I absolutely love the feel of the SD Quattro’s body, and the DP range with fixed lenses is very different as well to the usual crowd. The sd Quattro will preview
your exposure, white balance
and colour mode, giving a good idea of how the image should
turn out before you press the shutter button. Lots of useful extras can be overlaid on the
live-view display, including
gridlines, a dual-axis electronic level display and a live histogram. Indeed, users can configure up to four custom views each for the EVF and LCD, and cycle through them using the display button. The Sigma sd Quattro has a high-resolution 2.36 megapixel electronic viewfinder, which offers near-100% coverage and a 1.09 magnification ratio. There's a dedicated switch next to the viewfinder which toggles between displaying the image in the viewfinder, the monitor, or the Auto mode, where the camera automatically switches to the viewfinder display when the user is looking through it and to the monitor when they're not. The new Sigma sd Quattro H mirrorless camera continues the three core Sigma camera traditions, namely superb image quality at low ISO settings, an idiosyncratic user interface, and frustratingly slow performance. Once again, if you prefer a more leisurely approach to taking pictures, the sd Quattro H will reward you with some amazing images, if you can get on with the "unusual" user interface. For the unconverted, it's a little more difficult. Even in its Quattro incarnation, Foveon sensors are challenging to shoot. The performance in all but the best light is poor by modern standards and, even at base ISO, there's less dynamic range to play with in processing than we've come to expect. But, with all that said, there's nothing on the market that produces such realistic levels of detail. System adoption

For the price I would definitely consider this camera as my main landscape shooter if I didn't already have a better (and waaaay more expensive) option. Sure, it's not even close to Pentax K1, it's silly to claim otherwise, but it's still a very interesting choice. Sigma and Foveon continue to claim that this 3-layer approach results in better looking colour images straight out of the camera when compared to a more conventional CCD/CMOS sensor. Whilst this may be true, from the user's point of view the final image is 6192x4128 pixels in size, which limits how big you can print or crop the native image without interpolating it in Adobe Photoshop or another application. There are two ways of looking at the sd Quattro. First, is it a realistic competitor for a similarly priced enthusiast DSLR or CSC? Sadly, the answer is probably not, at least for the majority of photographers; it’s difficult to recommend building up an SA-mount lens set to use with such a specialised camera. Landscape shooters happy to bolt it to a tripod and always work at ISO 100 might appreciate the unique qualities of the Foveon sensor, but it’s difficult not to conclude that the majority of photographers would be better served by an up-to-date APS-C DSLR or CSC instead. Almost any other interchangeable-lens camera will give faster autofocus and much better high ISO performance, and therefore increased shooting flexibility. The fact that its raw files can only be processed using Sigma Photo Pro is also a serious liability; this software is simply too slow and clunky to offer any kind of sensible workflow unless you only plan on processing a very limited number of shots at any given time. In a recent firmware update Sigma added DNG raw recording (for stills) to the SD Quattro and SD Quattro H. Previously you needed to use the very slow Sigma Photo Pro software to open X3F format raw files from the camera. Now you can simply open the DNG files in Adobe Photoshop like normal. This isn’t to suggest that either
is wildly unreliable – indeed, most times the sd Quattro gives nicely judged, attractive images. But it’s less consistent than some if its peers and can be prone to over-neutralising atmospheric lighting such as warm evening sunlight.Power Source Li-ion Battery BP-61, Battery Charger BC-61, AC adapter SAC-7 (optional) [DC connector CN-31, AC cable (supplied)] Many users, however, will be tempted to focus manually, and here the sd Quattro offers some useful aids. A peaking display can be turned on in the menus with a choice of four colours, although it can’t be set up as a custom viewfinder display. When the lens is switched to manual focus, pressing the button in the centre of the D-pad engages magnified live view for the most accurate focusing, and the area of interest can be moved around the frame as in AF mode.

