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| Category: | Digital SLRs |
Sigma SD14 launch date announced - The Sigma SD14, which has been delayed due to technical problems, will go on sale in March.
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Jargon Buster: OffSD14's availability date announcement
Thank you very much for your continued interest in Sigma products. We would like to announce the date of availability of the SD14 as follows.
Sales date from 6th March at the earliest.
Availability date of SD14 accessories.
Availability Date
AC-Adapter SAC-2: 6th March 2007
Battery Charger BC-21: 6th March 2007
Battery Pack BP-21: 6th March 2007
Power Grip PG-21: Second half of April 2007
Remote Controller RS-31: 22nd March 2007
Cable Release CR-21: 22nd March 2007
Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd
Web: www.sigma-imaging-uk.com
Tel: 01707 329 999
View Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd's directory listing.
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Exactly WHAT is the real megapixel value for this camera? I'm confused by the fancy sensor thing....
I believe it's about 4.66mp (14/3) as far as frame dimensions are concerned.
It produces more accurate colour, particularly in areas of transition, but the actual image resolution is still only 4.6Mp. It does not produce 14Mp native resolution images, these are interpolated.
In fact, out of the camera, the SD14 produces 14.155mp Jpeg images! And that is from a 14.1mp sensor.
Ian
It does not produce RAW 14Mp images. It produces 13Mb file size RAW files and 7.6Mb JPEGs. That's Megabytes, in terms of file size, not Megapixels in terms of resolution. The sensor has three layers of 4.6Mp each, which gives great colour accuracy but the RAW image is 4.6Mp.
Any views on who is likely to buy such a camera? It's quite pricey isn't it? 4MP isn't so bad even today but I'd much prefer 8 or 10MP over 4MP now. Any colour problems can be adjusted in photoshop?
Someone who needs much better colour accuracy throughout the image, at the expense of outright resolution. Possibly advertising photographers who need product shots to have much better accuracy. But as you say, everything else goes through the Photoshop mill anyway.
Quote: does not produce RAW 14Mp images. It produces 13Mb file size RAW files and 7.6Mb JPEGs. That's Megabytes, in terms of file size, not Megapixels in terms of resolution.
Well on the JPEG side according to Sigma's website it do produce 14.15 million pixel jpegs.
Taken from the Sigma Imaging site
Quote: The SIGMA SD14 incorporates both RAW and JPEG image recording formats enabling photographers to capture the highest possible picture definition and small file sizes. JPEG recording, also built in to the SD14, can be used for the following printing sizes;
Super High for A3 size prints or larger (14.15 million pixels: 4608×3072 pixels)
The Sigma will produce a 4.64 MP image WITHOUT any form of bayer interpolation. This is VERY different from a 'normal' 4.64MP camera.
Duncan, just how much time have you spent using a Foveon sensor?
I have both an SD9 and SD10. I have taken many thousands of images on a Foveon sensor.
You seem to have great difficulty in telling the difference between megapixels and megabytes!!
The SD14 will produce, from the camera, an image of 4608x3072 pixels in exactly the same way that a bayer sensor produces an image.
Using megabytes to compare image size is complete claptrap.
If you care to actually have a look, Sigma are talking about file size, not image size. They are two totally different things, as you should know!
Well whatever it is, I'll wait for the 10MP Foveon full frame sensor in a cheap Nikon... 
Are you and Duncan not getting on? ;o)
Seriously guys, shake hands, say sorry, be friends. It's not worth fighting over - and I should know having been verbally beaten up recently!
Quote: You seem to have great difficulty in telling the difference between megapixels and megabytes!!
The SD14 will produce, from the camera, an image of 4608x3072 pixels in exactly the same way that a bayer sensor produces an image.
I'm certainly not getting confused, the comments regarding Megabytes comes from Sigma's own website.
Let's get this perfectly clear. The sensor produces a RAW image of 4.6Mp. It can also produces a JPEG image of 14Mp by interpolating that 4.6Mp up to 14Mp. It does not produce a 14Mp image directly, it is not a 14Mp resolution sensor in the same fashion that other, traditional sensors are reckoned (Fuji aside), it is a sensor with three 4.6Mp layers.
Quote: the comments regarding Megabytes comes from Sigma's own website.
Yes, under the heading 'Filesizes', not 'image' sizes!
Yes, that's what i said, file sizes. I mentioned it as i thought you might be getting the Mp size and the Mb sizes mixed up. However, the relevant points are those that i've just made in the last post.
Quote: it is not a 14Mp resolution sensor in the same fashion that other, traditional sensors are reckoned
A traditional (Bayer) sensor of 14mp would have 7 million green photosensors, 3.5 million red photosensors and 3.5million blue photosensors which are interpolated inside the camera to produce a 14mp jepg image.
The SD14 has 4.66' million green photosensors, 4.66' million red photosensors and 4.66' million blue photosensors which are interpolated inside the camera to produce a 14mp jpeg image. (numbers rounded for simplicity)
That, as I said earlier, is the same way of achieving an image.
CanKon took Sigma/Foveon to court over this argument after the release of the SD9.
The result was that Sigma, on the SD10, badged it as a 10.2mp camera and that ruling stands with the SD14.
This is entirely misleading. The traditional sensor has 14Mp photo sites and a matrix over the top which detects, in a four grid pattern, whether the pixel is red, blue, or green (x2). So, as far as colour accuracy goes, it is only 25% accurate for red and blues and 50% accurate for blues. The firmware works out what the end result should be. It does not interpolate the results of the photosites. This means that the image can be detailed but colour accuracy is not 100%.
The Foveon has three 4.6Mp sensors, one for each primary colour, arranged above each other. It only produces one accurate colour for each location, and there are only then, 4.6M locations. This is then output as RAW. The other option is to wholely interpolated the image to 14Mp for on-the-fly JPEG rendering.
Observation: More than one knowledgeable person on here is mildly confused about what it (the SD14) does or doesn't do. Or at least, they are arguing about it.
Which means I'm glad I don't work for Sigma's marketing department!!!
I personally think calling it a 14 megapixel camera is sort of semi-innacurate in the traditional sense. Hopefully people that do buy it know precisely what they are getting.
Perhaps they should have called it a 4x3 camera. But then... no, hold on, what's that thing by Olympus again?
Just in case anyone gets the wrong impression from this, it should also be pointed out that a 4.6Mp Foveon sensor picture would be hugely better than a 4.6Mp picture from a Bayer-type sensor, because of exactly the fact that it has three photo-site layers to draw the colour information from. You can then successfully interpolate that image because the source is considerably more accurate.
Eco - the moral of the story is that trying to compare Foveron and Bayer sensor technologies is a minefield.
Mattw
Not for me - I have all the experience of ... er... Duncan and Ian :oD
Quote: Possibly advertising photographers who need product shots to have much better accuracy.
Nope.
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