A Diamond In The Rough: Sigma DP1

May, 2008

For several years now, I've been clamoring for a camera that Mike Johnston has dubbed the "DMD" -- Decisive Moment Digital. This would be something with a top-quality fixed focal-length lens, a large (read: 4/3 or bigger) sensor, and full manual control. Finally, in early 2008, Sigma launched the DP1: "a full-spec compact digital camera with all the power of DSLR," as its manual says. I was able to borrow one for a week to see how it lives up to its promise.

There's a special category of compact film cameras that doesn't really have an equivalent in digital gear. The Olympus XA and mju:, Canon Canonet, Konica Hexar, Ricoh GR, and Rollei AF-M 35 and their spiritual siblings combine superb optics and full photographic control with rugged and compact build, trading off zoom flexibility and, for some but not all of them, affordability. Digital compacts have taken the "something for everything" way -- they're either super-compact, shirt-pocket, full-auto snapshot cameras, or more or less bulky extreme-superzoom dSLR-likes. Until the Sigma DP1, about the only camera to break this mold was the Ricoh GR and its follower, the GR II. Unfortunately, they are still saddled with the small, somewhat noisy and limited dynamic-range sensors other compacts also use, which means that trading off the zoom didn't really buy all that much added image quality or even lens brightness.

The Sigma DP1 in street-shooting configuration, with the (optional) hood and VF-11 viewfinder attached. On the whole, it handles well set up this way. The lens is very effectively shielded from stray light as well as knocks and smudges, and I find it more natural to take pictures through the viewfinder than off the LCD. It doesn't fit into a pocket as nicely, though, and there's no way to use a lens cap.

The Sigma DP1 represents a direction in digital camera design that I desperately want to succeed. It doesn't attempt to be something for everyone; rather, it is designed for a more narrow mission, and is designed to perform that as well as possible. It combines extremely compact size with a superb 28 mm equivalent, f/4.0 lens, and an APS-C sized, 4.7 million pixel location Foveon X3 sensor. Its hardware focus wheel indicates that is designed to be easily used in manual-focus mode. Sigma also makes an accessory viewfinder that fits in the flash hotshoe, which means that it can be used at the eye, like a traditional film camera, rather than by framing from the LCD at arm's length, like most compacts. If someone made cameras to order, the DP1 would be very close to how I'd spec one for myself.

This article is not a comprehensive review of the Sigma DP1. The camera has a quite a few features that I don't even mention. Instead, these are "field notes" about the camera's suitability for a particular type of photographer, and particular kind of photography -- myself, and the kind of pictures I take. Therefore, please takes these thoughts for what they are, and, as always, draw your own conclusions.