![]() ![]() For a camera with a 1.7x crop factor, I’d say it’s fairly large. The viewfinder is moderately large and bright. I have always been using the center focus point, anyway. Nothing spectacular, but absolutely sufficient. The SD14 has five AF points that light up when correct focus is achieved - one in the center, and four to the top, bottom, left and right of it. The autofocusing was quick and reliable with the two lenses I used. If you want to properly light stuff, get proper lighting equipment. It’s a built-in flash: it does its job, and that’s it. The built-in flash is nothing to get excited about. But that can only be a good thing, meaning it’s probably very solidly built. ![]() Compared to an entry-level DSLR from one of the major manufacturers, this thing weighs almost a ton. What I found peculiar is that the camera feels so heavy when you hold it. So larger hands than mine will probably still feel comfortable. I don’t have particularly large hands, and I found it to be a nice fit, if not a tad on the large-ish side. As I said, no much need to dig into the menus. The shutter button is placed nicely on the slanted top of the grip, and is surrounded by a clicky-wheely-dial that changes aperture, shutter speed and a bulk of functions that you can tweak via the top LCD. You have a couple drive options, and that’s it. I hardly ever needed to access the main menu at all, since the functionality of the camera is limited to the basics. What I particularly liked was the quick panel with direct access to ISO, white balance and a couple other often-needed settings. The menus are almost minimalistic, offering no more functionality than you absolutely need. Most buttons are where they are supposed to be, although it does take a little time to get familiar with how the camera works. The SD14 is a pretty straightforward camera. This is a highly subjective piece, with some scattered objective information here and there. Also, don’t expect any studio measurements of signal-to-noise ratios, or MTF charts of the lenses I used. So don’t expect any in-depth discussion of the placement of the remote control connector or the layout of the menu. Rather, it’s a report on my time spent with the camera, and my assessment of the quality of its output. Having heard so many enthusiastic reports about the Foveon technology, I wanted to see for myself.ĭISCLAIMER: This is in no way meant to be a technical and precise review of the Sigma SD14. Its real strenght, though, is said to be its Foveon sensor, which allegedly delivers outstanding resolution and color fidelity. On the upside, the SD14 has a nice 0.9x magnification viewfinder with 98% coverage, which is pretty good, can be remote controlled, and has a very user-friendly interface with straight menus, well-placed buttons and a top LCD panel. ![]() Compared to the competition, that was pretty low-end even back then. The slightly-smaller-than APS-C sensor has an effective resolution of 4.7 megapixels, ISO goes as high as 800, the screen has a 150k pixel resolution and it takes up to 3 frames per second. The Sigma SD14 was introduced back in 2006, and even for that time, its specifications were pretty unspectacular. Oh, and yes, I know, we’re late with this article … So when I got the chance of using a Sigma SD14 recently, I just had to take the opportunity to experience the Foveon sensor myself. The result: uncompromised sharpness, and theoretically high color fidelity. The advantage: no color moiré due to a lack of need for demosaicking, and thus no need for an anti-aliasing filter. Making use of the different wavelengths of red, green and blue light, the Foveon sensor stacks three layers of photosites, each recording a different color for the final image. I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by the idea behind the Foveon sensor. ![]()
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