Sigma DP3 Merrill with 50mm f/2.8 (75mm equivalent)
Related: digital sensor, Sigma, Sigma APS_C, Sigma DP3 Merrill, Sigma mirrorless, Sigma true-color, true-color sensor or image
The per-pixel image quality of the Sigma DP Merrill cameras is fantastic, as I show in my review of the Sigma DP1 Merrill and Sigma DP2 Merrill (28mm, 45mm equivalents).
Now Sigma introduces the DP3 Merrill with a 50mm f/2.8 lens on an APS-C sensor, equivalent to a 75mm f/2.8 on full frame. This is a Very Good Thing, though I admit I’m hankering more for a DP0 Merrill with a 19mm equivalent.
I expect to have the DP3 Merrill for testing at some point, and my guess it that the 75mm (equiv) lens will be a honey, the 45mm being superb and a little better than the excellent 28mm. Really, both are top-grade lenses, and the decision to use f/2.8 is a smart one to keep field curvature down and sharpness up.
I’m a big fan of the DP Merrill image quality as well as the simple and highly usable interface (menus and dials/buttons). I’d make some changes and additions, but as it stands, the DP Merrill design choices are far better than the bewildering maze found in so many other cameras today.
As a side note, using DP-28, DP-45, DP-75 would have been a far better choice than the confusingly obtuse 1/2/3 nomenclature, which sounds like subsequent revisions rather than the different cameras they actually are.
Also announced is a new monochrome conversion mode in the Sigma Photo Pro software. This is smart move, and as I’ve stated clearly in my review, the Sigma DP1/DP2/DP3 Merrill might actually make the best monochrome images on the market, bar none— because the sensor has a true RGB image for superior post-shot conversion blending. Shooting DP1/DP2/DP3 Merill will cost you about 1/5 of what Leica M Monochrome system will, and you’ll actually get superior results in many cases due to autofocus and RGB options that the MM doesn’t have.
