Sigma's secret weapon - SD Quattro review, an incredible filmic 8K timelapse tool with infrared capabilities

[Mattias Burling]

Commence Firmware Update!

[SMGJohn]

So I took the camera out in the nature when there was a lot of light hitting the Foveon censor thinking that this behaves a lot like old CCD sensors, if you do not feed them enough light they start to suffer.

As someone suggested I took these at F5.6 to give them both fair chance. Both the Samsung NX1 and the Sigma SD Quattro are shot at ISO 100 and same lens range, same everything including standard picture profiles, nothing is touched on in Photoshop just cropped. turned off Sigma PhotoPro 6 noise reduction when exporting X3F RAW files to JPEG.

And as I suspected, the Foveon was not getting enough light, the Sigma F2.8 lens is definitely nowhere near the premium glass of Samsung F2-2.8 16-50mm S lens. 
The Sigma absolutely destroys the Samsung in resolution and I noticed how the Sigma seem to get more in focus than the Samsung does, straight out the bat the colour resolution seem to be superior on the Sigma but if you turn up colour vibrancy on Samsung raw files they start to match very closely, amazing technology for Samsung part but again CMOS weakness shows, green bias and lack of details in red colour spectrum.

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - RIGHT Sigma SD Quattro

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - RIGHT Sigma SD Quattro

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - MIDDLE Sigma SD Quattr - RIGHT Samsung NX1 Photoshop Match

 

This is by no means scientific tests but they are field tests and I always believe that field tests show more in practicality than some lab room tests but the Sigma SD Quattro in the right hands and in the right conditions is a superior camera however its not versatile and the NX1 will destroy it in multi use from low light to harsher conditions and so on. 
Still, its a real fun camera to use, its like shooting film, you just have to breath in and have patience the AF system is pretty slow too and its pretty hard to pull focus on the awful sets of display units you have at your disposal. 

Someone mentioned the Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro, one of the last DSLR's with a CCD sensor, like Foveon these tend to provide a more organic image than CMOS.
I been looking to acquire one, they go for pretty good prices on eBay and in pristine condition from Japan. Just like Foveon though they have shit low light performance and are only good when there is lots of lights or at lower ISO's, the FinePix is suppose to deliver amazing colours however, of most CMOS sensors I think Samsung has the nicest colours however you still notice its CMOS because the way it handles greens and reds and how clinical it is at times. 

[Ed_David]

6 hours ago, SMGJohn said:

So I took the camera out in the nature when there was a lot of light hitting the Foveon censor thinking that this behaves a lot like old CCD sensors, if you do not feed them enough light they start to suffer.

As someone suggested I took these at F5.6 to give them both fair chance. Both the Samsung NX1 and the Sigma SD Quattro are shot at ISO 100 and same lens range, same everything including standard picture profiles, nothing is touched on in Photoshop just cropped. turned off Sigma PhotoPro 6 noise reduction when exporting X3F RAW files to JPEG.

And as I suspected, the Foveon was not getting enough light, the Sigma F2.8 lens is definitely nowhere near the premium glass of Samsung F2-2.8 16-50mm S lens. 
The Sigma absolutely destroys the Samsung in resolution and I noticed how the Sigma seem to get more in focus than the Samsung does, straight out the bat the colour resolution seem to be superior on the Sigma but if you turn up colour vibrancy on Samsung raw files they start to match very closely, amazing technology for Samsung part but again CMOS weakness shows, green bias and lack of details in red colour spectrum.

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - RIGHT Sigma SD Quattro

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - RIGHT Sigma SD Quattro

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - MIDDLE Sigma SD Quattr - RIGHT Samsung NX1 Photoshop Match

 

This is by no means scientific tests but they are field tests and I always believe that field tests show more in practicality than some lab room tests but the Sigma SD Quattro in the right hands and in the right conditions is a superior camera however its not versatile and the NX1 will destroy it in multi use from low light to harsher conditions and so on. 
Still, its a real fun camera to use, its like shooting film, you just have to breath in and have patience the AF system is pretty slow too and its pretty hard to pull focus on the awful sets of display units you have at your disposal. 

