Sigma sd Quattro

Well, I decided to end the use of SLRs for my digital photography and have sold almost all of my Canon gear, including my 5Dii, 135mm f/4L, 70-200 f/4L IS, 65mm f/2.8 macro and two 580EX II flashes. In its place I am now the very, very happy owner of Sigma's newest Foveon camera, the sd Quattro. The camera is a bit big for a mirrorless, but its 1.5x crop sensor puts out amazing images when you nail the exposure. It is roughly equivalent to a 35-40 mpix Bayer image. There are a few issues that Sigma has to address but the fact that the camera doesn't use Bayer technology is really appealing to me. I have described it as "Velvia 50-like" in terms of its output. Indeed, the colors are often too punchy and need to be addressed in post. The camera also has both contrast- and phase-detection focusing, so it can be quite accurate, a problem often encountered with Sigma's (and others) SLRs. And, for infrared work, the bandpass filter pops right out; couldn't be any easier.

I should note, this is a camera for still images only it has no video. The controls of the camera are intuitive and logical, and many of them are buttons or switches on the camera so you don't have to go to menu items to set them (this is really important to me). It has both LCD and EVF and although the EVF isn't as high of resolution as others on the market, it is fine.

In addition to Sigma SA mount lenses, I have a couple of M42 adapters, so I can use my Pentax 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, 50mm f/4 macro, 100mm f/4 macro, 135mm f/2.5 and Pentacon-Meyer 135mm f/2.8 with the 15-blade aperture ("bokeh monster" as it's colloquially known). I plan to get the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 and 50-100 f/1.8 lenses in the next year. From what I've seen, these two lenses are about the best crop lenses on the market, regardless of manufacturer.

I'm not completely abandoning Canon. I still have my G1X mk II and 270 EX II flash for digital. And I still have way too much Canon film gear. My EOS 3 is among the best 35mm cameras made, so I have it and the 50mm f/1.4 and 28-105 f/3.5-f/4.5 EF lens, plus all my FD gear. So, I'm going to continue to hang out on PotN.

The biggest issues are:

• Poor ISO performance over 800
  
• Many older lenses are slow to autofocus
  
• Writing raw files is still slow (but better than their previous cameras)
  
• Some see a "sandy" quality to shadow areas of some images; however I think this is grossly overstated
  
• The camera can overheat. This really worries me, but it has a 4 year warranty
  
• The Sigma software for processing is still terribly slow. I usually just batch export to 16-bit TIFF then edit in Aperture
  

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So what lead you to the Quattro instead of another mirrorless option?

Pretty much the Foveon sensor. I also have a Sony A7 that I use principally with my Canon FD lenses. It's a rather clunky camera compared to the Sigma. But it's also smaller and lighter and full-frame. So, trade-offs as usual. My first Sigma was an SD15 and it had great rendition. It lead me to get DP1 Merrill and DP3 Merrill, both of which are also outstanding cameras, but with fixed lenses. I have too much camera crap, that's for sure.

Just got the 50-100mm f/1.8. The thing is a beast. I hope to give it a workout this weekend. The camera is really amazing. I was a bit apprehensive to give up my 5Dii but even with its quirks, the more I used the sd Quattro the more I like it.

Very interested in how that combo performs for you. Seems like it should be a killer studio portrait setup.

Nice, love the detail and sharpness.

I have a sigma dock for sigma mount art lenses if you ever need one cheap

Very interested in the sd Quatro with the 18-35 combination..

Are you still enjoying the camera? Any further thoughts, experiences, images?