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Sigma fp – World's smallest & lightest mirrorless full frame camera


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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/4/2019 at 4:19 AM, hillavoider said:

is the eye detect AF any good? 

I had a chance to test it alongside the SL this evening, with the 90-280 SL zoom. I was shooting rehearsals in a hall lit with fluorescent lighting; fairly harsh light, and I used ISO 1600 most of the time. You can choose either Face or Face+Eye, in addition to whatever other focus settings you select i.e. if it can't ind a face or eye it will default to whatever that is - in my case it was auto multi-point. I mostly used AFs, because I rarely use AFc. I sometimes use tracking.

In these conditions face and eye detect worked, but not reliably; given enough time to see enough of a face it would find the eye, or the face, but it wasn't quick. This may be because it was a non-Sigma lens: on the fp the 90-280 was quite slow (i.e. slow focus movement) but when I put the same lens on the SL it was its usual blinding fast (the SL doesn't have explicit eye detect, though I've often suspected that it does actually focus on the eye in the face it identifies). I have no doubt the eye-detect on the fp would work well for portraits - but it is not good for more rapid movement.

Tracking was not too bad, but I need to try again with a shorter lens - the 24-90 would be better for the circumstances I was in.

I admit I wouldn't choose this combination of 90-280 + fp, using the rear screen for composing, for comfortable hand holding - it just felt idiotic not having a viewfinder. It put me in mind of Dr Johnson. The only other lens I had with me was the 16-35 SL, but I wasn't close enough to faces to see how that worked. .

The experience convinced me that the fp without an EVF is a handy still camera for shorter and physically smaller lenses, but I'm not sure there are many scenarios where I would want to use it with face/eye detect, even if it worked better than it does. For stills I would rather use it with a lenses less than 50mm - I'm tempted by the Sigma 45mm, but I'm not sure I would use it enough, once the novelty of the fp wore off - I would rather use the CL for casual stills, the SL for stills for events and performance, and keep the fp for video.

As an aside I used it for video on a stand without problems - setting it up and operating it was straightforward, and it is neatly designed to take a mic in the cold shoe attachment, an SSD card clamped to the side, and an AC adapter for running off mains power.

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On 10/26/2019 at 7:09 PM, Athornton said:

Hi Paul,

The viewfinder feels like a large bright EVF. Whilst it obviously makes the camera much larger, with the small handle it is really comfortable to hold to the eye and the whole set-up feels sturdy.

The viewfinder incorporates buttons to replicate those blocked on the back of the camera. 

The downsides are that you are unlikely to take it off in the field once it is on and you start shooting, and it doesn’t flip down if you need to use the touch screen.

I was in 2 minds but am glad I got it. Time will tell how much use it gets as it rather contradicts the rationale for buying a small camera...

Best regards

 

Andrew

 

I think there are probably quite a few who like me would love to give this camera a try for stills to use with M lenses if only it wasn't for that very silly sized add on viewfinder.  Even one as poor as the 020 would be preferable.

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1 hour ago, Boojay said:

I think there are probably quite a few who like me would love to give this camera a try for stills to use with M lenses if only it wasn't for that very silly sized add on viewfinder.  Even one as poor as the 020 would be preferable.

I agree. There is a multipin connector on the side which the hotshoe attachment uses. Unless it's solely for flash signals, maybe Sigma will use it to develop a more practical add-on EVF.

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Just got it Sunday, as a cine option for my L mount adapters and lenses that will go along side my SL and S1. I used it without the firmware update and was impressed with the video right out of camera with a little tweaks, have not yet attached and SSD but looking forward to the 12 bit color depth. I updated the firmware to the 1.01 update yesterday and will put it through its paces.

 

I'm impressed with the stills too, yes its a little weird with M mount glass, but its a far cry better than the Lumix S. I'll keep my M to have an ultimate M lens image, and my SL to really dial it in on fast glass, but this is a nice cine-version/and stills on set for my tiny M lenses.

 

I will have to read over the comments here, but so far there are few caveats. Sigma's attention to detail is amazing! I just need to accessorize this thing.

 

Any suggestions to keep it small but add all the perks of a SSD, etc. Thanks in advance!

