Sigma unveils radical DP2 Quattro with re-thought ~19.6MP Foveon sensor

Sigma has revealed the next generation of its DP series of APS-C sensor, fixed focal length cameras, with the dp2 Quattro. The latest, 45mm-equivalent, model features dramatic styling and a fundamental re-think of the company’s Foveon multi-layer sensor design. The Quattro sensor still uses three layers to detect color information but now only captures its full, 19.6 million pixel resolution in the top layer, with lower two layers capturing 4.9MP of information each. The sensor will also appear in 28mm and 75mm equivalent dp1 Quattro and dp3 Quattro models.

The company says the 4:1:1 ratio maintains most of the color resolution advantages of the existing Foveon design while reducing the amount of data that needs to be handled – speeding up processing and improving the noise characteristics. The idea is that the top, 19.6MP layer will capture the majority of the luminance information, that is interpreted as resolution, with the deeper layers providing the color information.

The Foveon X3 ‘Quattro’ sensor samples 19.6MP of data at its top layer, but only 4.9MP at the two lower levels, meaning it captures higher luminance resolution than color resolution (something that’s also true of conventional ‘Bayer’ sensors).

In principle we’d expect this to lose a little of the color resolution that Foveon chips have been known for, but until we’ve had a chance to play with one, we won’t know how much difference it’ll make. The company promises ‘the same exacting standard of image quality’ as its existing models. In addition to offering JPEGs at its 19.6MP luminance resolution, a ‘Super-High’ 39MP JPEG mode will also be offered (14-bit Raw files will include full 16.9+4.9+4.9MP data).

The dp1, dp2 and dp3 Quattro models will continue to feature 19mm, 30mm and 50mm F2.8 lenses, offering 28mm, 45mm and 75mm equivalent fields of view, respectively. The lens specifications, in terms of numbers of elements and groups, and minimum focusing distances, remain unchanged from the existing ‘Merrill’ models. All three models will have 920k dot rear LCDs and 9-point contrast-detection autofocus systems.

At 395g (13.9oz), without battery or memory card, the dp2 Quattro will be 40g heavier than its predecessor. However, it is based around a new, BP-51 battery, so the difference in shooting weights may be greater.

Price and availability have not yet been announced.

Press Release:

Reinvention of camera, reinvention of dp

SIGMA dp Quattro

The Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the new generation of high image quality compact cameras “SIGMA dp” that incorporates a newly developed Foveon X3 direct image sensor (generation name: “Quattro”).

Unique and without peer among image sensors, the Foveon direct image sensor is similar to traditional color film in that its multiple layers capture all of the information that visible light transmits. Along with Sigma’s proprietary image processing technology, this sensor produces incredible resolution, precise gradation, gorgeous color, breathtaking realism with a 3D feel. In other words, full-bodied image quality.

For the new dp series, we rethought and redesigned every aspect of the camera, including the sensor, engine, lens, and body. While retaining its famous textural expression, which seems to give form to the air itself, the updated Foveon direct image sensor produces images that are more colorful, rich, deep, and faithful than ever before.

To a radical degree, the new-generation dp series embodies Sigma’s philosophy of creating cameras that produce works of art. Featuring the highest level of fundamental performance, this series unites artistic expression and daily experience as no other cameras can.

Special Features

With every element optimized for image quality, this camera is ready to produce works of art

Thanks to its optimized design featuring a fixed focal length lens and integrated body, the dp series offers both sensor and lens performance at the highest level. The result is full-bodied image quality.

In addition to superior holding performance, the camera body offers a balanced shape, layout, and weight distribution. With all of its elements designed for image quality, the dp offers highly intuitive operation. Its complete and robust specification allows the photographer to concentrate fully on photography itself and leverage the camera’s potential to produce outstanding images.

In everyday life, the dp series lets photographers find unexpected opportunities for experiencing emotion and enjoy photography and personal expression in exciting new ways. It is an outwardly simple yet extremely powerful embodiment of Sigma’s philosophy of photography.

Wide-angle, standard, and medium telephoto options

All of the fundamental photographic approaches in one lineup of three cameras

The dp series comprises three fixed focal length cameras, each of which features a different basic focal length for a different fundamental photographic approach: the wide-angle dp1 Quattro at 19mm, the standard dp2 Quattro at 30mm, and the medium telephoto dp3 Quattro at 50mm (respectively equivalent to 28mm, 45mm, and 75mm on a 35mm lens). Moreover, the three models share an exciting new camera body that brings out the best performance from the lens and image sensor.

