Sigma DP2 Merrill Experiences

[juan_amores]

One from today:


_SDI0466 por John Loves, en Flickr

[The Ute]

After reading all of these posts, and seeing the many photos I decided to to find out what the fuss was all about. So I am renting a DP2.

It should arrive in about a week.

[palpman]

Hi all,

I am looking for tips or examples and maybe tutorials on DP Merrill workflow and RAW processing, does anyone of you a few links to share? I'm trying to get the best from my shots and by seeing the work of users here, it seems like I need to improve my post-processing.

Thanks!

[Rand47]

Hi all,

I am looking for tips or examples and maybe tutorials on DP Merrill workflow and RAW processing, does anyone of you a few links to share? I'm trying to get the best from my shots and by seeing the work of users here, it seems like I need to improve my post-processing.

Thanks!

If you read this very thread through from the beginning, and perhaps this one at GetDPI:    you'll get a good sense of "best practices" in getting in and out of Sigma SPP.
In short, export as 16 bit uncompressed tiff.  Most process in SPP minimally, and leave defaults except for a little negative on the sharpening.  Most shoot "natural" on camera setting.

I pretty much followed the lead of others after reading these threads, and Michael's report on the DP2M on this site, and have been very pleased with the (huge) tiff files brought into LR for processing.

Rand

[kgelner]

Shoot the camera at about +0.7 exposure.  You are looking to get what appears to be near or mild blowout in the preview images.

I would advise shooting neutral color mode with auto WB (unless you are used to setting custom WB, that is fine).  If the scene has much dynamic range, shoot ISO 200 instead of ISO 100.

Review all your images using either the embedded JPG files, or shoot raw+JPG and look at those JPG files to decide what raw files you want to convert.

In SPP create a preset for -1.0 exposure, batch convert all your selected RAW files using that preset into 16-bit TIFF files.

If you like a bit more saturation in your colors, add +0.3 to saturation in that export preset.  You can also try the other color modes, but I really like Neutral as a base.

Then take the 16-bit TIFF files into something like Aperture or Lightroom, add back in +1.0 exposure.  The effect that has is that SPP is fantastic at recovering highlights, that you could not get out of a TIFF at base exposure.  Shooting ISO 200 you can often recover almost two stops of over-exposure.  If the image is re-blown after adding back in the exposure you can use the recovery sliders in the other editors like you would with a raw image.

If any images are still blown try going back into SPP and reducing exposure even more.

If you prefer to use just SPP editing you can, reducing exposure enough to recover highlights, then usign other controls to increase the brightness of dark areas.  But be aware that heavy use of any of the controls is not advised - fill light works great but I wouldn't use it much past +0.3 as it gets that kind of classic "HDR" look.  Shadows and Highlights sliders can help increase overall brightness but if set too far over they seem to drain some color.  That's why I prefer after lowering exposure to bring it back up in another tool.

For some the default level of sharpening is a little overdone, you may also wish to export with sharpening set to -1.0 and re-sharpen to your taste (in SPP -2.0 is sharpening all the way off).

[mezzoduomo]

A few shots from St Simon's Island, Georgia USA

[palpman]

Thank you kgelner for sharing this method. It seems like you spent quite some time fine tuning this! So you overexposure to optimize the dynamic if I understand your approach? Does it work for all situations?

[Farsh]

Thanks everyone for posting amazing pictures to convince me to get this cam and support sigma.

I received this camera recently and it was sunny today, so I took it out for the first time.
this one is 100% crop, it was handheld, so not as sharp as you can get with the dp2m.

[Farsh]

This one could have been an amazing picture, if I had gone into manual focus first, and locked focus.
auto-focus has gone for the background. but just to highlight you can take pictures of moving objects during daylight.
again, highly cropped.

[Hulyss]

Hello Farsh and welcome to the horde I'm sure you will enjoy your new camera and the tremendous possibility it offer

[kencameron]

BTW, Hulyss, I love your web site. My favorite is the shot of the young lady with the sword and the fox.

[Hulyss]

BTW, Hulyss, I love your web site. My favorite is the shot of the young lady with the sword and the fox.

Thank you Ken   For the little story, all my visuals are some kind of work, especially when it come to clothings. At first, I killed a pheasant to stuff her wings then I made the helmet out of leather, goat fur and coper thread. After that I designed the jacket. She's made of raw wool, dear leather, velvet and fox fur. All is hand made by my wife (the model, she graduated at that and do custom clothes for lawyers, weeding high end robes ...). As you can see in this little slide-show, it was a test with very expensive custom profoto soft box  Of course I did it with a SIGMA SD15 and the 50 f1.4 EX. This is my "throwaway gear" when I go in rainy environment, in studio I run with Elinchrom.

http://youtu.be/S50N8xyYe6s

Sorry for the little of topic.