Someone mentioned the Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro, one of the last DSLR's with a CCD sensor, like Foveon these tend to provide a more organic image than CMOS.
I been looking to acquire one, they go for pretty good prices on eBay and in pristine condition from Japan. Just like Foveon though they have shit low light performance and are only good when there is lots of lights or at lower ISO's, the FinePix is suppose to deliver amazing colours however, of most CMOS sensors I think Samsung has the nicest colours however you still notice its CMOS because the way it handles greens and reds and how clinical it is at times. 

damn you tricked me!  i though the third image was the quattro!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

damn we are bidding against each other on that finepix then!

[Nikkor]

Guys, don't bid on eBay until the last moment, don't start bidding wars. 

[Ed_David]

30 minutes ago, Nikkor said:

Guys, don't bid on eBay until the last moment, don't start bidding wars. 

Yea, I screwed up on that one!  I thought since he had no feedback no one would risk it.  

Opps.

[HockeyFan12]

12 hours ago, SMGJohn said:

So I took the camera out in the nature when there was a lot of light hitting the Foveon censor thinking that this behaves a lot like old CCD sensors, if you do not feed them enough light they start to suffer.

As someone suggested I took these at F5.6 to give them both fair chance. Both the Samsung NX1 and the Sigma SD Quattro are shot at ISO 100 and same lens range, same everything including standard picture profiles, nothing is touched on in Photoshop just cropped. turned off Sigma PhotoPro 6 noise reduction when exporting X3F RAW files to JPEG.

And as I suspected, the Foveon was not getting enough light, the Sigma F2.8 lens is definitely nowhere near the premium glass of Samsung F2-2.8 16-50mm S lens. 
The Sigma absolutely destroys the Samsung in resolution and I noticed how the Sigma seem to get more in focus than the Samsung does, straight out the bat the colour resolution seem to be superior on the Sigma but if you turn up colour vibrancy on Samsung raw files they start to match very closely, amazing technology for Samsung part but again CMOS weakness shows, green bias and lack of details in red colour spectrum.

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - RIGHT Sigma SD Quattro

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - RIGHT Sigma SD Quattro

 

LEFT Samsung NX1 - MIDDLE Sigma SD Quattr - RIGHT Samsung NX1 Photoshop Match

 

This is by no means scientific tests but they are field tests and I always believe that field tests show more in practicality than some lab room tests but the Sigma SD Quattro in the right hands and in the right conditions is a superior camera however its not versatile and the NX1 will destroy it in multi use from low light to harsher conditions and so on. 
Still, its a real fun camera to use, its like shooting film, you just have to breath in and have patience the AF system is pretty slow too and its pretty hard to pull focus on the awful sets of display units you have at your disposal. 

Someone mentioned the Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro, one of the last DSLR's with a CCD sensor, like Foveon these tend to provide a more organic image than CMOS.
I been looking to acquire one, they go for pretty good prices on eBay and in pristine condition from Japan. Just like Foveon though they have shit low light performance and are only good when there is lots of lights or at lower ISO's, the FinePix is suppose to deliver amazing colours however, of most CMOS sensors I think Samsung has the nicest colours however you still notice its CMOS because the way it handles greens and reds and how clinical it is at times. 

Nice! This looks about right to me. Makes me wish I lived somewhere more scenic, too!

[Ed_David]

And now we have this new CMOS technology that has unique red, blue and green photosites.  The sample images look amazing - Look at that red.

 

https://www.phaseone.com/trichromatic

[SMGJohn]

3 hours ago, Ed_David said:

And now we have this new CMOS technology that has unique red, blue and green photosites.  The sample images look amazing - Look at that red.

 

https://www.phaseone.com/trichromatic

God, I will have nightmares about the cost of that thing when released, on the other hand the samples look very nice, I will wait for review samples though the advertisers like to Photoshop their images before publish. 

[Mattias Burling]

I have done some testing around the house and garden with the DP3Q and the colors and details are just out of this world.
Much better than I got with the SDQ due to the awesome 50mm lens.
Its Macro capabilities is very fun and welcome as well.

I knew it would wipe the floor detail wise with the other high mp cameras that I have had/have.
But that it would be this much clearer not only in tonality.. I'm blown.

