Sigma DP2 review

When we reviewed Sigma's DP1 we were impressed with the 28mm equivalent lens and the quality of the files in general, but the camera had a number of flaws.

Many of them were not insurmountable, and providing you hadn't bought it expressly to match your lightning fast reflexes required for street photography, the DP1 still filled an acutely felt gap in the market. That is, unless you can justify spending £8k for a Leica M8.2 and a couple of Summicrons.

Fast forward 11 months as Sigma releases the DP2, and the market for compacts with DSLR size sensors has expanded to include the Panasonic Lumix G1, and video-enabled GH1, as well as the recently announced Olympus Pen E-P1 (see Coming Soon, p18). What's more, each of these feature interchangeable lenses, adding to the flexibility and overall appeal.

The DP2, like its predecessor, has a fixed focal length lens, and it is not intended so much as a replacement for the DP1 but as an alternative. A number of detractors slated the DP1 for its too wide and too slow 28mm f/4 wide-angle lens, so the DP2 features a near-standard 41mm equivalent with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. Another stop faster is welcome for low light shooting and, from our tests, the often soft maximum aperture is entirely usable.

Anyone hoping the layout of the metal-bodied compact has seen some improvement will be surprised to learn there's been little change. The most conveniently situated controls still have some of the least useful operation. For instance, a DSLR-like command dial is used to adjust manual focus, and two rocker switches allow zooming of the image in playback.

Meanwhile, a new QS (Quick Set) button brings up a short-cut menu of the most used features, but instead of being slick, making the appropriate selection from the on-screen layout using the direction-pad is very clumsy. The DP2 is crying out for a decent quick-selector dial, like that found on the rival Canon PowerShot G10.

Like the earlier DP1, there's no room for an optical viewfinder, instead all menu selection duties, composition, and playback duties are made from a 2.5in (230k pixel) LCD. The screen is a reasonable performer, but with low refresh rates, it's prone to smearing and it's not particularly legible in bright sunlight. A retro-styled optional optical viewfinder is available and clips to the hot shoe, but it's easily snagged in day-to-day use.

Although boasting 14 million photosites in three layers, RGB data from the Foveon X3 sensor is combined on output thereby reducing the pixel count to an effective 4.7 million. In real world use, the resolution is closer to low double-digit rivals, but even with the larger pixels detail can't quite compete with the G10 at lower ISOs.

A new processor and advances in the image-processing pipeline mean noise levels are greatly reduced over the DP1, though it can't match DSLR rivals. Moreover, ISO1600 and the maximum ISO3200 options are only available in Raw file capture, and must be processed with the bundled Sigma Photo Pro software.

Picture quality is superb, and we particularly like the colour rendering and drawing style of the high-quality Sigma lens. However, at £599, the DP2 isn't for everyone.