One Small Step For Man, One Large Step For Cameras-The New Sigma DP-1
Have you ever been on a dive with you big DSLR camera-lining up perfect macro shots when, say; a manta ray swims past you. How about you are taking reef scenics with a fisheye when you hear the dive master taping the back of his tank-it’s a blue ring in a small crevice. No? Surely then you have experienced a dive when you spot a beautiful moray, tucked away in a small hole. The subject would be perfect for your lens, but your rig and strobes can’t make it into the crevices. Those divers with small compact cameras that were drooling over your fancy set up, are now happily firing away at blue rings, manta rays and morays in the smallest of crevices on the same dive while you are stuck looking at your 6 to 7 times more expensive camera.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love point and shoot cameras-not just for the reasons I mentioned above, but because they also take really nice pictures as well. I only recently switched to DSLR. However, the reason the single lens reflex cameras are so much bigger than the point and shoot counterparts is because they get a nice, big light-absorbing sensor. Right? I would never trade in my 6.1 mega pixel d100 for the top of line 10 mega pixel point and shoot, because well, mega pixels don’t really matter that much. This is what David Pogue simply and articulately argues in a recent article for the New York Times. He puts in very uncomplicated language what exactly makes an SLR worth the extra money and weight. Pogue points out that lens quality, circuitry speed, in camera processing and, of course, sensor size are what we should look for in camera quality.
So what was the point of my rant on the positives of compact cameras only tell you their limitation in sensor size? What is the point of Pogue’s explaining what makes a good camera good? Well its because Sigma, with its DP-1 has taken a SLR sized sensor and put in a compact camera. Its no surprise Sigma has done it, though a reputable lens crafter they haven’t exactly been top dog in SLR sales and, thus, could release the camera without too much worry of it cannibalizing on their camera sales. However, worrying about their SLR sales is not the only obstacle camera makers had to overcome to create a pocket camera with a large sensor. Price, admitting that sensors are more important than megapixels and lens physics are all listed in Pogues article as why the technology has taken so long. Sigma, apparently still released the camera without completely addressing all the issues.
First, the camera is as expensive as your feared. Street price is about $770.-a little more than your typical compact camera. Other problems prompted this line from Pogue :
“No zoom, no stabilizer, no focus lamp, no optical viewfinder, no live histogram; weak flash, washed-out screen, quarter-size movies, infinite shutter lag, loose lens cap. Hello, Sigma? 1998 called. It wants its camera back.”
On land, many of those features may annoy a consumer for a 700 dollar plus camera. However, underwater are they that big of a deal? Loose lens cap, small movies, weak flash-no problemo. No stabilizer? Not that big of deal since your strobe should freeze the action. No optical viewfinder could be a problem for some who can get adjusted to live view-especially with a washed-out screen. (apparently the screen turns black and white in low light, despite the pictures still being in color. Would a poor viz, overcast deep dive turn the lcd screen black and white?) No live histogram is just plain silly, there is no reason to leave out such an important feature. Infinite shutter lag means they didn’t quite get to the SLR in a compact camera size level yet.
However, the big deal breaker for most land consumers is the lack of zoom. It was when Pogue was comically demonstrating how to zoom with the Sigma DP-1--via getting up and getting physically closer to subject-- that I realized “hey that’s how I zoom underwater.” The lens is 16.6 mm and, according to Pogue focuses at minimum on 1 foot. Obviously, this means macro is out. However, for wide angle, this could be very interesting. With a 16.6 mm lens, you don’t want to use your cameras zoom underwater, you want to get as close as possible to the subject, right? Perfect! Professional quality wide angle shots at half the size! Uhhh, maybe not. With wide angle you would need two powerful strobes making your compact camera a whole let less compact.
Despite its short comings, its an interesting advancement and may be one of the largest steps we have seen in compact cameras in a long time-way more that those image stabilizers or even more mega pixels. Could there be underwater potential in the Sigma DP-1? Absolutely. Of course, all we need now is a housing. Maybe the DP-1.5 could have a 60 or 100 mm lens? Then you would have the most compact macro camera with professional image quality. Does this help my envy of those compact camera photographers shooting blue rings and mantas on the same dive? No. Still, it’s a step in the right direction. So like Pogue, I will be excited for the DP-2.
