A Walk with the SD9 leads to temptation . .

[xpatUSA]

SD9 is the designation of the infamous first Foveon-equipped Sigma DSLR - infamous for it's weird battery system, questionable color accuracy, raw-only files and a cranky raw converter. Had one for while, sold it, but somehow just had to have one again - so I traded one of my SD10 bodies for a relatively unused, late-model SD9. They are becoming a bit of a cult in the Sigma community.

Took a walk today with said 3.4MP SD9, armed with a Sigma 70mm EX DG Macro, in search of things to shoot. Took a tripod with me for the first time ever . .

Found this rather pale flower sitting close to ground and out of the wind.



Unlike many cameras, the SD9 out-of-the-camera shots are quite natural, color-wise. The temptation to hit the hue and saturation slider was resisted (with a bit of a struggle). So, what you see is actually what I shot!

I upped the saturation on these two a bit and naughtily cranked the hue slightly in the direction of red. They are both young flowers and needed a bit of help towards maturity.

Which shot do you like best?




Planted a mandarin tree this year. It's actually bearing fruit and has attracted a guardian:



The nearest fruit is 21mm diameter.

As you can hopefully see, given good light, the Foveon is really no slouch in the color department, especially with those big fat 9.12um pitch pixels totally free of boring CFA's and micro-lenses . . aarr!

[pnodrog]

Agreed even though it's a bit long in the tooth the SD9 is no slouch. Nice that the grass hopper stayed still for the 1/10sec you needed at ISO100. What is the highest ISO you would be prepared to use it at?

[xpatUSA]

Agreed even though it's a bit long in the tooth the SD9 is no slouch. Nice that the grass hopper stayed still for the 1/10sec you needed at ISO100. What is the highest ISO you would be prepared to use it at?

100 ISO. Yep.


The SD9 only has 100, 200 & 400 ISO settings and is quite restricted on exposure time. For example, 'bulb' is only available at ISO 100 and times out at 15 sec!!

Both my Sigmas are rusted into the ISO 100 position because I only shoot in good light, mostly artificial or flash at my bench or out there in the scorching, blinding Texas sun . . I did once grab some Stillsons and set the SD10 higher than than 100 and found out that short exposure times aren't too bad but our 90+ heat sure accentuates the Foveon heating up syndrome.