It’s a simple but powerful lineup that delivers medium format-level image quality anywhere, anytime. Take all three with you and select as needed for the perfect shot. Only the dp series puts so much luxurious photographic potential in your hands.

The world’s only image capture system to use vertical color separation technology

Starting with our very first digital camera, we have featured the Foveon direct image sensor, which offers radically better image quality than any other sensor available. Leveraging the light absorption characteristics of silicon, the sensor comprises three layers of photodiodes, each at a different depth within the silicon and each corresponding to a different RGB color. Since it is the only sensor to use this superior vertical color separation technology, it is also the world’s only direct image sensor.

Almost all other image sensors are mosaic sensors, which use an array of RGB color filters in a single horizontal plane to capture color information. Each pixel is assigned only one of the three colors and cannot capture all three colors at once. In contrast, the Foveon direct image sensor captures color vertically, recording hue, value, and chroma accurately and completely for each pixel.

In the Foveon direct image sensor, there are no color filters, which cause a loss of information transmitted by light. Moreover, there is no low-pass filter needed to correct the interference caused by a color filter array. Finally, unlike the data from other sensors, which requires artificial interpolation to “fill in” missing colors, the data from the Foveon direct image sensor is complete for every single pixel and requires no interpolation. The unique technological principle of this sensor produces consistently outstanding image quality.

Newly developed Foveon X3 Quattro direct image sensor
Now featuring 39 megapixel-equivalent ultrahigh resolution

Capturing the information transmitted by light vertically instead of horizontally, the full-color image capture system of the Foveon direct image sensor is the only one of its kind in the world. This system makes possible the sensor’s full-bodied image quality, which is characterized by rich tone and gradation and texture that one can almost touch.

The newly developed Foveon X3 Quattro is the latest generation of this unique sensor. While retaining the distinctive characteristics of its predecessors, it offers an even higher level of image quality. In addition to 30% higher resolution, the volume of image data has become lighter, and it enables much faster image processing and lower current consumption.

At the same time, Able to maintain the same exacting standard of image quality while increasing megapixels and enhancing noise characteristics, this 1:1:4 solution was the inspiration for the name of the current generation of Foveon sensor: “Quattro.”

Newly developed TRUE III image processing engine
Optimized for processing Foveon X3 Quattro direct image sensor data

The new dp series cameras feature the newly developed TRUE (Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine) III. This image processing engine has evolved in pace with our Foveon direct image sensor and incorporates all of the image processing expertise we have developed over the years. Thanks to new refinements, it is the ideal engine for processing the rich and complex image data produced by the new-generation Foveon X3 Quattro direct image sensor. Our proprietary algorithm makes possible ultrafast processing of an immense volume of image data without any deterioration of the final images. The result is high-definition, 3D-like photographs with outstandingly rich color detail.

Comments

That camera looks awkward.

The right hand for the grip, the left hand holds the lens and supports the camera bottom. This gives a broader base for the the dirty diaper hold than with other cameras, thus giving more stability. Maybe it is good for a one step longer exposure, e. g. 1/15 instead of 1/30.
Plus a new fast engine, plus a new powerful battery = seems to be a good step forward.

Butt-ugly. Really, c’mon now…
Not that my NEX5N + LA-EA4 + Minolta 28-135 + Minolta 320X looks any better 😉

It does look a wee bit strange but ergonomically it probably is much better than a customary dSLR as it will fit very naturally into your hand. You can test the grip and the implications by taking a dSLR upside down into your hand and moving your thumb as if pushing the buttons — your thumb would normally be at the buttons, not against the back side of the grip.

Sigma are OK with lenses but insist on being odd and quixotic when it comes to their cameras.
I don’t understand why !

Because such a small camera maker must distinguish itself somehow, and create a niche that nobody else exploits. Who would buy a Sigma camera if it were no different than the cameras made by the bigger players?

YES! This I have been waiting for a long time now! FINALLY! I’ll be all over the 50 miller! Yes yes yes!!

