Sigma DP1 Merrill Compact Digital Camera - Black (46MP)

I bought a DP1 Merrill from Adorama during a brief sale a few weeks ago. The camera is small, though a little larger than the earlier DP1s/x Sigma fixed lens cameras. On the DP1 Merrill, the lens no longer telescopes out when the camera is turned on--so no more risk of flexing vulnerable tape-cables. The battery life is indeed short--but Sigma supplies two batteries. I've gotten 60 to 70 or more RAW images on a charge from a single battery--by keeping the screen use to a minimum. The screen can be turned off entirely or used with various duration options. The camera will simply shut down immediately after being turned on if the battery is too low.

Image quality is the reason to wade through any perceived limitations of the camera. Start up time is quick. The camera can be turned on without first remembering to remove the lens cap (as required with the DP1s/x). Processing time of files after exposures is what some folks find unsatisfactory--but this is just a few seconds, during which the buffer allows you to take some additional images. I shoot large-format cameras in the field and the set up time and the darkroom work takes a commitment of time--in comparison (image quality vs standing around), the little DP1 Merrill is a miracle.

The amount of well defined detail in enlargements from the files this camera produces is remarkable--more like medium-format film. The images show nice neutral colors and excellent detail in shade with a seeming unique light to shade relationship/quality on a monitor which is hard to define. The image files show excellent highlight value capture and recovery using Sigma's SPP software (with quite a wide exposure latitude). Excessive underexposure will reveal color noise in the shadows.

Good exposures can be had by just a point and shoot approach--I find setting the exposure compensation to +0.3 or +0.7 at 100 iso usually works fine. I'm not using exposure lock features as often as I tend to do with other cameras. The ability to quickly alter the exposure compensation is nice--but it's too easy. The only real snafu I've encountered so far is the exposure compensation button being near the right thumb when the camera is being held--it is much too easy to unconsciously dial the exposure compensation to its +3 F-stop limit. Either you note the mistake on the screen before taking a photo or you get a white-out image (which the Sigma software will nearly fully recover!).

The camera came with 1.01 firmware installed. Auto focus is prompt and accurate. I've played with the manual focus feature and it requires some care. The focus wheel on the lens barrel is fly-by-wire. If wheeled all the way over toward infinity focus, it sets the lens well beyond the infinity symbol on the view screen scale--and the image will be entirely out of focus. Setting the marker directly beneath the infinity symbol is necessary--and for old eyes, not so clearly accomplished. I use manual focus on my other little Sigma DP1s--but with the DP1 Merrill, auto focus is a quick enough, sure thing for landscapes.

The lens is excellent. Between the apertures of F5.6 and F8, it's sharp right to the frame of the image. There is a small amount of chromatic aberration which can now be addressed in Sigma software or another image processing software after the RAW file is converted to TIFF. There is also purple fringing on bright edges, depending on lighting conditions that seems more than usual, but can be well addressed in Photoshop Raw adjustment features.

TIFF files from the Sigma RAW post-processing software come to about 85MB. If you save double-sized TIFF files, they come to 338MB. The larger files really slow my Mac Mini. The Sigma software processing, when chewing through the big DP1 Merrill files, is indeed the slowest yet, but with patience, you can get them converted to TIFF files and work further in other software. Usually all that is required in SPP is a slight adjustment to the color balance, exposure and minor use of Sigma's unique fill feature. I set focus to -0.2 to -0.6--the files are stunningly sharp right from the camera with only minor room for any improvement. Sigma's SPP 5.4 software isn't included with the camera, but instead downloaded. For Mac users, the software only works in the Pentium machines.

Images shot with the DP1 Merrill, at least mine, do show a slight green shift toward the image margins (less than with my DP1s). Every Sigma camera I've owned will do this with certain lenses. I suspect this is a characteristic of the Foveon sensor in context with a wide-angle lens--the outer field of a projected image from the lens falls on the outer margins of the sensor at a steep angle and the stacked individual sensor layers are refracting?/screening out a little of the red light. Nothing to do but make minor Photoshop repairs, the price for otherwise splendid, easily acquired images. My copy shows no dust on the sensor.

Great lens and sensor in the same small package. I put the wide-angle view finder from my DP1s on the Merrill and this works to both frame the image and hold the light camera steady against my face. A 100% enlargement from an 85MB file looks like a wholly intact, sharp photo by itself. One could make the case that the DP1 Merrill carries within its deep resolution files another camera--equivalent to a Sigma DP2x.

UPDATE 12/22/12: Took the DP1 Merrill to Yellowstone and have two note worthy additions to the above review:

1) Greenish cast margins in the images shot yesterday, many in bright snow, are practically nonexistent--vastly superior to the small DP1s/x cameras I've used (took a DP1s along with the DP1m for comparison).

2) Having recharged the battery just three time, there was a spectacular improvement in battery life yesterday--I got 162 RAW file images on one battery from the DP1 Merrill using it in the field. The battery symbol was showing depletion coming (empty of green squares), but the sun went down before I ran out of power.

Point and shoot with auto focus, 100 iso and +0.3 exposure compensation between F5.6 and F7.1 works perfectly for both dim and exceedingly bright light conditions. Really pleased with results.

plus---- incredible resolution, prime files to work with--- negative--- Battery life sucks, also slow response because of high resolution file during processing in raw. I have always been a sigma foven fan and drooled when they put this 14 - 46 ? sensor into the dp2 merril compact camera, if you take your time to research each shot you will create some incredible pics. but if you want sport shots forget about it. It is a specialty camera for art photography, personally I love it for the range of resolution it can give not to mention color saturation use in raw, think blade runner, your picture is larger than you think, some will love it, others will hate it.

If you want a real, modern camera, don't bother with this one. By all contemporary standards it's a lousy camera, and a pain in the butt to use. Lousy battery life, slow processing, crummy autofocus, lousy low light performance, only really any good at ISO 100-200. It exists for one reason only: the image quality capable form the Foveon sensor and the superb lens. Be it 15 or 45 MP, makes no difference. Put it on a tripod, shoot it in decent light at ISO 100, make an 11 x 14 print from this camera and any current DSLR, no matter what the megapixel count, and compare the two and you will see what I mean.

I own several other cameras - a Sony NEX 6, Canon G1x, a Nikon D300s with a 17-35 zoom. The Sigma IQ puts them all to shame. While I would never carry it out into the field as my only camera, it always comes along with whichever of the others I take, and if I see that special shot, out comes the Sigma.

So if you can put up with a camera whose solo attribute is outstanding IQ within a limited area this is the one. If you want it for sports, action, kids photos, high ISO work, street, even portraits, look elsewhere. It's probably best as a landscape shooter.