Sigma Dp1s compared
While I had access to the Sigma Dp1s I set up a quick comparison with my current digital cameras. The Nikon P7000 and the Pentax K-7. The image bellow is 100% crops from the same area. You can see that the DP1s produces a very clean detailed file but there is just no getting around the fact that it is much lower resolution. As for the K-7 image I shot the DA12-24 at 16mm to make it roughly equivalent in focal length. I do have better performing lenses but I thought I would make it as fair as possible.
Here I’ve upscaled the DP1s file to the same size as the K-7 image using photoshop to make a more directcomparison. So in my estimation the image resolution sits somewhere between the point and shoot P7000 and the DSLR K-7. The fixed 28mm equivelent F4.0 lens really is quite limiting but if that is what you want in a point and shoot this camera will work.
I’ve read that the Dp1s makes a good landscape camera,
but I find it hard to see, unless your printing at a relatively small size. The images that I did have printed seem to suggest a maximum printing size of around 11×14. In the end I’m not so interested in whether Foveon is a better technology than Bayer filter sensors. It is a camera that does one thing at one focal length, and that’s OK, but the market has moved on with camera’s like the Fuji x100 while Sigma has made minor updates to the same products. As the DP series of cameras exists today it’s hard to make a valid case for purchasing one paritcularly with their high asking price.