Sigma SD1....!!! WHAT...!!!

[tc95]

Well yo'all know I am the token Sigma shooter...

But Sigma just priced there latest and greatest camera SD1 at a price point where they will not sell many of them...!!! USD - 9700.00 for the camera... no kit do not pass go...give-up all your money...!!!

I know they want the higher end photography clients...but there is a small group of us that would have paid 2K for this camera...but hell, no way will the boss go for 10K...I would rather go medium format...

Well my two cents...the camera is supposed to be great...we will see...!!!

[groovyone]

I know Sigma's MSRPs tend to be crazy exaggerated, but DAYUM!!

[groovyone]

Sigma SD1 starts shipping in June for $9,700, has its sights set on medium format lovers -- Engadget

[MyKey]

WOW Crazy stuff! I was in Toronto last weekend for the Henry Tradeshow (roughly the B&H of Canada) and got to touch and feel one of these - nice but DANG at 10K it should drive my car to the session!

I also got to shoot one of these:

Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG APO IF Autofocus Lens 597110 B&H

Talk about a MASSIVE lens but to my surprise inside and in pretty low light it was fast to focus and sharp from what I could tell. If I had $25K laying around I might pick one up :) Of course I have NO USE for that sort of thing besides to say - Look what I have so I don't think I will be getting it anytime soon! :)

[venchka]

I don't care how they spin their pixel count, it still has an itty bitty "Image Sensor Size 24 x 16mm (1.5x APS-C) " sensor.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...........but it records on CF cards. It must be a Pro camera, hey?

[groovyone]

One more for ya:
Sigma SD1 - Ready For Prime Time

Originally Posted by Reichmann

Real world testing (which I hope to do soon) will likely show (as it has with previous Foveon sensors) that the SD1's actual comparative performance lies somewhere in-between these two numbers – likely in the 30 Megapixel range.

Originally Posted by Reichmann

What Next?

That's about it until we get a chance to try the SD1 for ourselves. I'm keen on comparing the SD1 to two cameras in particular – the Pentax 645D and the Leica M9. The big Pentax competes directly in price with the SD1 and has a 40MP sensor, challenging the SD1's 46MP X3 resolution. The M9 is a few thousand less than the SD1 but has an 18MP Bayer sensor without an AA filter, again challenging the SD1 in terms of spatial resolution and freedom from aliasing. I have both of these cameras on stand-by waiting for a sample SD1 to arrive for comparison.

[zachary]

the medium format camera that never was

[ChrisTX]

That might be a good investment. When they sell all of three of them, the owners might have a nice rare collector item.

[shnitz]

Maybe it's some kind of ploy? They knew that even at $2,000 people would be buying the Canon 7D, Nikon D7000, and Pentax K5 over it. But, charge $10K for a little bit, and then discount them for $2-3K, and they'll get buyers getting a "deal."

Otherwise, as Chris said, there's no way that this can compete with a medium format digital body. They won't sell any cameras, if you can even just buy a 1D or D3x (or their successors) for less.

Maybe I'll eat my words though, and it will be able to beat the IQ of these:
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...emite-set.html
I'm not going to hold my breath.

[Wil_Bloodworth]

I agree. You can pick up a Pentax 645D for $9995 and that will give you a medium-format (4o MP) camera body. Sigma is going to have a really hard time selling that body at that price!

- Wil

[groovyone]

Just posted! Our Sigma SD1 hands-on preview: Digital Photography Review

[groovyone]

Rationalizing the Irrational

Originally Posted by Reichmann

Knowledgeable industry executives that I spoke with over the following few days universally expressed astonishment as well as disbelief at the price. Like many on the forums, they thought that the price must be a typo, with a misplaced decimal point. But when assured that $9,700 wasn't a typo, to a man they had just one sentiment – major fail.

[KFrog]

I can't imagine what Sigma was thinking. $9700? Really? Seriously?

If I could I would go with the Pentax 645D for that kind of money. Of course currently they only have two "new" lenses for it. D FA 55mm f/2.8 ($1100 +/-) and the D FA 25mm f/4 ($4999 +/-) so you may have to hit up ebay or KEH for older glass that will do the job for you. If you can find them.

[darktiger]

Maybe they accidentally added an additional 0 by mistake :)

[groovyone]

Apparently Retail/Street Price is a lowly $6800.