I’m really looking forward to seeing the tests on this. The resolution is still greater than with a comparable bayer, because you get an actual luminosity reading for each pixel (for bayer you have the greens overlap for side-by-side pixels), and there can’t be moire because even through the colors have to be interpolated, they are actually being captured at the site of each pixel. Color resolution drops, but moire is not created. They must have had a good reason for the array, maybe the old system with it’s deep pixels lost photons from steeper angles and the wider new ones fare better. Noise performance is probably much better.

And it’s great to see modern design, weird or not.

Kudos to Sigma for always doing something new and thinking outside the box. Personally I’m not in love with the new design, but I absolutely LOVE the design of the DP Merill cameras. Then again I’m in love with cold war era Russian design and such. 🙂

/DR

First reaction: What the?!

But truth to be told, i’m quite digging the design!

Thumbs up from the Netherlands 🙂

(very curious about the actual ergonomics though)

I appreciate Sigma’s dedication to trying new things, but they usually end up shooting themselves in the foot and putting some amazing tech into flawed products, eater than refining into a more mature product.

Sigma is their own worst enemy.

example?

Can’t wait for a dpreview “first look / hands-on” with this design!
And half expect comments like ” I appreciated my thumb hugging the back of the camera more and the reassuring sensation when sliding it up and down to press the control buttons” or ” Every time I went to press the focus button I nearly dropped the camera”.

innovation is always good, and sigma should be applaud by that…fuji, ricoh and so on…im just very skeptical about ergonomics…lets hope its good to handle, who knows…but sure looks,like may said, good ergonomics for selfies

We’ll see, but I cannot understand why it should not have good ergonomics. There are plenty of the traditional styled cameras that have terrible ergonomics even with the lump on the front of the camera. I think SIGMA has found that this solution does give good ergonomics, otherwise I don’t see why they would be so bold with the design.

It is also a 400g camera, not 2 kg 🙂

If the battery compartment was in front of the camera so your fingers would wrap around like most other mirror-less cameras this design might look “more normal”. I reserve judgement on the image quality. Better battery, faster processing is welcome. And hopefully my Merrell’s swill go up in price in the resale market. From a DP2M and DP3M shooter.

“The Appearance and specifications are subject to change without notice”..thank god…

Well, quite surprised by the design, but hey, it may be quite comfortable after all! I’ill wait until the camera is in my hands, as I am not one of the internet experts on everything, especially things they have never hold in their hands (yes, I’m talking about you here, Yabbokie).

A selfie grip to appeal to the masses.

Uuuuuuuh something different looking! And totally different sensor as well!
We have to hate the design just because most of us have no clue of what engineers and designers do all day long :/

That backward grip will make this camera perfect for Selfies!

Thought it was a new Panoramic camera when I first saw the pic on the front page!

The blue layer of the Foveon actually doesn’t capture saturated blue but a very very pale blue – almost white. So this is more like a sensor that captures white light at every photo pixel and color information with lower resolution. This seems like a more Bayerish approach and will probably sacrifice resolution but should help a lot with the Foveon noise that stems from crosstalk between the layers.

The camera design is… errr… special.

the white light (luminance) determines the image resolution, so more mp in luminance layer more resolution in final photo.

Is there any logical explanation why this camera looks like this or Sigma designers still use very strong opiates?

the designers might be instructed to have a funny, eyeball catching design even if it means trading off of ergonomics.

More like hallucinogens…

I disagree, I think ergonomics seem to have been in the forefront when designing it. A thin compact but with the grip of a bigger camera.

/DR

I’m skeptical.

I hate it how all the companies today fret about high sensitivity and dump on color resolution. Every manufacturer seems to have a patent or something with bigger mono or clear pixels and even smaller color pixels.

Sigma has the only cameras with truly outstanding color resolution.

Buy Merrils while they are available. Not to mention this abomination looks horrible and unpocketable.

> truly outstanding color resolution

Foveon lacks many qualities and color resolution is one among them. one that has its root in the stacked design and no cure seen.

I have a Sigma DP3M and look forward to seeing what this camera delivers. Even better, I would welcome this sensor in the flagship camera so we can change lenses.

i don’t get why sigma’s engineers think theese cameras are operated hand held. the should have a second tripod mount where the sd-card door is..

