Sigma Sigma Mirrorless Cameras

serhan

Hall of Famer
Location
NYC
Another interesting announcement... Too bad they kept the slr mount:
Surprise! Sigma announces the Sigma SD Quattro and SD Quattro H SA mount mirrorless cameras! – mirrorlessrumors
Specifications | sd Quattro | Cameras |
The Sigma Quattro SD:

  • Two mode Autofocus system
  • Mirrorless system, Dust & Splash magnesium alloy body
  • Resolution equal to 39MP Bayer sensor on resolution testing
  • Compact design similar to dp Quattro cameras
  • SA mount
The Sigma SD Quattro H:

  • Larger APS-H sensor
  • Resolution equal to 51MP Bayer sensor on resolution testing
  • Designed to take advantage of SGV lenses with great IQ
  • SA mount
96f7fdef572b416a9c798a196890a88f.jpg

Bildschirmfoto-2016-02-23-um-08.20.26-700x329.png

Bildschirmfoto-2016-02-23-um-08.20.30-700x362.png
 
Last edited:
Looks like the work of a product designer that's not a photographer. The moment my right pinky dangled below the grip I'd throw it against the wall.

[breathe]

...maybe I should cut down on my coffee intake...
 
Luke, I would hope they fixed the operational speed seeing thats it is a bit bigger than the fixed lens ones, if not it doesn't make much sense to me. I'm curious to see if they've improved the high ISO any.
 
very exciting to me as it gets closer to bringing foveon to the masses. they not only made the camera splash and dust proof, but the lens mount itself is protected. and theyve implemented focus peaking for manual focus lovers. as long as theres no shutter lag i'm less concerned about 'operational' speed than i am low light performance. the pity to me is that i believe the SA mount has legacy glass compatibility limited to m42 mount lenses, though i'm happy to be told i'm wrong on this. and the evf placement may prove to be a bit difficult for some. but i am really anxious to learn more.
 
I would love to have a Foveon camera again and this got me excited. Then I opened the pictures above in Photoshop and used the hotshoe to get an idea of the size...suddenly I remember why I sold my Canon 7D a few years ago :(
 
Sigmas are not famous for their af/operation speed, so adapting mf lenses make sense. Sigma SA has the same flange distance as Canon EF, so all mf Contax/Nikon/m42 lenses are adaptable to Sigma. However IQ is the big question as one pro photographer at FM forum is saying he had color shift issues when he adapted the Contax 85mm lens on SD1...

And another post about Nikon mount Zeiss lenses on SD1:
Sigma SD Quattro with SA mount. A mistake?: Sigma Camera Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

As someone who has changed the mount on my SD1M it's not a trivial issue. It's not just getting the glass to "line up" which was my expectation. I did it because I like Zeiss manual focus lenses on my Nikon D810 and wanted to use them on the Sigma without spending more money for Sigma glass (which I also have some). Turns out the sensor creates a lot of color casts in that situation. (Each one difference for each lens and different at each aperture.) This is compensated for in the Sigma mount lenses, but you have to deal with it with other lenses.

Only by using PP techniques can I get rid of the casts, which for certain images is worth the effort. However, I would not do it again. If you add up the problems on the SD1M for such an effort ... poor manual focusing, stop down metering, no live view and poor ISO ... you really have to love the output to make it worthwhile. (Which I do). Think studio or large format camera workflow.

Another poster from the same dpr link:
Perhaps the tendency to produce bad color casts is one reason Sigma decided not to make it easy to put other manufacture's lenses on their bodies. I tested a lot of old M42 lenses on the SD1 and all of them had some kind of color problems.

very exciting to me as it gets closer to bringing foveon to the masses. they not only made the camera splash and dust proof, but the lens mount itself is protected. and theyve implemented focus peaking for manual focus lovers. as long as theres no shutter lag i'm less concerned about 'operational' speed than i am low light performance. the pity to me is that i believe the SA mount has legacy glass compatibility limited to m42 mount lenses, though i'm happy to be told i'm wrong on this. and the evf placement may prove to be a bit difficult for some. but i am really anxious to learn more.
 
Last edited:
So Sigma have designed a "true" mirrorless camera - a DSLR with the mirror and prism removed. Nearly everything else is still a converted film camera - size, weight, lens mount. So a useless spacer tube to take film camera lenses and their later DSLR counterparts. A mount that takes 135/FX lenses needlessly.

Which is also why I never use the term "mirrorless" but follow the original naming convention (SLR, DSLR) and call my X-T1 an "SLE"" - Single Lens Electronic viewfinder - because its design is such from the ground up and owes nothing to having once accommodated film (mirror, m1rrobox, pentaprism reflex finder, light-tight film enclosure).
 
Back
Top