This unique approach means that its X3F raw files can only be processed using Sigma Photo Pro (SPP). Unfortunately, this is one of the slowest and least intuitive pieces of software I’ve ever used, and it’s a serious weakness of the entire system. It’s capable of delivering good results, but you’ll need a fast, up-to-date computer and the patience of a saint. The sd Quattro cameras' ability to shoot in DNG means is that you can finally edit your Foveon Raw files using a converter other than Sigma Photo Pro. As you might expect, there's a few caveats. When you enable DNG capture on the Quattro H, you don't have an option to simultaneously capture a JPEG (although there is a whopping 13MB JPEG embedded in every DNG, should you want to dig it out). Sigma sd Quattro H w/120-300mm Sigma lens – ISO 100, 171mm, f/4.5, 1/800 Hidden option: Easy Infrared Like the dp Quattro compacts we’ve already tested, the sd Quattro’s Foveon X3 sensor offers a decidedly Jekyll and Hyde approach to image quality. At low-sensitivity settings of ISO 100-400 it’s excellent, with astonishing pixel-level detail. But at high ISOs it’s awful, lagging far behind conventional Bayer sensors. In what appears to be a tacit admission of this, Sigma Photo Pro 6.4, by default, now drops the output resolution to 4.9MP at ISO 800 (2,712×1,808 pixels), 2.2MP at ISOs 1,600 and 3,200 (1,808×1,205 pixels), and just 1.2MP at ISO 6,400 (1,356×904 pixels). It’s still possible to extract full-size images if you prefer, but they’re not great. Dynamic range But significantly, fifteen years is also the length of time we've had to use Sigma's Photo Pro software to get any sort of decent results from these cameras. In the early days, you were almost forced into it, as the SD9 didn't shoot JPEGs and Adobe Camera Raw support that was present up until the Merrills was laughable or simply non-existent. So until now, if you wanted to shoot Raw on a Sigma digital camera, you'd have to fire up Sigma Photo Pro and wait. And wait. And wait some more. And then relaunch it once it crashes, because crashing was a foregone conclusion (though to be fair, it is far less stable on Mac OS than Windows).As it stands, you have to take the double risk of investing in an unusual sensor technology and that of buying into a less widely adopted lens system. Sigma offers a program to change the lens mount on its latest 'Global Vision' lenses, which means you could salvage some of your investment if you ever moved away from SA mount, but that's not the same as being able to use your lenses across multiple cameras (for those people who don't solely shoot in good light). The Final Word The BIOS was the key and it wasn't possible to get compatible computer without IBM licensing until Compaq (later bought by the HP) reverse engineered it in clean room method and that was then the problem for IBM as it allowed Microsoft to license the PC DOS (MS DOS) to second parties. It was game over that time. Blame DxO Optics Pro. That product has never opened any DNG file created by Adobe DNG Converter or LR, no matter what camera raw file is used, so the Adobe-compatible Sigma DNG file was never going to be any different.

Effective Pixels: Approx. 38.6MP T(Top): 6,200×4,152 / M(Middle): 3,100×2,076 / B(Bottom): 3,100×2,076 Total Pixels: Approx. 44.7MP types (Auto, Auto (Lighting Source Priority), Daylight, Shade, Overcast, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Color Temperature, Flash, Custom 1, Custom 2, Custom 3) Li-ion Battery BP-61, Battery Charger BC-61, AC adapter SAC-7 (optional) [DC connector CN-31, AC cable (supplied)]

Sigma sd Quattro review: Introduction

The X3 Quattro sensor is at the heart of what makes the SD Quattro H interesting and is, far more than any physical difference, the thing that most sets this camera apart from all its rivals. Lastly, you'd better have a big memory card - the DNG files weigh in at around ~150MB each *. For comparison, uncompressed Raw files from the Nikon D810, Sony a7R II and Fujifilm GFX 50S weigh in at around 70MB, 85MB and 110MB, respectively (and two out of those three offer lossless compression to bring those sizes down anyhow). types ( Auto, Auto (Lighting Source Priority), Daylight, Shade, Overcast, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Color Temperature, Flash, Custom 1, Custom 2, Custom 3 ) That said, landscape shooting does tend to reward a patient approach to picture taking, so neither this need to take extra care, nor the considerable delay as the camera writes its huge DNGs were of particular concern. We suspect most people will be happy enough with the image quality to overcome the occasional hurdle placed in your path. While it has understandably
not been very prolific with new models, Sigma has maintained a constant, if low-key presence in the camera market. Its current
dp Quattro fixed-lens compacts have a clear, if somewhat niche appeal, with exceptional lenses and superb image quality at low ISOs. The camera we’re considering here, the sd Quattro, uses the same sensor, but with interchangeable lenses. It’s one of a pair of externally identical cameras, with the sd Quattro-H differing in having a larger, higher resolution 25.5-million-pixel sensor with a 1.3x crop.