Sigma DP2x Review

Sigma's DP2x digital camera is a relatively minor update to the company's existing Sigma DP2s model, which was first announced in February 2010, and is itself an update to the Sigma DP2. The Sigma DP2x is a fixed-lens compact digital camera that, like its predecessors, is closely related to the company's original Sigma DP1 model. The most significant differences between the DP2, DP2s, and the latest generation DP2x as compared to the original DP1 is in their choice of lenses and image processors.

Where the original DP1 had a 28mm-equivalent (16.6mm actual) lens with a maximum aperture of f/4.0 that focuses as close as 12.2" / 30cm, the DP2-series cameras replace this with a rather less wide angle 41mm equivalent (24.2mm actual) lens that has a brighter maximum aperture of f/2.8 and can focus to 11" / 28cm. All of Sigma's DP-series cameras place the lens in front of a near-APS-C sized (0.98" / 24.9mm) diagonal Foveon X3 image sensor with 14.1 million 7.8µm photodiodes, capable of measuring full RGB color information at every pixel location. The Sigma DP2x hence still outputs a 4.64 megapixel maximum image size. Like the DP2 and DP2s before it, the Sigma DP2x includes Sigma's "TRUE II" image processor, instead of the original Sigma TRUE ("Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine") processor from the DP1-series cameras. The Sigma TRUE II processor is said to offer improvements in processing speed, operation, and performance as compared to the original TRUE processor.

Changes in the Sigma DP2x as compared to the DP2 and DP2s are mainly to be found in its firmware and the bundled software, although we're aware of one hardware change. According to Sigma, the DP2x design includes an analog front end in its image pipeline, like that of the DP1x and SD15 before it. That, says the company, will allow the DP2x "to reproduce high definition and richly colored images". Sigma also notes that the DP2x has improved autofocus algorithms, although it isn't clear to which previous models the comparison is being drawn. (The DP2s was also said to have improved AF algorithms, so it's possible that this same change is being carried over, or that the algorithms have been further tweaked.)

Like the DP2s, the Sigma DP2x will allow shooting at ISO 3,200 equivalent, but only when set to raw mode, where the original DP2 had an upper limit of ISO 1,600 in raw mode. (All three cameras allow only ISO 50 to 800 equivalents in JPEG mode.) The only other difference of note that we can find in the product specifications is that no continuous-mode shooting rate is listed for the DP2x, with this spec presumably still being tied down at the current time.

Pricing and availability for the Sigma DP2x had not been announced at press time.