SIGMA FP with ProRes RAW and BRAW !

[Alt Shoo]

I watched the film on my 50inch plus tv and it looked beautiful! After a few minutes I totally forgot it was filmed with the fp. 

[thebrothersthre3]

micro HDMI out? 😅 😥

Still great updates though.

[RawZion]

I am now seriously considering buying the Sigma FP, which looks amazing, to complement my Sony a7iii.  On specs, the Sigma FP looks amazing, but I have the following concerns:

1.  Battery life - how long can you use it?  Obviously I could stick a USB power bank on it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a small camera right?

2.  Will anyone make an affordable variable-ND mount adapter for it?  On my Sony a7iii I mostly use Nikon primes, and have an amazing (and cheap) mount adapter where I just turn the ring to seamlessly control the exposure.  It's beautiful and there's definitely space for it with the L-Mount's short flange distance, but as far as I can tell this product doesn't exist yet.  I could use my Matte-Box which has been gathering dust for years now, but really I cannot stress just how incredible having a variable ND filter in the lens mount is.

3.  Will cropping/lossless digital zoom be useful and easy?  The Sony a7iii excels in this, and makes it easy to use one prime lens at multiple focal lengths with no loss of quality.  The Sigma's sensor is big enough, just need to know if it has that functionality.

4.  Can you see the screen in bright sunlight?  I like to shoot outdoors.  I could buy a separate EVF, but that's pushing the price up more, as well as probably putting more stress on the battery.

So those are my concerns, does anyone have any experience to share with this very promising camera?  With Canon and Sony both coming out with new cameras soon the field is very competitive, but the Sigma FP does look like a strong contender.

[imagesfromobjects]

4 hours ago, rawshooter said:

Just installed and tested the firmware, with the following results:

- CinemaDNG recordings now have proper synchronized audio in Resolve, but Resolve still doesn't recognize them as CinemaDNG sequences, only as DNG stills sequences with attached audio. I.e. it does see them as clips, but only as folders containing DNGs, and you need to recursively import them ("Import folders and subfolders").

This also means that you cannot use Sigma fp's CinemaDNG in the Cut module.

- In stills mode, the 0.1s shutter delay is unchanged. (Which also means the image you see frozen on the display after pressing the shutter is not the image that gets recorded/stored - you can test that by shooting a digital stopwatch.) So I guess this is a hardware issue and unfixable. 😞 

Yes!!! The audio syncing was driving me crazy in Resolve. Sooooo appreciated. 

 

Also, the main article on this site doesn't mention it, but the fp mov has a Color Mode = OFF option, which is ostensibly a LOG. Check it out! 

 

This may be a nitpick (given that they delivered SO MUCH) with this update, but I'd like to see something in between a completely flat profile and one with crazy sharpening artifacts - which are unfortunately evident even when sharpening is set to zero - for the times I wanna be lazy with PP and just shoot MOV. 

 

Also need to get rid of focusing square in Stills and map ISO to rear dial. 

 

Beyond that, nailed it. 

[imagesfromobjects]

11 minutes ago, RawZion said:

I am now seriously considering buying the Sigma FP, which looks amazing, to complement my Sony a7iii.  On specs, the Sigma FP looks amazing, but I have the following concerns:

1.  Battery life - how long can you use it?  Obviously I could stick a USB power bank on it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a small camera right?

2.  Will anyone make an affordable variable-ND mount adapter for it?  On my Sony a7iii I mostly use Nikon primes, and have an amazing (and cheap) mount adapter where I just turn the ring to seamlessly control the exposure.  It's beautiful and there's definitely space for it with the L-Mount's short flange distance, but as far as I can tell this product doesn't exist yet.  I could use my Matte-Box which has been gathering dust for years now, but really I cannot stress just how incredible having a variable ND filter in the lens mount is.

3.  Will cropping/lossless digital zoom be useful and easy?  The Sony a7iii excels in this, and makes it easy to use one prime lens at multiple focal lengths with no loss of quality.  The Sigma's sensor is big enough, just need to know if it has that functionality.

4.  Can you see the screen in bright sunlight?  I like to shoot outdoors.  I could buy a separate EVF, but that's pushing the price up more, as well as probably putting more stress on the battery.

So those are my concerns, does anyone have any experience to share with this very promising camera?  With Canon and Sony both coming out with new cameras soon the field is very competitive, but the Sigma FP does look like a strong contender.

