Sigma SD14

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sigma SD14
Image:Sigma SD14.jpg
Type	Digital single-lens reflex
Sensor	20.7 mm x 13.8 mm Foveon X3 sensor
Maximum resolution	2640 × 1760 × 3 (14.1 million photoelements)
Lens type	Interchangeable (Sigma SA mount)
Shutter	electronic focal-plane
Shutter speed range	30 s to 1/4000 s
Exposure Metering	TTL, full aperture, zones
Exposure Modes	Programmed, shutter-priority, aperture priority, manual
Metering modes	Evaluative, Spot, C/Wgt Average
Focus areas	5 points, cross pattern
Focus modes	One-shot, Continuous, Manual
Continuous Shooting	up to 3.0 frame/s
Viewfinder	Optical, pentaprism
ASA/ISO range	100–1600 in 1/3 EV steps
Flash	pop-up, sync at 1/180 second
Custom WB	6 presets, auto, and custom
Rear LCD monitor	2.5-inch (63 mm), 150,000 pixels
Storage	CompactFlash(CF) (Type I or Type II) and MicroDrive(MD)
Battery	1500 mAhr 7.2 V Li-ion rechargable
Weight	700 g (body only)

The Sigma SD14 is a digital single-lens reflex camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It is fitted with a Sigma SA mount which takes Sigma SA lenses. The camera was announced on August 29, 2006 with a "teaser" advertising campaign,^[1] and was unveiled at the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany on 2006-09-26. ^[2] After production delays, Sigma announced the official release of the SD14 to be on March 6th, 2007.^[3] Sigma has released sample images on their website.^[4]

[edit] Improvements from SD10

The camera has a new body design that is smaller than its predecessors, the SD10 and SD9. Like the previous models, it uses a Foveon X3 direct image sensor, this time with an improved pixel count of 2652 × 1768 × 3 photoelements (4.7 million locations, 14.1 million total photoelements). Since there are three layers of sensor elements for each pixel, one each for red, green, and blue, Sigma and Foveon claim 14 megapixels, counting all individual single-color sensor elements.^[5] Similarly, companies selling Bayer sensor cameras also count single-color sensor elements as pixels, as does Fujifilm with its Super CCD cameras, in which both large and small photosensors under the same color filter and microlens are counted as pixels.^[6]

Other improvements over the previous design include a built-in, pop-up flash, FAT32 support for larger-capacity Compact Flash storage cards, a higher continuous shooting speed of 3 frames per second, an upgraded auto focus system with an AF assist lamp, an improved viewfinder with a 0.9 × magnification, a more durable shutter rated at 100,000 actuations, a larger 2.5" LCD monitor, support for USB 2.0, and a proprietary rechargeable lithium ion battery system with a claimed 500 shot capacity. Sigma has also revised the dust protector, it is now a round pop-in design rather than the square, screw-in design of the SD10. It is also claimed that the re-design of the shutter has eliminated the problem of particles flaking off of that mechanism and onto the sensor.

[edit] Output data options

The camera can output a RAW file size of 14.1 million sample values, organized as 2652 × 1768 × 3, or a JPEG image up to 14 megapixels, or 4608 × 3072 (interpolated) pixels.

In the RAW file, each of 4.7 million triples of digitized data from the sensor contains three measurements taken at three different depths within the silicon chip. The penetration of light into silicon is dependent on the wavelength of the light; therefore, the red, green, and blue values can be independently calculated at each of 4.7 million locations. This is in contrast to the approach utilized in a Bayer sensor, which can only measure one color channel at each location, and must interpolate the remaining color information based on the neighboring values. The 10.2 million value RAW output from the Sigma SD10 has compared favorably with the output from 6 to 8 megapixel Bayer-sensor DSLR cameras.^[7] At this time there are no publicly available sample photographs taken with the SD14 to evaluate, so the image quality of the output from the SD14 is unknown at this point.