From 11.03 Consumer Reports:
The most noteworthy aspect of the Sigma SD9 digital SLR camera is neither its size (very large) nor its weight (nearly 4 pounds) nor its price ($1,100 plus lenses). It’s the image sensor that it contains.
In any digital camera, the sensor registers the image in picture elements, or pixels. Most digital cameras dedicate each pixel to just one color. The Sigma’s sensor, the Foveon X3, has three layers: one for each of the primary light colors of red, green, and blue. That way, each pixel registers all three colors. The Foveon sensor’s 3.4 megapixels should supply the equivalent of 10 megapixels of data.
The Sigma is for professionals or dedicated amateurs, but we think the technology will find its way into other cameras.
In our tests, we shot photos using the camera’s default settings and printed them without alteration. (The camera uses its own photo-file format, but images can be converted to standard JPEG files later.) Under those conditions, the 3.4-megapixel Sigma yielded images that were like those from a 5-megapixel camera.
If we had used the Sigma’s image-editing software to adjust exposure, contrast, shadows, highlights, and the like, images would doubtless have looked better. The software allows a very wide range of alteration.
Bottom line: The Sigma SD9 camera is right for a small, specialized audience, but its Foveon sensor shows promise for the mainstream. We intend to test other Foveon-equipped cameras in the future. |