 

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17 minutes ago, bilbrown said:

 

 

I'm impressed with the stills too, yes its a little weird with M mount glass, but its a far cry better than the Lumix S. I'll keep my M to have an ultimate M lens image, and my SL to really dial it in on fast glass, but this is a nice cine-version/and stills on set for my tiny M lenses.

 

 

 

Now you have me intrigued.  In what way... "far cry better than the Lumix S" with M glass.

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Bill, I have mine set up for static video with the hotshoe accessory, a mic in the hotshoe, and a Samsung T5 SSD in a clamp bolted to the strap mount on the same accessory. It is fitted to a Manfrotto fluid head via a Smallrig Arca-Swiss baseplate and corresponding clamp bolted to the fluid head. I also have the AC adapter, to allow for longer running than the battery will allow (which is about an hour). This all makes a fairly compact unit, and is more or less what I bought it for. If you wanted a mobile set up you might want to get into gimbals or shoulder mounts and monitors, which would bulk it up a bit. 

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Anyone shot the Sigma fp with wide lenses like the 18 Super Elmar or even the 16 Hologon? 

Thinking that the full electronic shutter would allow using the 16 Zeiss Hologon lens !

 

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2 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Bill, I have mine set up for static video with the hotshoe accessory, a mic in the hotshoe, and a Samsung T5 SSD in a clamp bolted to the strap mount on the same accessory. It is fitted to a Manfrotto fluid head via a Smallrig Arca-Swiss baseplate and corresponding clamp bolted to the fluid head. I also have the AC adapter, to allow for longer running than the battery will allow (which is about an hour). This all makes a fairly compact unit, and is more or less what I bought it for. If you wanted a mobile set up you might want to get into gimbals or shoulder mounts and monitors, which would bulk it up a bit. 

that sounds about right and besides the AC adapter which I looked at (or V mount adapter which I can't seem to find to buy anywhere). I also am about to try it out with my T5, and yep, I have that same Manfrotto head and Arch-Swiss adapter!! I have to get a clamp for the T5.

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2 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Bill, I have mine set up for static video with the hotshoe accessory, a mic in the hotshoe, and a Samsung T5 SSD in a clamp bolted to the strap mount on the same accessory. It is fitted to a Manfrotto fluid head via a Smallrig Arca-Swiss baseplate and corresponding clamp bolted to the fluid head. I also have the AC adapter, to allow for longer running than the battery will allow (which is about an hour). This all makes a fairly compact unit, and is more or less what I bought it for. If you wanted a mobile set up you might want to get into gimbals or shoulder mounts and monitors, which would bulk it up a bit. 

Also, I have a gimble.

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3 hours ago, Boojay said:

Now you have me intrigued.  In what way... "far cry better than the Lumix S" with M glass.

The LUMIX S1(R/H) don't even give a close approximation of how the Leica sensors work with M glass. The Sigma has a very similar rendering to the M9, oddly, but I like it!

Edited by bilbrown
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3 hours ago, Boojay said:

Now you have me intrigued.  In what way... "far cry better than the Lumix S" with M glass.

The LUMIX S1(R/H) don't even give a close approximation of how the Leica sensors work with M glass - thick sensor glass, different from SL. The Sigma has a very similar rendering to the M9, oddly, but I like it! 

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36 minutes ago, verwackelt said:

Are there any FP-raws (still) taken with M Glass for download in the WWW?
 

There is an interesting discussion on the Fred Miranda forum about the FP might be of interest to you https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1619170/3 though not sure any RAW for download but users tests with M lenses.

 

 

 

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FP with Leica M 28mm cron version 1 with variable ND

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44 minutes ago, verwackelt said:

Nice set up.
How is it to take shot from that height with that fixed display?
Dirty Knees and elbows? Or is it managable?

Could you provide a RAW file for playing around? i am curious how the files look with M wa-lenses…
 

The tripod was easy to use on my car but not so good on the floor ; )  I do have a full size tripod but I wanted to play around and see what the video looks like. This tripod and body are a very small, light package that I can add to my usual Leica SL travel kit on vacation, however.

The still files look unacceptable with this particular lens. Version 1 and it has smearing in the corners. For video at 16:9 the corners aren't important and I can also force APS-c for a tighter FOV. I'm using this FP body to replace a Sony A7S for video projects where I use a set of Leica M lenses (24, 28, 35, 50, 90) and don't care about stills. I have a Leica SL for that purpose.

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