subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 14 March 2020 43
The Sigma fp and 45mm
f/2.8 lens make a great
lightweight combination
Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN,
1/1600sec at f/2.8, ISO 100the top and the handgrip from the
front, and 14mm taken off one
side. It’s similar in size to compact
APS-C models such as the Canon
EOS M6 Mark II, Fujifilm X-T30, or
Sony Alpha 6400. But of course
you need a lens, with the matched
Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN adding
46mm to the depth and giving a
total weight of 640g. This
combination is small by full-frame
standards, but is still larger and
heavier than the fixed-lens Sony
RX1R II, which sports a 42.4MP
full-frame sensor, 35mm f/2 lens,
pop-up viewfinder and tilting
screen, but costs £600 more.
Features
As Sigma’s first camera born of its
alliance with Leica and Panasonic,
the fp is based around the
mirrorless Leica L mount. Not only
can it use native lenses from all
three companies, but also adapted
Canon EF or Sigma SA-mount
lenses via the Sigma MC-21
adapter. Officially, only the firm’s
Global Vision-series lenses made
since 2012 are fully compatible
with the MC-21, but in practice,
every Canon EF lens I tried worked
fine, although autofocus tends to
be slow. As with all mirrorless
cameras, a huge array of
manual-focus lenses can also be
used via mount adapters.
In contrast to all of the
company’s previous models, which
used multi-layer Foveon sensors
for full-colour sampling at each
pixel location, the fp’s 24MP
full-frame sensor employs a
conventional Bayer colour filter
array. This should massively
broaden the fp’s appeal, as it
delivers considerably higher
dynamic range and lower high-
ISO noise. The sensor employs a
back-illuminated architecture to
increase light-gathering sensitivity,
while detail rendition is maximised
by the omission of an optical
low-pass filter.The standard sensitivity range of
ISO 100-25,600 is par for the
course these days, as are the
extended high settings up to ISO
102,400. But at the other end of
the scale, Sigma has added a
unique set of ‘composite’ settings
down to ISO 6. Unlike on other
cameras, these aren’t ‘pulled’ low
ISOs with reduced highlight range;
instead the camera takes a series
of exposures at ISO 100 and adds
them together. It’s a really neat
trick that allows you to use long
shutter speeds without needing a
neutral density filter, while
delivering raw files with ludicrous
dynamic range that can easily be
pushed five stops with no visible
noise. The catch, as with other
composite modes, is that anything
moving within the scene will give
multiple ghost images.
Autofocus uses contrast
detection, with three different size
AF areas that can be placed freely
across approximately 80% of theframe width and 75% of its height.
When moving the AF point using
the physical controls rather then
the touchscreen, it’s easiest to
switch to a 49-point set-up,
arranged in a 7x7 grid. Naturally
you can enable face- and eye-
detection, at which point the
camera will outline your subject
and track them as they move
around the frame.
In terms of shooting speed, the
fp is capable of up to 18 frames
per second, although with a buffer
of just 12 frames. The shutter
provides settings up to
1/8000sec, and being electronic,
is entirely silent. Rolling shutter
artefacts can be apparent if you
pan the camera while shooting,
but Sigma has done a decent job
of suppressing the banding that
can be caused by the flickering of
LED or fluorescent lights when
shooting indoors.
Raw files are recorded as
14-bit DNGs, so they should