Well, there is a good reason, why in Bayer pattern there are 2x more green filters than red or blue. The green portion of light spectrum delivers us most information about details. I’m curious how it will be with blue having highest resolution…

highest resolution comes from blue,
the last one that will reach diffraction limit.
though our eyes respond to green most sensitively.

I’m not sure how the arithmetic works for 19.6+4.9+4.9= 39. In resolution terms their sums never seemed to add up before, but at least it was understandable how they ended up with the figures they did.

I always thought the Foevon sensor was encouraging, but there just were too many compromises from its implementation. Lack of any figures which suggest a much improved shooting/processing speed and noise handling don’t give a lot of cause for encouragement – there’s just the same emphasis on colour fidelity and potential IQ.

Sigma are at the moment hitting a good batting average in their lens line – I’m also happy when anyone is brave enough to try a new approach to improving or developing new ways of image capture.

I suppose we really should wait to hear from tests whether they’ve managed to overcome the practical problems of the sensor design. I hope they have – if they maintain sensible pricing I could even potentially be a purchaser of one of these cameras.

I think we need variety, which means not everyone the best.

Who was this designed for, crab people?

give one to a gibbon and see if it likes the design.

an ergonomic nightmare but there are many buyers who don’t care ergonomics nor image quality.

Actually… it is ergonomic.

> actually

ha ha.

I may appraise it if it’s designed by a high school student and then tell him why it’s no good.

Obviously the main purpose of this new design is to improve ergonomics. Perhaps it won’t be an unmitigated success, but you can’t know that.

At first glance it looks promising. My experience with the Ricoh GR Digital IV says that relatively long, slender cameras with good front and rear grips are not just okay but ergonomically exemplary. They allow a very secure one-handed grip.

Compact cameras are typically held in the fingertips since they have nothing to support a one-handed grip. That’s a valid approach too – it allows smaller size – but there’s room for other approaches like the Ricoh or this Sigma. I’m thrilled to see some fresh thinking after the years of laziness enabled by the booming digital camera market (now winding down).

I’d say a funny design for eyeballs of innocent people,
at a high cost of ergonomics.

Isn’t this yabokkie and legendary goblin lugging around ?? 😀

I heard of him. Man you have a superb reputation 😉 Keep up the good work !

I´m sure that this sigma is more ergonomic as the most compact cameras.

But its the same with all cameras – test it first with your own hands.

I’ll do 😉

HBowman..yep, you have in your company now DPR’s biggest troll. Make sure you keep him HERE! Try deciphering his mangled ideas and er, unique communication skills. Then pop over and check his gear list & gallery. As full and rich as his intellect. Ask about dual pixel af, the only thing he likes. Just keep him HERE damn it! I dont know how…maybe offer him free seaweed. If you let him go I’ll FIND you! 😉

how do you know? Have you tired?

Is it April Fool’s Day?

Some might not like the “design” but it still a little camera with good ergonomic.
The thing is, prepare your eyes to be blown with the IQ of this new sensor.

Every SIGMA iteration is an improvement and this one is a big step forward.

Almost all the major issues of previous models is fixed in this package. Batteries autonomy, processing time in camera and on computer, 12bits to 14 bits, noise.

Bear in mind it is a compact camera system and not a working horse. The main use of it is to be contemplative and reproducing high fidelity colours. It is a Foveon, a far better Foveon.

How do you know it’s a far better Foveon? You are no longer capturing 3x the data per photo site, so color in some way has a different compromise and now has to be interpolated. Of course, the previous sensor was so noisy that perhaps you could say you had to do the same in the older one.

I hope it’s better for sure. At least for black and white it is. But think that now color moire is possible where before it was impossible.

This is more complicated than that Raist and many start to see how much this foveon Tech is complicated at all levels.

None of us here can guesstimate how it work.

But SIGMA is not adept of regression. They are more prone to evolution. This sensor is optimized, 4.5mp of red and 4.5mp of green are enough. In previous generation a large part went funky in blotching/noise and some extraterrestrial anomaly.

This is a foveon ship, a better one for sure.

a camera with very bad ergonomics. we know Foveon has very good reputation for delivering bad image quality, but this is a new sensor so it may be different.