AF is pretty good to. Better than excepted but still slow of course compared to a a6000 or something.
Focus ring is very smooth. Screen is nice. Grip is.. there... at least

I will hopefully have some interesting samples to post soon.

 

[HockeyFan12]

16 hours ago, Ed_David said:

And now we have this new CMOS technology that has unique red, blue and green photosites.  The sample images look amazing - Look at that red.

 

https://www.phaseone.com/trichromatic

Those images look amazing.

I think all that tech really is is marketing speak for much thicker bayer filter array color filters on a standard sensor, filters designed to accept a much narrower part of the spectrum. Current BFA filters are broadband in order to improve low light ability (more light hitting the chip) and then there's a lot of crazy math done to attempt to compensate for the overlapping color information. These look narrow, like Velvia.

I talked with a company (that makes notch color filters for color blind people) about producing a sample notch filter for use for stills and video. Basically a super strong ND filter that blocks selectively the colors where BFA filters overlap. It wouldn't provide "accurate" color, but it would provide dramatically more vivid color.

Unfortunately my talks went nowhere.

Someone could do this. It would take a lot of work and some money, but producing a "vivid color nd" (while not as good as the above product) could be viable. 

[Mattias Burling]

Im hoping to shoot my first share worthy images today. Right now its postponed due to rain.
But like I said earlier, the DP3Q Macro is a welcome feature

 

[Mattias Burling]

After a full day with nothing but the DP3Q I must say, despite it being Sigma and a 75mm eq it was quite the street performer.
(Pun absolutely intended  )

[Ed_David]

Awesome - can you shoot a fruit bowl plate spread, with red apples, yellow bannanas - compare side by side your fuji?  It looks beautiful but I really want to see if its red's are rich and not orange-y.

 

That's an awesome shot!

[Nikkor]

1 minute ago, Ed_David said:

Awesome - can you shoot a fruit bowl plate spread, with red apples, yellow bannanas - compare side by side your fuji?  It looks beautiful but I really want to see if its red's are rich and not orange-y.

 

That's an awesome shot!

Have you tried portra800? 

[Ed_David]

6 minutes ago, Nikkor said:

Have you tried portra800? 

I need to  - god I could have used it last night.

I pushed it two stops on portra 400 on these beautiful streets last night in nashville - the mixed color was beautiful.  I heard push one stop is similar to portra 800, but I don't know.

I have 2 cans of cinestill 800T I am excited to try tonight

but after this test i want to try portra 800:

[Nikkor]

3 minutes ago, Ed_David said:

I need to  - god I could have used it last night.

I unexposed two stops on portra 400 on these beautiful streets last night in nashville - the mixed color was beautiful.

I have 2 cans of cinestill 800T I am excited to try tonight

Portra 400 pushed is better in lowlight than portra800. But portra 800 has impressive Reds in daylight, perfect for autumn sunsets brick alleys in New York.

[Mattias Burling]

37 minutes ago, Ed_David said:

Awesome - can you shoot a fruit bowl plate spread, with red apples, yellow bannanas - compare side by side your fuji?  It looks beautiful but I really want to see if its red's are rich and not orange-y.

 

That's an awesome shot!

I can do it tomorrow. I might have to adjust the choice of fruit since Im not much for bananas

Recommend me a good hoast site and I will upload raw samples for download.

[Tim Sewell]

@Ed_David - this is a very long thread, but there are lots of people experimenting with Portra 400 and 800 throughout the posts, together with quite an intense investigation of the best ways to rate those films for different purposes/effects: https://www.fujix-forum.com/threads/what-films-are-you-shooting-please-post-examples.48424/

[BTM_Pix]

Did some experiments yesterday using the DP3M and a Tiffen Ultra Contrast 3 to see if it smoothed things out a bit.

 

 

Contact sheet of some more from yesterday.

 

[Tiernan Ray]

An excellent write up. I've linked to the review in my article on the sd Quattro H: http://www.barrons.com/articles/sigmas-marvelous-sd-quattro-h-seeing-reality-1506011091?mod=BOL_da_rta

I agree about the DP3, as well. It's my favorite.

Cheers.