Jump to content

Sigma Fp review and interview / Cinema DNG RAW


Andrew Reid
 Share

Recommended Posts

Im away at the moment so not had a chance to catch up.

They are aware of the DNG flickering and hope it will be in the next firmware last i heard. 

They've now announced the SDK which could be of massive interest, depending on what access the SDK gives you - for me this *could* be the feature that really propels Sigma out there because they're not protecting a line of cine cameras and if the SDK gives full or wide access to the camera then the possibilities could be endless. On the other hand if, like Sony, it's a limited SDK then that's of less use.

I really want an EVF. I don't mind using the optical VF (gotten used to people looking) but it's bulky for a camera so compact. I was wondering if a better optic would work - like half the size but i've not found anyone that has done that. Or a compact EVF would also work - the smallest i'm aware of is the Zacuto stuff but it's still too big. Anyone found anything of interest?

The Video HDR function seems interesting, i wonder what that is...

cheers
Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
  • Super Members

From our conversations with Sigma at IBC, the SDK will be for building remote control solutions so as per Blackmagic, Sony, JVC etc won't give access to anything not already available.

Obviously this was a primary interest of mine in the camera so that aspect is welcome, if a little belated as we understood it would be at launch.

The elephant in the room though is what you have to give up in order to use anything that is developed for it as it will be addressed through the USB port, either directly or wirelessly through a USB to BLE adpater.

I did explicity ask about whether a hub could be used so you could record to the SSD at the same time and the answer was No which certainly cooled my interest in developing something for it.

Hopefully in the intervening period they have found a way around that.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, BTM_Pix said:

Interested to know whats happened with the RAW over HDMI that Sigma were talking about as a firmware update.

https://***URL removed***/news/8516367576/sigma-confirms-log-picture-profile-raw-over-hdmi-coming-to-its-fp-camera-via-firmware-update

 

I'm pretty sure that's for a later update, like end of the year or something, not in the summer update 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure about sales. Several people have been dumping the FP on Ebay UK presumably out of frustration.

There is virtually nothing on the web about stills photography using the FP except the first few blog posts that are now months old. 

Very little on Youtube except people uploading 1 minute test footage clips without much info. I was an early original BM Pocket user and there was much more dialogue and information sharing going on then. Thank heaven for this discussion, also one or two Youtubers who are testing and discussing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, Chris Whitten said:

I'm not sure about sales. Several people have been dumping the FP on Ebay UK presumably out of frustration.

There is virtually nothing on the web about stills photography using the FP except the first few blog posts that are now months old. 

Very little on Youtube except people uploading 1 minute test footage clips without much info. I was an early original BM Pocket user and there was much more dialogue and information sharing going on then. Thank heaven for this discussion, also one or two Youtubers who are testing and discussing.

I wonder if it's a case where people aren't so keen on Sigma's new entry into the cinema camera market since people associate them with slow but gorgeous "weird" cameras? Almost like if BMW were to suddenly decide to make a cell phone :)

Every modern camera seems to be a great sensor in a box with the differentiation being software at this point, save for the obvious technical advantages of the higher-end cameras. If Sigma can make the fp platform stable, reliable, and consistent, I don't see why they couldn't continue the line well into the future. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of their previous cameras have been difficult to use. I had the DP 2 and 3 Merrills. Stunning picture quality, but at 100 to 200 ISO only. You got a Sigma proprietary raw file which other platforms like CO and Lightroom didn't support. Sigma's own raw processor was awful.

Even traditionalist Leica have an app where you can upload your pics to a phone or iPad for Instagram.

So far having only dabbled a bit with the photo side, and yet to start shooting video footage, I'm seeing some of the same hurdles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/17/2020 at 9:11 AM, Lars Steenhoff said:

Paul do you know if sigma is aware of the exposure preview bug?And I hope HDR is HLG

I believe so, i would have thought this was the number one thing. I will double check but clearly it would be too late for the next firmware if not. I suspect HDR is baked video only - for a moment i wondered if they could so something cool in RAW. But thinking more about it i doubt it/

On 2/17/2020 at 9:47 AM, BTM_Pix said:

From our conversations with Sigma at IBC, the SDK will be for building remote control solutions so as per Blackmagic, Sony, JVC etc won't give access to anything not already available.

I sort of expected that which is a shame. If they opened up the image pipeline you would have such an amazing culture of people squeezing every last drop out. Individuals are happy to take risks that a large company cannot (so push the performance boundary)

On 2/17/2020 at 12:43 PM, BTM_Pix said:

Interested to know whats happened with the RAW over HDMI that Sigma were talking about as a firmware update.

I totally don't see the point of that with this camera. You're not going to get any more out of it than you do already and you're going to need an Atomos or similar.

16 hours ago, Chris Whitten said:

Most of their previous cameras have been difficult to use. I had the DP 2 and 3 Merrills. Stunning picture quality, but at 100 to 200 ISO only. You got a Sigma proprietary raw file which other platforms like CO and Lightroom didn't support. Sigma's own raw processor was awful.

Even traditionalist Leica have an app where you can upload your pics to a phone or iPad for Instagram.

So far having only dabbled a bit with the photo side, and yet to start shooting video footage, I'm seeing some of the same hurdles.

I have used the sigma as my stills camera since i got it. Seeing if it will/can replace my A7sII and i've decided that it can. I enjoy using it with manual focus lenses. Save for the exposure issues it's nice to use. My biggest downside is really the size with the optical VF, if i could find a better solution i would but so far i'm really enjoying it for stills.

But the firmware does need some serious fixes in there before most people would feel the same i think.

cheers
Paul

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Members
47 minutes ago, paulinventome said:

 

I totally don't see the point of that with this camera. You're not going to get any more out of it than you do already and you're going to need an Atomos or similar.

 

I'm not necessarily advocating it either for every use case but more curious about where it has gone.

The two upsides it would offer though are more convenient edit ready files with ProResRAW (for FCPX at least) and freeing up the USB-C port for external control.

Those things obviously don't particularly chime with the stripped down pocketable aspect of the FP but as modularity is a big draw of the system, for me at least, they could be appropriate in a more built out setup and would also address the monitoring issue.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, paulinventome said:

I have used the sigma as my stills camera since i got it. Seeing if it will/can replace my A7sII and i've decided that it can. I enjoy using it with manual focus lenses. Save for the exposure issues it's nice to use. My biggest downside is really the size with the optical VF, if i could find a better solution i would but so far i'm really enjoying it for stills.

But the firmware does need some serious fixes in there before most people would feel the same i think.

cheers
Paul

 

They really need something like Leica's evf for the TL series but at the Sigma LVF-11 price point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Devon said:

How can I transcode my cDNG footage from the Sigma FP to a LOG gamma in PRORES? Do I import into Resolve, and use Blackmagic Film + Highlight recovery to make sure i'm extracting all the dynamic range from that particular clip?

This will be your best bet - only that there's no standard LUT/transformatio from this material to Rec709 or other color spaces.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • EOSHD Pro Color 5 for All Sony cameras
    EOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
    EOSHD Dynamic Range Enhancer for H.264/H.265
×
×
  • Create New...