Sigma Fp on demo day at local store

[m9photo]

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I visited my local camera store today as they have demo day on Few products/brands. I had a chance to get my hands and play little bit with the new Sigma Fp.

This camera is so small !!! just like my old Canon G5 back in the day. 

It will be a nice to pair this camera with M lenses! not with Leica or Panasonic L or even Sigma own lines due to size. I did put on the L lens (store demo SL summilux). AF worked flawlessly, too bad I didn't have enough time to play longer and learn all the layout buttons (some other people were waiting to get their hands on it too).

Basically all screen on the back and few buttons on bottom of screen/side and on top. 

Many accessories can be paired with this camera, possibilities is endless for sure as part of L alliance.

Price wise, it's little bit too much, for $1899, and that's just camera if you want to add few more accessories then more $$.

I'll definitely have interest for this camera in the future as a second/third body but not with that price.

Edited November 3, 2019 by m9photo

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[frame-it]

people seem to be adapting all kinds of lenses on it already..some really nice pics online... quite tempting.......

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sigmafp/

[hillavoider]

do you think this view finder would work?? 

 

 

[frame-it]

though this looks intriguing

 

[LocalHero1953]

Mine has just arrived. My TL2 is boxed up for sale, but I pulled it out for this comparison: the fp has the same body height, narrower width, but fatter.
Done little so far other than set the obvious things in the menu and made selections for the Quick Start. It came with one battery that went flat quickly, but it takes CL batteries, which I had charged to hand. 
Solid in the hand, and a menu that is no better/worse than Leica's - though it has more settings. I haven't ventured into Cine mode yet.
I bought it from B&H, making a chunky saving on UK prices, with the downside that it came with a US USB charging adapter: 110-240V, but fixed US socket pins. I have other adapters to hand though. 

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[m9photo]

8 hours ago, hillavoider said:

do you think this view finder would work?? 

 

 

They have so many add ons, at the point you're adding those it will cost you as a full size camera.

They have the other viewfinder that pretty much attached to the back of the body and cover the whole lcd screen.

https://www.sigmaphoto.com/lcd-view-finder-lvf-11

IMHO, good concept but price wise no way for me personally getting this camera.

[helged]

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4 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Mine has just arrived. My TL2 is boxed up for sale, but I pulled it out for this comparison: the fp has the same body height, narrower width, but fatter.
Done little so far other than set the obvious things in the menu and made selections for the Quick Start. It came with one battery that went flat quickly, but it takes CL batteries, which I had charged to hand. 
Solid in the hand, and a menu that is no better/worse than Leica's - though it has more settings. I haven't ventured into Cine mode yet.
I bought it from B&H, making a chunky saving on UK prices, with the downside that it came with a US USB charging adapter: 110-240V, but fixed US socket pins. I have other adapters to hand though. 

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Looking forward to your initial impression(s)! Quite nice body size for a FF sensor system - as a pocketable body (given a smallish lens, that is). For me, it could work as a 2nd body. 

Edited November 4, 2019 by helged

[LocalHero1953]

A few other comments, without having actually taken many photos. I'll take some tomorrow in better light.

- The fp balances very well with the SL Summicrons (I have the 90), with the left hand mainly grasping the lens and the heel of the palm under the body. 

- Not unexpectedly the 90-280 SL is just too impractical. I'll try the 24-90 tomorrow.

- It feels nice with my M lenses - Summaron 35 f/2.8, Summilux 35 FLE, Apo-Summicron 50 and Apo Summicron 75 - but I really need to try it in anger, to see how easy it is to turn the aperture and focus rings. I don't expect to use this camera for rapid action, so manual focusing on the LCD is not too much of a handicap.

- I don't usually use a grip, and I don't feel the need for one with the fp. My left hand does most of the holding, and my right stabilises it. The key buttons - front dial, shutter button on top, and the three buttons and dial on the back RHS, all fall naturally to the forefinger or thumb. The 'settings' buttons on the lower edge of the back don't need quick access, but make sense where they are.

- Setting Custom settings (User Profiles in Leica-speak) are difficult to get my head round. There are only three of them, which is disappointing, and you can't rename them as aides-memoires. On the other hand, quite a lot of the settings can be different depending on whether you're in Still or Cine mode. Unfortunately not all of them can be: White Balance is not one of them; I like to set AWB for stills and fixed WB for video, thus I will have to have separate Custom settings for still and video.

