor technology, and in that they only produce raw format images that require post-processing on a computer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">APS-C</span> Image sensor format

Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field diameter. It is therefore also equivalent in size to the Super 35 motion picture film format, which has the dimensions of 24.89 mm × 18.66 mm and Ø 31.11 mm field diameter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foveon</span> American manufacturer of image sensors

Foveon, Inc., is an American company that manufactures and distributes image sensor technology. It makes the Foveon X3 sensor, which captures images in some digital cameras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard F. Lyon</span> American inventor

Richard "Dick" Francis Lyon is an American inventor, scientist, and engineer. He is one of the two people who independently invented the first optical mouse devices in 1980. He has worked in signal processing and was a co-founder of Foveon, Inc., a digital camera and image sensor company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma SD14</span> Camera model

The Sigma SD14 is a digital single-lens reflex camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It is fitted with a Sigma SA mount which takes Sigma SA lenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image sensor format</span> Shape and size of a digital cameras image sensor

In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma DP1</span>

The Sigma DP1 was a high-end compact digital camera introduced by the Sigma Corporation. It featured a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor, a fixed 16.6 mm F4.0 lens, a 2.5-inch (64 mm) LCD and a pop-up flash. It was the first "compact" camera that featured an APS-C sized sensor, a feature that Sigma claimed would result in DSLR quality images from a small, pocketable camera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard B. Merrill</span>

Richard Billings Merrill (1949–2008), a.k.a. Dick Merrill, was an American inventor, engineer, and photographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma DP2</span> Camera model

The Sigma DP2 is a high-end compact digital camera introduced by the Sigma Corporation. It features a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor, the same sensor used in its predecessor, the Sigma DP1 and in the Sigma SD14 DSLR, a fixed 24.2 mm f/2.8 lens, a 2.5” LCD and a pop-up flash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirrorless camera</span> Compact camera with a user-removable and replaceable lens

A mirrorless camera is a digital camera which, in contrast to DSLRs, does not use a mirror in order to ensure that the image presented to the photographer through the viewfinder is identical to that taken by the camera. They have come to replace DSLRs, which have historically dominated interchangeable lens cameras. Other terms include electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens (EVIL) cameras and compact system cameras (CSCs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma SD15</span> Digital camera model

The Sigma SD15 is an updated version of Sigma SD14 DSLR produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan and featuring the improved TRUE II image processing engine, but with the same image sensor as its predecessor. As such, the SD15 features the 4.7 MP Foveon X3 sensor. After having showcased the camera in photokina 2008 and officially introduced during PMA 2010, it finally began shipping in June 2010. It is Sigma's fourth DSLR since the SD9 from 2002.

The Sigma DP3 Merrill is a high-end compact digital camera made by Sigma Corporation. It features a 46-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor and a 50mm f/2.8 fixed lens.

The Sigma DP1 Merrill is a high-end compact digital camera made by Sigma Corporation. It features a 46-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor and a 19mm f/2.8 fixed lens.

The Sigma DP2 Merrill is a high-end compact digital camera made by Sigma Corporation. It features a 46-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor and a 30mm f/2.8 fixed lens.

The Sigma DP1s is a high-end compact digital camera introduced by the Sigma Corporation as an improvement of the Sigma DP1. It features a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor, a fixed 16.6 mm F4.0 lens, a 2.5" LCD and a pop-up flash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigma dp0 Quattro</span> Camera model

The Sigma dp0 Quattro is a discontinued fixed-focal length APS-C digital point-and-shoot camera, announced by Sigma on February 10, 2015.

References

  1. "Sigma SD1 Price & Availability Announced" . Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  2. "Sigma SD1 becomes SD1 Merrill and gains (much) keener price tag". Digital Photography Review . 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2012-09-13.