SIGMA sd Quattro | SHOOTING REPORT Vol.02

sd Quattro SHOOTING REPORT 01 | sd Quattro SHOOTING REPORT 02 | sd Quattro SHOOTING REPORT 03

You may have already been enjoying this jolly Star Festival gift from SIGMA. To be honest, I was most surprised by the price. When a body featuring the Foven Quattro sensor is cheaper than an ordinary lens, I, as an SDI Merrill user, had to buy it. No one in our editorial desk knew I had the SDI because they almost hadn’t seen myself using it. Here’s my excuse. It’s just that I used the DP series more. I bought dp Quattro cameras rather than SA mount lenses. Anyway, just like many Foveon believers, I shooting this camera in the first weekend since it was released. (Click the images to view them at the original size.)

( Photography / Text : Serow )

Significant improvement in operation (for a SIGMA camera)

Because of the operation and interface based on the dp Quattro series, the improvement is obvious. They are free from the consensus of SLR cameras. Since the dp Quattro, I feel they are not afraid of being eccentric to have interesting features. The body shape is also unique, but I think it looks so cool. The handgrip feels easier to hold than it looks. Yet, the edge hits my body when I wear it across my shoulder just like the dp Quattro.

Because the rear LCD screen is beautiful, I even felt nostalgic about the SD series whose LCD wasn’t very beautiful. The process of checking images by magnifying them is essential to the Foveon cameras. The image quality of the EVF is at the level of makeshift, but we can’t ask more from a body with this price range. Anyway, the focus-peaking function powerfully assists manual focusing. The UI including the menu structure follows the sophisticated one of the dp Quattro. Because I feel so motivated by looking at it, I stopped using the Merrill bodies. In addition, the menu looks beautiful even in Japanese.

The potential of the Quattro sensor becomes most obvious in rain situation. Just press the shutter button and you’ll get stunning results. AF has improved dramatically (for a SIGMA camera). It’s not super-fast but accurate. Of course, you can switch between focus points as well.

 

We’re most attracted by the resolution of the Foveon Quattro sensor, but it also reproduces the colors and texture of the subject faithfully, presumably because the sensor converts the light to colors extremely accurately and elaborately at pixel level. And, the Foveon sensor can best express metal, water, and easily-saturated colors like red.

White color is also difficult to reproduce with ordinary cameras. The sd Quattro wonderfully reproduced subtle color differences of the flowers. I suggest you to shoot it under to adjust the tone curve with the SIGMA Photo Pro software. Try not to be perfect in exposure when shooting as it’s fun to reproduce the colors as you remember with software which is being updated constantly.

Wonderful color reproduction, putting the quality as a photography expression aside. With this camera, we can’t help but shout just to see how it renders. I took this shot to remember that we used to have pay phones like this one in the past.

The combination of fine shaping and gold paint tempted me to shoot with the Foveon sensor. When I looked at this image at original size, I regretted that I should have stopped it down further even though it was difficult in such a dark situation. With this camera I’m inclined to use the lowest sensitivity with this camera just like when I shoot film. If it’s OK to use a tripod, shoot with the Super Fine Detail mode to get happy results.

 

Savor the rendition.

Foveon camera users used to say their cameras take stunning images "when they hit the bull’s eye." As for this camera, it takes stunning quality images just by pressing the shutter button. Of course, it’s not as versatile as other modern cameras. But the tips to master this camera are nothing more than "the basics of photography." Use ample light and shoot without camera-shake. Just take it easy because the camera does all the rest to generate amazing results. High quality photography was taken with medium/large format film cameras in the past when no high-speed lenses with AF were available. But, they produced myriads of masterpieces. Now with this camera, why can’t we?

 

( 2016.07.12 )