The Sigma DP2 [official site], which uses a full-sized DSLR sensor and a fixed-focus lens in a point-and-shoot body, is about to be dumped on the world. An update to the somewhat awkward DP1, the DP2 moves to a “brighter, tighter” f/2.8 41mm lens, as well as a host of other minor tweaks that hopefully will make it a better choice for the average user.
No price has yet been announced, but expect it to be in the high hundreds.
Wired mag has an infographic about the design that went into the DP1 in the current issue. Apparently the entire metal front of the camera acts as a heat sink for the “Trisket-sized” sensor.
Oh, and did somebody say “viewfinder”?
Who needs a viewfinder?
Someone who’s incapable of using fore and aft sights with a series of notches for width?
The idea is the photographer takes the picture, not the box.
Triscuit?
I like viewfinders. I hate having to use the screen.
You know, Boduelmike, I said one little thing. I like having a little window that I can put up to my eye so I can see what the camera is looking at. I expressed a preference for this. In my possibly incorrect vocabulary, I called this a viewfinder.
Personally, I think I’m a fairly decent photographer. Maybe you would disagree, but since I doubt you have seen any photos I’ve taken, you really don’t have any room to talk. Now, maybe I’m taking your statement as an insult and I shouldn’t. But, just maybe, you’re an ass.
Careful, Joel… Accurate or not, “full-size sensor” has come to mean 36x24mm (i.e. same as 35mm film) to most educated-enough-to-be-dangerous photographers. The Sigma sensor here is about 21x14mm, which is only 3/4 as big as Nikon small-sensor SLRs, but slightly larger than Olympus SLRs. I know it sounds nit-pick-y, but sensor size is what the DP2 is all about. Bigger the sensor, blurrier the background of the photo & smoother the noise pattern.
And “fixed-focus” isn’t the word you’re looking for — you mean “fixed focal-length.” Fixed-focus is what disposable & snorkeling mask cameras use, where everything is meant to be in focus, all the time. Fixed focal-length means that you don’t have any zooming capability, which is what describes this camera.
Neon, they sell hot-shoe viewfinders as an optional accessory.
Neoncat,
When communicating between two cultures, beware of differences.
I suspect you may be American; “just maybe” you’re quick to take offence, unable to understand irony and humour different from your own.
I’ve been waiting for some real specs on this camera. Now I think I’ll go a head and pull the trigger on a DMC-LX3.
Also there’s apparently an argument about whether it’s 14 or 4.7 mpel.
I couldn’t care less. Nobody is making the camera I want:
10-ish mpel on a full frame sensor would be fine;
Interchangeable lenses (use all the old glass; prime lenses; forget about zooms);
MANUAL focusing;
MANUAL shutter;
MANUAL speed;
MANUAL aperture;
MECHANICAL screw-in shutter release so I can use on a tripod or with timers or remote firing without shelling out 500 quid for a fancy wire;
nice LCD on the back to check the photo you just took – zoom in would be nice;
under a kilo would be good;
can’t see why it can’t be made for less than 300 pounds (or dollars; pretty much the same these days).
Oh, and is it beyond the wit of man to make the hot mirror removable so I could use it for IR?