[juan_amores]

In the swamp:


_SDI0491 por John Loves, en Flickr


_SDI0490 por John Loves, en Flickr

[Rob C]

Thank you Ken   For the little story, all my visuals are some kind of work, especially when it come to clothings. At first, I killed a pheasant to stuff her wings then I made the helmet out of leather, goat fur and coper thread. After that I designed the jacket. She's made of raw wool, dear leather, velvet and fox fur. All is hand made by my wife (the model, she graduated at that and do custom clothes for lawyers, weeding high end robes ...). As you can see in this little slide-show, it was a test with very expensive custom profoto soft box  Of course I did it with a SIGMA SD15 and the 50 f1.4 EX. This is my "throwaway gear" when I go in rainy environment, in studio I run with Elinchrom.

http://youtu.be/S50N8xyYe6s

Sorry for the little of topic.

Nonsense; that's what makes it okay for non-owners like me to read these posts! Far more interesting having little insights into people's lives than just wordless pictures, however crisp or brilliant or surprising: it's the human bit that does it every time.

Rob C

[Hulyss]

Nonsense; that's what makes it okay for non-owners like me to read these posts! Far more interesting having little insights into people's lives than just wordless pictures, however crisp or brilliant or surprising: it's the human bit that does it every time.

Rob C

Thank you Rob

At first I wanted to show history in my photos by adding text with. For me, it is important. But HORDES of photographer blamed me because a photo is a photo and do not need text to be contextualized (I will prove them they are very wrong, just need 30 years of hard work). But for the little story, this very photo is the representation of a Venicones huntress, a people who lived in the north of Scotland loooonnnngggg time ago. Matriarchal society.

In the same league I did the photo of a Pict priestess. The Picts was a people of old Scotland too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts) The photo below show a pict priestess, haranguing the hordes before an Epic fight over the Vallum Aelium (Hadrian's Wall). Of course it is done with SIGMA gear   The ancestor of the DP2 Merrill : The DP2s.



I'm born in France but my heart is Scot, for ever.

[Rob C]

Thank you Rob


In the same league I did the photo of a Pict priestess. The Picts was a people of old Scotland too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts) The photo below show a pict priestess, haranguing the hordes before an Epic fight over the Vallum Aelium (Hadrian's Wall). Of course it is done with SIGMA gear   The ancestor of the DP2 Merrill : The DP2s.

I'm born in France but my heart is Scot, for ever.

How strange: I left Scotland to come and l¡ve in Spain, but I really would have liked to have lived in France!

I love the Dordogne area - perhaps because, perversely, it reminds me a bit of Scotland but with better cooking and wine. Really, though, I know I should have gone to live in Rome because I used to have relatives there and the psychology is pretty much natural to me. You think I'm messed up?

;-)

Rob C

[kencameron]

At first I wanted to show history in my photos by adding text with. For me, it is important. But HORDES of photographer blamed me because a photo is a photo and do not need text to be contextualized (I will prove them they are very wrong, just need 30 years of hard work).

Don't give up on that one, Hulyss. A photo without text can of course be a fine thing, as can text without a photo, but the combination of the two opens up lots of interesting possibilities, and not only in photojournalism. William Yang is a favorite of mine - see some of his work here. Look for the handwritten text on or below many of the images.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... I'm born in France but my heart is Scot, for ever.

Don't get me wrong, I'm French. But if I have one regret in my life it is not to be born in United States of America...

Born in the USA... with a Scottish heart then?

[Hulyss]

How strange: I left Scotland to come and l¡ve in Spain, but I really would have liked to have lived in France!

I love the Dordogne area - perhaps because, perversely, it reminds me a bit of Scotland but with better cooking and wine. Really, though, I know I should have gone to live in Rome because I used to have relatives there and the psychology is pretty much natural to me. You think I'm messed up?

;-)

Rob C

Naaa It is understandable because Scotland is a pretty hard country, after all. Just the weather and the economy... Scotland is a bit expensive. So, (and that will answer Slobodan the Sneaky ) it is why I would prefer to live in USA (pragmatic working life style) and keep my heart in Scotland, like a dream, even though I go Scotland almost every years. Who know, maybe my retirement place (If I find enough money to buy me a cottage where I want). About Roma ... I love Roma (not all in Italy). It is a easy place to live and, even if you do not speak Italian, you find yourself very de-stressed, very easy and peaceful (if you want some adress I do have some fine plans here ).
You didn't messed up then, you like good things

Don't give up on that one, Hulyss. A photo without text can of course be a fine thing, as can text without a photo, but the combination of the two opens up lots of interesting possibilities, and not only in photojournalism. William Yang is a favorite of mine - see some of his work here. Look for the handwritten text on or below many of the images.

Thank you for this link Ken, very interesting (and I don't give up)

DP2m photo to be back on the topic before being incinerated !!

[mezzoduomo]

I love what the Merrill does with water.
Processed with Silver Efex Pro 2, selenium toning.
ISO 100, f10, 1/100.