- There are a few glitches in the menus and firmware which I assume will get sorted, though some may be just because Sigma does things a bit differently from Leica, and the manual does not explain all the menu settings - intuition is needed.

- I wish Sigma had taken a leaf from the design book for the S and SL, and left buttons unlabelled. It took me a long time to realise that the AEL button is used a bit like a Fn button to open up a number of other options. AEL/AFL is only one of its functions.

- I've done limited testing with my L lenses, and mainly indoors in low light. AF with the Summicron SL 90 is very quick, but misses focus sometimes. I have tried Tracking, but only in low light, where it wasn't that good. I haven't tried Face/Eye AF, nor AFc.

- Shooting JPGs is slow - it takes a couple of seconds to save a shot. Shooting DNGs is as quick as one could wish.

- Lightroom reads the Sigma DNGs without problems. I haven't tried Sigma Photo Pro.

Edited November 4, 2019 by LocalHero1953

[LocalHero1953]

I have just tried the 16-35 and 24-90 SL zooms on the fp. After comparing the balance on the SL and fp, and despite my comment about not being a grip aficionado, I think a grip would make these a lot more comfortable, and certainly practical. I realise that on the SL I rely on both a handstrap and the chunky round (integral) grip to release my left hand to turn the zoom ring. Something similar on the fp might work. In fact I could probably make my own (a nice piece of polished oak), since it is only fastened to the body by a tripod screw and locating pin on the RHS. Others have reported that Sigma's own grips are not good.

[brunner]

vor 18 Stunden schrieb LocalHero1953:

Mine has just arrived. My TL2 is boxed up for sale, but I pulled it out for this comparison: the fp has the same body height, narrower width, but fatter.
Done little so far other than set the obvious things in the menu and made selections for the Quick Start. It came with one battery that went flat quickly, but it takes CL batteries, which I had charged to hand. 
Solid in the hand, and a menu that is no better/worse than Leica's - though it has more settings. I haven't ventured into Cine mode yet.
I bought it from B&H, making a chunky saving on UK prices, with the downside that it came with a US USB charging adapter: 110-240V, but fixed US socket pins. I have other adapters to hand though. 

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Thank you for all the useful hands on informations concerning the Sigma fp!

[Alan Friedman]

I've had one in hand for a few days. I think it is a very interesting camera to join my Leica SL 601 and iPhone 11pro as daily image makers. My older (pre-coded) M lenses (summicrons and elmarits) are a logical fit in terms of size and ergonomics, but I think some of the lighter weight R lenses (the macro-elmarit 60 f2.8) will be good too. The concept of a minimalist box made larger as the needs and wants of the photographer require is perfect for me. With an M lens it will be a more friendly companion than the SL for a long trek or walk in the woods. The current range of accessories (which I hope will grow) are good initial offerings and pricing is refreshing when you are used to purchasing Leica stuff. I've ordered the smaller hand grip and the massive optical viewfinder just to experience them - together they are less than the cost of the Adapter M-L. 

Build quality is very good... doesn't feel Leica massive but very solid and weight appropriate for a digital product. The manual is a fond reminder of old Nikon and Sony stuff I've owned. I am still becoming familiar with the menus and functions, but they are not hard to learn and seem thoughtfully designed. The ability to identify an older Leica lens is not here. This is almost a relief, as the SL's inability to remember what lens was last identified after the camera powers off and on drives me crazy and I forget to set it correctly 7 times out of 10. I have been pleasantly surprised with the rendering of jpeg images and noise handling at high ISOs - both exceed the SL to my eye. I will post a few test images in a bit. I always use the EVF on the SL for image composition and focusing, but I am adapting to using the fixed rear LCD on the FP. Magnification (4 or 8X) and focus peaking make accurate focusing pretty intuitive. 