I am not guesstimating this part. You have to interpolate color to get full spatial resolution- period. Look at the diagrams. The blue layer is full resolution but the R&G layers are not. What artifacts this brings is debatable, but *you have to* interpolate color if you want the 19.6 MP “color” resolution.

I will agree with you that the compromise may be better vs the previous design where the red and green layers had too much noise (red in particular).

This is not exactly a Foveon as known before- there’s no 3X spatial color data per photo site anymore.

maybe a trade off for better SNR, that we have to see.

one reason why Foveon exists in the first place is saving of low pass filter for low resolution sensors. Bayer sensors got that cost saving now and we are going higher and higher resolutions so why Foveon? (well, it still saves cost for color filters)

weirdly… but I LOVE THIS DESIGN =)

looks cool!

Good thing Sigma has a “day job” selling excellent lenses to support its hobby of marketing weird cameras that sell few copies.

See, that is indeed a wonderful thing, even without the sarcasm.

@Jermone Nolas: I think Sigma’s designers are thinking differently. Be unique and stand out from the crowd and try to be functional. Try holding one in your hand and you will find out how it feels like. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

Totally agree. as long as it is functional and adds something diversity is a good thing in general. or: as long as the market for it is a profitable one, a company is smart to do this. I wonder how well it will perform and what the new sensor will bring.

(sigh) This is one confusing piece of camera gear. I don’t understand the egonomics of the design, and I can’t see what is the technological progress on the new sensor besides, perhaps, monochrome photography. It emanates the “aroma” of Sigma’s marketing dept. and makes me very nervous. Sigma can do much better and I’m still hopeful.

I will work for free (food & accommodation) in Sigma design department!!! What kind of sick person would do this???

Why not mirror-less? With three separate bright lenses? One camera investment and the lens(es) of choice.

it is mirrorless….. just not ILC

Your right, did know also. I meant ILC yes.

At F2.8 the lenses are not fast for the focal lengths they have so why not just stick a 19mm->50mm F2.8 zoom on and save the trouble if having three different cameras?

I am sure with zoom lens optical design being so good these days such a lens would offer excellent quality and they would sell a lot more cameras.

These cameras aren’t targeted at the market that accepts the performance of a Sony RX100 lens (nor the typical Sigma zoom lens, for that matter).

The main – or even the only – selling point for the Sigmas is the image quality. As much as I like your idea, I am not sure this would work with a non-prime lens.

I’d kill for interchangeable lenses, though (and an EVF).

Yes they would, but that’s an APS-C size sensor, thus a 19-50 zoom would really have to be waaaay dimmer than f/2.8 to be reasonably compact on a DP2. (As a coarse reference, think the typical 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 entry-level DSLR kit lens.)

Sigma: excellent sensor, WEIRD implementation.

Excellent sensor ? Up to ISO400 only. Ergo: of limited use

“Excellent” and “of limited use” (or: specialist) are not mutually exclusive terms. Not at all.

excellent in no sense.

I would instead say: weird sensor, excellent implementation (excepting speed issues, which are anyway the sensor’s fault).

I know many people like the Foveon sensor, but it doesn’t do anything a higher pixel-count Bayer-filtered sensor wouldn’t do at least as well (the Bayer filter array would need the right colour filters, which is to say not ones optimised for extracting CCTV-quality images at ISO 10,000 for dimwitted review sites).

Of course the Sigma DP cameras produce images that look very different from other compacts with soggy zooms, but that’s largely because of the lenses. Those sophisticated primes of very moderate speed would also look fabulous on a 30-megapixel Bayer-filtered sensor.

(Separately, I agree with Mcmx’s comment.)

20MP Bayer with no color filter for black-white test charts. high frequency noisies will show on those Bayer sensors for colored scene but somehow many people don’t care, which translates to even less value of Foveon for those users.

> with no color filter

low pass filter,

Why does this remind me of 1990s Motorola phones?

IBM Simon 1993?
the world’s first smart phone and the first one that died.

Wow, look at the Film Plane Indicator, it’s almost in the lens!

It’s almost in a circular part of the camera, the lens may well start a bit further out…

I assumed with a name like quattro we would be seeing 4 colour layers. Will be interested to see how it performs, but I find the styling horribly weird and the lens just too slow. Why would I choose this over a Fuji XM-1 for example?

