Foveon: Disruptive Image Technology Message Board

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Technology Stocks : Foveon: Disruptive Image Technology

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To: Immi who wrote (3)	11/27/2002 12:04:08 AM
From: miraje	Read Replies (1) of 36

Here's the conclusion of a new review of the Sigma SD9, the first camera to use the Foveon X3: dpreview.com Overall conclusion Foveon (a previously not-so-well-known technology company) and Sigma (never before produced a digital camera) have had the guts and innovation to come to a very aggressive and critical market with a totally new concept in digital image capture. They have made the first step in what must be seen as a revolution in digital photography. Nobody can doubt that the X3 sensor is capable of doing much of what the hype promised, capture single pixel resolution, single pixel color. Indeed, in our tests it managed to perform beyond our expectations in matching the EOS-D60 for resolution. Time after time you find yourself opening images in Photo Pro, gliding the magnifying loupe over the preview and gasping at the incredible detail this camera can 'see'. Always shooting RAW requires a change of mindset, most other digital SLR's provide image parameter control in-camera, this means you shoot a virtually finished image (JPEG) which is ready to use as soon as you can transfer it to a computer. Digital photography with the SD9 is a two stage process, firstly the photographic step of actually taking the shot, then processing each image. Thankfully the supplied Photo Pro software is excellent at this. At first you think you will simply process all your images with 'Default' or 'Auto' settings but soon the application draws you in to experimenting with its flexibility and you realize how much can be achieved with this tool. Foveon deserve credit for this software alone. That's not to say this "first of a kind" isn't without its problems. Sensitivity is limited and image sharpness and color response seem to drop off at higher ISO's. More serious is the tendency to clip color in a highlight, something I've described as "color clipping" and "gray halos". At this stage it's unclear if this is a sensor issue, a Photo Pro processing issue or a combination of the two. We're hoping Sigma / Foveon will be able to issue some kind of fix on this issue. For the time being shooting carefully so as to avoid overexposure is the key. The future success or otherwise of the X3 sensor depends on Foveon's abilities to address these issues and to continue to strive forwards with development. Sigma should be proud of the SD9 and what it's capable of, but my hope and the hope of many other photographers is that the other major camera manufacturers will now take steps to evaluate the Foveon X3 for themselves. Recommended Full review at: dpreview.com

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