Gizm0 - Gadget Blog for the Technology Obsessed.

Let’s start with the basics. The Sigma DP-1 is what you might call a fancy point and shoot. Its also a thousand dollars. Oh yeah, its also not a Canon or a Nikon. Worse, there’s no built in flash (just a hotshoe), and no zoom - just a 16.6 mm fixed local length lense (roughly equal to 28 millimeter S.L.R. point of view). For goodness sake, it doesn’t even have an optical viewfinder standard. So what’s so hot about it? Well, try a brand new 14 megapixel Foveon image sensor. Do we have your attention yet?

Guess who they’re gunning after? The Leica M8. Do you remember how much one of those bad boy costs? $7,500. That’s right. Besides, that optical viewfinder thing, well you can buy one as an add-on for $150, so while annoying, its still roughly $6,350 less then the Leica M8.

Oh we’d wish they’d use a little red paint in the design though - a splash here, a line there. Something that takes this camera from not only a perfomer, but a design as well. That’s what the Leicas are - digital versions of Rolex and Omega watches, something that not only works but shows off well.

We’ll get you reviews as soon as we can but for now, we can’t recommend something that takes this much work to take good pictures and look sexy at the same time.

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With the announcement of the Canon Eos Rebel XSi (e.g. the Canon 450D), one has to pause.  Yes, the newly unveiled Nikon D60 is a great update to the D40 and D40x, but being resolution whores, its hard to miss that the Rebel XSi is 12 megapixels to Nikon D60’s 10 megapixels.   Despite Nikon fanboy assertions otherwise, Canon is not a toy company, 12 megapixels is not just a number.  Canon  has their sites set on killing the megapixel race (24 megapixels on their top camera, the Mark III).  Even hardcore Nikon man Ken Rockwell  has given Canon props for their superior resolving ability when he compared the Canon 5D to Nikon D3.  We also noticed that Canon has a much more generous 3″ LCD “Live View” display, as compared to Nikon D60’s 2.5″.  That’s a huge difference if you want to enjoy the photo you just snagged.  2.5″ sucks.

Nikon D60 does have one very sweet feature - its called Active-D Lighting.  Basically it compensates  for all of those blown highlights that make digital photography and cinematography so challenging.  According to Senor Ken Rockwell, “This feature automatically identifies highlight areas that will be lost, and does its best to bring them under control. It works, and it works automatically.”

So which do we get for our entry level DSLR?  Well the Nikon D60 is slightly more affordable then the Rebel XSi,  (about $750 with lense kit at Adorama vs Canon Rebel’s $799 at J&R).

This reminds us of the battle between Sony and Panasonic camcorders.  The Panasonic HVX200 never had the resolution of the Sony FX-1 or Z1 (they’re both HD camcorders).  The Panasonic was always given credit for producing better looking, more filmic images - probably because of the way they handled dynamic range and highlights, while Sony always resolved better, which matters when you’re considering blow-up to theatrical size screens.

Therein lies your answer.  Are you planning on printing your pics to enormous gallery size displays?  If so, all the way to the high end, Canon is a better choice.  If the D3 can’t resolve as well as the Canon 5D, which is half the price, then resolution whores should stick to Canon.  If however, glorious photos without too much photoshop work is what you’re after, the Nikons are better choices, all the way down to the Nikon D40 (which is what the D60 essentially replaces).  Us?  We’re resolution whores, because we can do whatever the hell we want with the pic in Photoshop, except pretend we shot it in 12 megapixels!

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Wanna see the Sigma DP1 being manhandled by overexcited gearheads? This crossover between a point and shoot and DSLR boasts 14 megapixels and a gorgeous Leica/Canon G9 rugged style. Looks kinda hefty to us. What do you think?

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There’s a new breed of cameras gaining in popularity - the crossover or high end point and shoot.  There’s of course the Canon G9, and now Sigma DP1.  Besting the Canon G9’s 12 megapixels, the Sigma DP1 boasts 14 megapixels.

Dropping this Spring, the Sigma DP1  employs a “14-megapixel Foveon sensor that defines its shooting characteristics. The new three-layer silicon technology (also used in the SD14) captures each portion an RGB image in one pixel instead of three and allows the sensor to be several times larger than for other point-and-shoots this size; this provides both a major lift both to resolution as well as color response” this according to the good folks at Sigma.

Most exciting too us (besides the high pixel count) is the shallow depth of field capability of the Sigma DP1. Using “a custom-tailored 16.6mm f4 lens that can produce a shallow depth of field effect normally impossible with compact cameras.”  We don’t know the price but we’re guessing its going to be competing with the $400-$500 Canon G9.  No word on video capability but if its not at least 720P like the Lumix FX35, we’d be disappointed.

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The Samsung i80, i100 and s1060 digital cameras are set to drop this Spring.  Some features include all aluminum casing, with a old-school look, 8.1 megapixel sensor, 3X digital zoom, 3-inch LCD (nice and big), and Mp3 player. (why is this a trend suddenly?).  The i100 is 10.2 megapixels with dual image stabilization as well as gulp, travel information for 30 countries.  Hmm.  I’ll stick to Canon thank you.

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According to the gadgerati, the excellent Nikon D40x is set to be replaced by the Nikon D60. Don’t get too excited, the word on the street is that it is still going to be a 10 megapixel chipset. Ken Rockwell, camera enthusiast, boldly suggests that it “might” appear on January 31st. He expects the price to be $599 for body only, with a modern EN-EL3e battery, 2.5 FPS and a 2.7″ LCD monitor.

While he also expects a 10 megapixel sensor (same as D80 and standard DX sensor size), he expects there to be few less features overall then the D80 and D200. We assume the D80 is going upstream to perhaps the D90 but we’re focusing on the possible D60 because that would represent a true sweet spot of a DSLR.

An Electronista commenter in an earlier post expressed doubt that they would call it a D60, simply because the Canon already sports the EOS D60 moniker. The EOS D60 is the upgraded D30 and a right behind the Canon 10D (which was replaced by 20D, 30D and 40D respectively).

Electronista further reported that Nikon has pulled the D40x listing from its Japanese online store, indicating that they’re also pulling it from production and a new announcement is imminent.

Perhaps the earliest attribution of this “rumour” is from Matthew Lin at DPReview who cites a “very reliable source” that a D60 is in the works for Spring of 2008. He believes Nikon may borrow the high-end EXPEED chipset from the D300 while stripping a few other features not necessary for us over-achieving amateurs.

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