Sigma Fp review and interview / Cinema DNG RAW

[Ty Harper]

@mercerI started my cam journey in earnest on the 5D MKII/IIII with the ML hack - so I have a soft spot for that RAW workflow! And I still have two 5D MKIII that I will prob never sell. I currently have a R5OV as travel/casual/C cam but I am not feeling the APSC look. So when I recently rediscovered the FP I became a bit obsessed with the idea of having something that small and powerful become my casual/travel cam. Meanwhile I'd just keep the R50V as a C-cam to my R5Cs. But as you say, the FP seems so finnicky that it has required an unprecedented level of research/due diligence on my end. So I've been wavering back and forth for about a month now. 

As it stands, if I can get a used FP in good condition for $600 USD (just missed one with the modded back dial for that price!) then I'll go for it (knowing I'd still be buying the DPL screen mod, the DPL base cage+SSD holder+SSD bottom mount and side accessory, a Meike or Vizelex Smart adapter/VND, and the pdmovie 3). If not, there's the Lumix S9 and maaaaybe the Nikon ZR but that then I'm getting to R6V territory as far as size and price.

[mercer]

14 hours ago, Ty Harper said:

 

@mercerI started my cam journey in earnest on the 5D MKII/IIII with the ML hack - so I have a soft spot for that RAW workflow! And I still have two 5D MKIII that I will prob never sell.

 

Same. Well I only have one body but I'll never sell it. If not for a few modern conveniences, none of which being higher resolution, I wouldn't even bother with any other camera.

14 hours ago, Ty Harper said:

I currently have a R5OV as travel/casual/C cam but I am not feeling the APSC look.

I bought and returned the R50V. I actually really liked the camera, especially for the price, but its inability to display exposure tools and the View Assist LUT at the same time was way too frustrating and the Histogram wasn't accurate enough for me. But I did see they updated the firmware to allow the LUT and False Color to be turned on at the same time, so that's pretty cool. Of course that happened exactly 3 days after I returned it. I picked up a refurbed V1 directly from Canon and I like it a lot. Am using it, and the 5D3, for a short film I'm writing.

14 hours ago, Ty Harper said:

So when I recently rediscovered the FP I became a bit obsessed with the idea of having something that small and powerful become my casual/travel cam. Meanwhile I'd just keep the R50V as a C-cam to my R5Cs. But as you say, the FP seems so finnicky that it has required an unprecedented level of research/due diligence on my end. So I've been wavering back and forth for about a month now. 

That's exactly what I thought about the FP and when it arrived my jaw dropped seeing how small it is... but... then you quickly realize how big the thing gets once you add a cage and an SSD on top. I spent hours upon hours researching and testing different configurations to keep it compact. I looked at the Dark Power stuff, but I was trying to keep the camera package as cheap and small as possible.

The best I could come up with was to shoot it in 8bit cDNG mode with an SDXC card and a NiceyRig handle. The 8bit quality isn't bad at all in CDNG. But the cards are expensive and you can't get much footage onto a 128gb card... plus I'd rather shoot 12bit so I got a generic cage off Amazon and bought a couple SSDs and just attached them with a phone tripod clamp. I also bought a SmallRig drive encasement and put a Samsung drive inside and that kept it fairly small.

Last summer I finally had a project to shoot with it and with all my tests, I didn't really realize how quickly it ate through batteries until I was on set. Luckily, I had just enough power and drives to make the day, but I was starting to get nervous.

14 hours ago, Ty Harper said:

As it stands, if I can get a used FP in good condition for $600 USD (just missed one with the modded back dial for that price!) then I'll go for it (knowing I'd still be buying the DPL screen mod, the DPL base cage+SSD holder+SSD bottom mount and side accessory, a Meike or Vizelex Smart adapter/VND, and the pdmovie 3). If not, there's the Lumix S9 and maaaaybe the Nikon ZR but that then I'm getting to R6V territory as far as size and price.

That's a great price for the FP if you can find one. I'm probably going to trade mine in to take advantage of the ZR $100 trade in bonus through B&H. I'll get a little less for the camera, but not that much less when you add the fees and headaches of eBay, private sales.

I was wavering between the ZR and R6V, I really like the idea of the 3K S16 crop mode on the R6V and I love the body style, but the ZR just offers to many other shooting options internally and the internal 32bit audio... no brainer for me for now.

All that said, if you like shooting raw video, which you obviously do, then the FP is a fun camera with a bunch of little quirks that aren't necessarily deal breakers but can be frustrating sometimes.