I'm coming from an a7S, so here ya go. Battery life is on par, meaning that you need to bring extras if you are heading out for the day, especially shooting video. 

 

There's no "ClearImage" zoom, which is something I miss. Very handy when using primes. There is a "DC Crop Mode" which can be assigned in the Q menu. If you switch it on, it gives you a 1.5x zoom, so similar effect. Quality is excellent. You also can't focus magnify while recording video, which is annoying and I was hoping would be fixed in v2.0, but nope. 

 

If I could afford to maintain 2 systems, I'd probably pick up an a73 (I shoot 75/25 stills and video) and I've thought about swapping my fp out, but the IQ and the size are what keeps me going. It's truly astonishing. There are a few tradeoffs, so everyone would need to decide for themselves, but it's perfect for me. I'd suggest renting one for a week or so to get some hands-on experience, if you have the option. Lensrentals in the States is rad. 

 

Viewfinder in bright sunlight is rough. 

[imagesfromobjects]

Anyone figure out how to use the Dual Gain feature? I'm not seeing anything in the menu... 

[rawshooter]

45 minutes ago, RawZion said:

I am now seriously considering buying the Sigma FP, which looks amazing, to complement my Sony a7iii.  On specs, the Sigma FP looks amazing, but I have the following concerns:

1.  Battery life - how long can you use it?  Obviously I could stick a USB power bank on it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a small camera right?

[...]

4.  Can you see the screen in bright sunlight?  I like to shoot outdoors.  I could buy a separate EVF, but that's pushing the price up more, as well as probably putting more stress on the battery.
 

I do have both cameras and would say that the A7iii is the better stills camera in every respect (with mechanical shutter, an autofocus system that's several generations more advanced, much more advanced exposure metering system, dual card slots, EVF, tiltable screen, no shutter delay, possibility to use Auto-ISO in M mode with easy +/- exposure adjustment, multiple customizable function buttons, better flash sync speed, better battery life, better lens selection...). 

RAW image quality is identical since both cameras have the same sensor, and even the body size difference is not as dramatic as one may think. (The A7iii is still compact for a full frame camera.)

The A7iii is also a better video streaming/Vlogging camera because of its great video AF (whereas video AF-C of the fp remains unusable after the update).

The single advantage of the fp is RAW video recording vs. the Sony's 8bit 4:2:0 - which for me is reason enough not to use the Sony for video shooting at all.

For shooting in sunlight, you'll need a field monitor/external EVF/display loupe for the fp.

12 minutes ago, imagesfromobjects said:

Anyone figure out how to use the Dual Gain feature? I'm not seeing anything in the menu... 

It's built-in, just like in the Blackmagic Pocket 4K/6K.

From ISO100 to ISO 2500, you're using gain 1, from ISO3200, you're using gain 2. ISO100 and 3200 are the camera's two native ISOs/gains, everything else is just pushed ISO100 or ISO3200 material.

[androidlad]

"Supports HDR in movie shooting"

Anyone tested this? I wonder what it does.

[bjohn]

4 minutes ago, rawshooter said:

The single advantage of the fp is RAW video recording vs. the Sony's 8bit 4:2:0 - which for me is reason enough not to use the Sony for video shooting at all.

This is why I think it's worth seeing what Sony comes up with this year for its A7 line; there are lots of rumors of new cameras to be released soon but regardless if you're not in urgent need of a new camera it might be worth waiting to see what Sony has to offer; if the video specs are improved it could tilt the balance toward Sony.

[rawshooter]

3 minutes ago, androidlad said:

"Supports HDR in movie shooting"

Anyone tested this? I wonder what it does.

This is only for 8bit h264 mov and rather useless.

[Brian Williams]

Just seeing the name of this camera printed here puts me in a bad mood; I was one of those early adopters that had it for a month when it first came out, took on a trip to Denmark even, and returned it harder than any camera I’ve ever returned before, it left such a bad taste in my mouth. It’s marketed as a hybrid camera, yet the AF was abysmal for stills, like really bad, like it makes the Blackmagic cameras seems like they have dual pixel AF. I was ok with not being able to playback CDNG in-camera (I was used to that from my early BMPCC days). But the aliasing, the unforgivable act of using a non-articulating screen, the waste of time they spend making those stupid “Cinema” color profiles and the stupid waste of button real estate spent on them as well, the fact that you couldn’t easily switch between Cine and Stills mode without ALL your settings (shutter, iso) carrying over as well, it all left me with such disdain for Sigma.