Here are links to a couple of test jpegs, unprocessed, reduced by 50% - FP + Leica macro-elmarit-R 60 f2.8 - ISO 3200

http://www.avertedimagination.com/images/FP_macro-elmarit-R_ISO3200_50.jpg

Same set-up at ISO 6400

http://www.avertedimagination.com/images/FP_macro-elmarit-R_ISO6400_50.jpg

all the best,

Alan

[Alan Friedman]

BTW, I purchased the LVF-11 optical viewfinder which just came into stock at B&H. It's one of the most expensive accessories so far ($292) and it makes the footprint of the camera about twice as big, so not something you would want to have for those "pocket camera" opportunities. That said, it is a wonderful little piece of kit. It covers the entire LCD screen and provides a 2.5X magnification for composition and focusing. There are no electronic connections - analog only - with duplicate buttons that connect with the four buttons below the LCD that are covered when the LVF is in place. It should be great for me for critical focus when the camera is connected to a telescope or long focal length lens. A very nicely engineered and executed addition for special uses and at a reasonable price.

Images below taken with focus peaking (red) enabled.

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[fredbonhomme]

Hello Alan,

i see on your picture that you use the Fp with a 35 summicron : it is exactly the same configuration I would like to use if I buy this camera.

Could you please tell me if the lens is a good match with the Fp : color drift ? Blurry corners ?

Also, do you know if in movie mode the electronic stabilization is enable with the Leica adapter (some reviewers have reported that it doesn’t work with M mount lens...).

Thanks. 

[Alan Friedman]

21 hours ago, fredbonhomme said:

Hello Alan,

i see on your picture that you use the Fp with a 35 summicron : it is exactly the same configuration I would like to use if I buy this camera.

Could you please tell me if the lens is a good match with the Fp : color drift ? Blurry corners ?

Also, do you know if in movie mode the electronic stabilization is enable with the Leica adapter (some reviewers have reported that it doesn’t work with M mount lens...).

Thanks. 

I have taken a good number of test exposures but haven’t had a chance to look at them closely. Will try to answer your questions tomorrow.

best wishes,

Alan

[Alan Friedman]

On 11/16/2019 at 1:57 AM, fredbonhomme said:

Hello Alan,

i see on your picture that you use the Fp with a 35 summicron : it is exactly the same configuration I would like to use if I buy this camera.

Could you please tell me if the lens is a good match with the Fp : color drift ? Blurry corners ?

Also, do you know if in movie mode the electronic stabilization is enable with the Leica adapter (some reviewers have reported that it doesn’t work with M mount lens...).

Thanks. 

Just to follow up, I could not get the electronic image stabilization to be selectable as an option with the M_L adapter. This setting is not compatible when other options are enabled, but I believe I had all of the conflicting settings turned off. Maybe it does not work. My feeling is that the high ISO performance might negate the need for electronic image stabilization. 

I shot many test exposures today - without the recording of lens focal length it takes a more fastidious photographer than I to record the settings and lenses in each of the pictures at the end of the day. But overall, I was happy with the M lens performance. Some softness was seen in the corners with the lens wide open. It improves  with the lens stopped down one stop. I have not studied the performance of these lenses with my M8 or with the SL... just not hugely important to me and the purposes I will put the camera and lenses to. I expect I will carry the 28, 35 and 50 with this camera, also the macro-elmarit-R 60 f2.8, and for fun, the Noct-Nikkor 58 f1.2 - a poor man's Noctilux. 

ps - apologies... my upload allowance is too small to share meaningful samples. I will upload a few samples to my website and share with hyperlinks. 

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Edited November 17, 2019 by Alan Friedman

[fredbonhomme]

Many thanks Alan. This little camera is really appealing !

[Alan Friedman]

8 hours ago, fredbonhomme said:

Many thanks Alan. This little camera is really appealing !

I agree. Will need more captures to evaluate the image quality, but it looks promising with M glass. I shot this rug to get a sense of how the edge of field looks on the Summicron-M 35 at f2. Here is a jpeg saved at full size from the DNG file. The field is unevenly lit from windows on an adjacent wall - tone adjustments were made in Photoshop to compensate. Some loss of sharpness and chromatic aberration on the outside, but overall I think this will be a nice added platform for the type of shooting that I like to do. An added bonus is I finally have a place to use the strap that came with the SL which I never liked with that weight camera but is a nice upgrade to the Sigma supplied strap!

http://www.avertedimagination.com/images/rug_35_F2.jpg

 

 

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[jankap]

Am 4.11.2019 um 14:24 schrieb LocalHero1953:

Mine has just arrived. My TL2 is boxed up for sale, but I pulled it out for this comparison: the fp has the same body height, narrower width, but fatter.

The Leica T is remarkable flat. If Leica would put a full frame sensor in it, it would be a better option still. 

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Hallo,

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