No it is due to the 4:1:1

how is this different than a 4.9Mp X3 sensor?

I fully agree. That’s what I just realized minutes ago….and this got me excited. This will probably have the “Foveon look” again (without the strong NR needed for the Merrills and color blotches) with a true resolution of a 4.9MP Foveon sensor.

If you had purely blue plus red or blue plus green color information you could get close to 20mpix resolution. I think it should be quite a bit better. It should capture more information and that’s a good thing (although let’s wait for some samples before passing judgments).

I don’t get it either, the lens looks like if its attached on top of the body like an add on lens. then, why they can’t make it a mirrorless ILC?

and specially when sigma is already producing these lenses for nex and m43!

The interchangeable versions of these lenses are actually optically different (and not as good). Interchangeable lenses cannot practically have elements as close to the sensor as fixed lenses, and it’s those close elements that allow the stunning sharpness of Sigma’s DP (now dp?) series.

D.O.A.

E.S.P.?

Is Sigma terrified or allergic to EVFs?

it does have an EVF. not hole-peeping type though.

I dont get this. They can get the same effect by using binning on bottom layer. Looks like broken batch from regular X3 sensor with software binning.

While I appreciate their attempt for a radically different shape, it does not look like space efficient. It would take a camera bag of very weird shape and elongated size to carry it. I’d rather they make the camera controls more useable, or colours more balanced instead. My DP1 has bee archived in the dry cabinet.

It’s 161.4 mm wide and only 67 mm high. That’s still a small camera, and probably eminently packable. Slender things usually are.

Well I just checked, the camera is as wide as a Nikon D4 and as high as a Sony Nex 7. So yes it is not large when looking at the hight, but it is very large looking at the with. There will be not that much bags that can pack the camera without a lot of free space above the camera.
(the Nex 6 is 119.9 mm compared to the 160mm of the Nikon (Yes the super large Nikon D4 is less in width then your “small” Sigma…

“The Foveon direct image sensor is similar to traditional color film in that its multiple layers capture all of the information that visible light transmits”.
Curious to see Sigma admit the industry moved in the wrong direction when digital was implemented.
I always thought Foveon sensors were one of the most brilliant innovations in digital photography, but now it’s undergone a rethink. Maybe it wasn’t that good after all…? I’m curious to see sample images from this camera. I hope its image quality makes up for its lack of versatility, slowness and ugly, clumsy design.

it may be similar to old films that we abandoned.
but it’s not the same as human eyes. the color filters are.

Yazuki: surely you mean YOU abandoned film. I didn’t, many of us didn’t and, apparently, Sigma is proving us right.
Now here’s a friendly advice: take a vacation from trolling. You’ll end up in a madhouse if you keep replying to every comment that’s posted here at DPR.

Manuel..where do you think he comes up with his ideas? 😉

i bet it would be quite stable to hold, they’ve just put the bulge on the back instead of the front. Your thumb will run along it, well away from the screen, pressing it into your palm. Nice to see a new design rather than all this retro stuff.

To me it seems a lot wider than it needs to be tho, surely they could have the same grip and just pushed the screen and buttons to the left without changing the ergonomics.

Umm the Sigma press release here seems misleading:

“In the Foveon direct image sensor, there are no color filters, which cause a loss of information transmitted by light. Moreover, there is no low-pass filter needed to correct the interference caused by a color filter array. Finally, unlike the data from other sensors, which requires artificial interpolation to “fill in” missing colors, the data from the Foveon direct image sensor is complete for every single pixel and requires no interpolation. The unique technological principle of this sensor produces consistently outstanding image quality.”

Sigma, this is no longer true. You are not capturing full color for every pixel and you do need to interpolate at least for the resolution you cite. I guess in a stretch this is still true even if it’s not really.

If they were honest their press release would say:
“Our new sensor interpolates a color information for two, rather than three colors, giving you a bit more data than the other guys.”

It is both true and not true. Don’t we love ambiguity?
But I like that fact that they have improved on possibilities of the Foveon design.
However, what this new Quattro brings in terms of video? Originally, Foveons should be God-send for video implementation.

Perhaps we should wait until we see how the new model actually performs before jumping to any conclusions. Sigma seems to be doing a LOT right lately.

I think, they still are capturing full color……only at 4.9MP.