(They did release 3D models of the camera which allowed me to 3D print a hand grip, that was pretty cool actually).

So, like most, I returned the camera, only to read them announce this upcoming firmware which would include Cinemagraphs (hahaha), and ProRes RAW... The Z6 getting ProRes RAW was a pretty exciting read. The Sigma FP on the other hand, the camera that already records raw onto a $70 SSD, hmm, not quite sure this is something this camera was calling out for in the first place. But I guess someone, somewhere, can import footage easier now, is that the advantage? Great use of 8 months of firmware update time Sigma!

[Chris Whitten]

Just about to download the update. Super excited about Braw. I'd love to sell my Pocket 4K, but yeah, I don't really want to add anything bulky to my rig.

I really enjoy using the FP in stills mode. I use it in manual with vintage lenses and I would compare it favourably to a lot of other brands. 

 

[Video Hummus]

8 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Maybe one day Atomos will take the hint about doing a 4K Ninja Star.

I’m really surprised they don’t have this already. It would sell well. I could see it being used with EOS R owners, GH5/S owners, anybody that wants to eek out more bit-depth and chroma space if their camera supports it.

Especially if it was small enough or shaped like a side grip for a cage.

[Brian Williams]

Also, just saw in the Cinema 5D article (I know, I know...) that “SIGMA has confirmed that implementing a LOG picture profile for enhanced Dynamic Range and greater creativity when coloring is not possible in this camera due to technical limitations. Turning “off” the color processing (Picture Mode off) is seemingly as close as one will get.”

[imagesfromobjects]

Ok, so can we start a consolidated wish list for firmware v2.1? They're obviously listening to feedback, but maybe it would be helpful for them. I don't know the best way to reach them, but maybe someone else does? 

 

My requests:

 

1. Ability to focus magnify while recording video. Essential. 

 

2. Ability to assign ISO to rear dial. As it stands, shooting full Manual with adapted lenses, there's no reason to have electronic control over the aperture and you need to dive into the menu to change ISO. Silly. 

 

3. The white focusing square doesn't disappear in stills mode ever. Distracting and intrusive for composing. 

 

4. Ability to disable sharpening *completely* in all color modes. The "Color Mode = OFF" addition is wonderful, but it is essential to disable sharpening for video, especially when there's no AA filter, and some of the color modes are REALLY NICE otherwise. Any sharpening causes horrible artifacts. 

 

And, before anyone says "just shoot CinemaDNG" - I do, but 80% of my stuff is just home movies, and MOV files are *almost* good enough out-of-camera for that purpose, minus the above mentioned artifacts. 

[Andrew Reid]

2 minutes ago, imagesfromobjects said:

2. Ability to assign ISO to rear dial. As it stands, shooting full Manual with adapted lenses, there's no reason to have electronic control over the aperture and you need to dive into the menu to change ISO. Silly.

It is first item in the quick menu so one button press and you can change ISO on the dial.

I do agree that you should be able to configure ISO to a different button though.

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

14 minutes ago, Brian Williams said:

Also, just saw in the Cinema 5D article (I know, I know...) that “SIGMA has confirmed that implementing a LOG picture profile for enhanced Dynamic Range and greater creativity when coloring is not possible in this camera due to technical limitations. Turning “off” the color processing (Picture Mode off) is seemingly as close as one will get.”

I will ask Sigma about it as well. Let's see if this is actually correct, as we don't know if the source C5D asked is a senior engineer or someone in sales.

[Lars Steenhoff]

22 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

I will ask Sigma about it as well. Let's see if this is actually correct, as we don't know if the source C5D asked is a senior engineer or someone in sales.

It was the product planner from sigma who said it

It will be researched for the next camera.

[Simon Young]

The fact that this beautifully designed and engineered camera doesn’t overheat thanks to it’s clever use of a heatsink puts many other manufacturers to shame. They should thus take notice and pay their respects to this simple yet extremely elegant solution. It makes me even want to buy a Sigma fp just to support the company, even though I don’t really need the camera.

[rawshooter]

2 hours ago, Chris Whitten said:

Just about to download the update. Super excited about Braw.

 

But you are aware of the fact that BRAW can only be recorded externally by the newest model of the BM Video Assist, with firmware yet to be released?