Like most full-frame cameras, this one comes at a steep sticker worth of Rs. 2,15,000 for simply the physique. It’s time to see what this professional-level digicam is like to make use of on a day-to-day foundation, and whether or not it is sensible so that you can choose it over the extra mainstream selections out there.
Sigma fp design
The design of the Sigma fp is one thing that we instantly liked. The physique is deceptively small for a full-frame digicam and it seems like only a small block of steel and rubber. With the battery and SD card inserted, the burden remains to be solely about 422g, which is sort of gentle. The compact physique can be considerably pocketable (with no lens hooked up in fact).
The physique is constructed from aluminium, which makes it very sturdy. The entire construction is claimed to be dust-proof and splash-proof. The Sigma fp is designed to be adaptable and versatile, which is why you don’t get any built-in flash and even an digital viewfinder. The digicam ships with the HU-11 hot-shoe flash unit, in case that you must use an exterior one. Even the clips on the edges for a digicam strap are each detachable; held in place with customary tripod mounts.
The Sigma fp encompasses a devoted swap for altering between stills and video capturing
One other distinctive and conspicuous addition is a heatsink, the ridged edges of that are seen simply across the edges of the rear show. Sigma says this could assist management temperatures when capturing for extended intervals, particularly in 4K RAW. Coming to the buttons and ports, we’ve got a USB Kind-C (USB 3.1 Gen1) port, HDMI (Kind-D); a 6-pin terminal, and a devoted microphone port on the left. All of those are lined by rubber flaps, however the one for the HDMI port isn’t hooked up to the digicam, so it may very well be simple to misplace. There’s no built-in headphones socket for monitoring audio, which implies you’ll have to make use of an adjunct.
You get an honest number of buttons on the highest and again of the digicam, together with some devoted ones for tweaking the tone and color. There’s a swap to alter between Nonetheless and Cine modes, which we discovered very helpful. You additionally get a devoted report button, two dials, and shortcuts for the fast settings (QS button), and AEL (publicity lock).
The show on the Sigma fp is sharp and gives good visibility even outdoor
The Sigma fp encompasses a 3.1-inch touchscreen with a 2.1 million dot decision. The display is fastened and doesn’t tilt or flip in any manner, however contemplating that the digicam is designed for use with an exterior monitor, this shouldn’t be an enormous dealbreaker. The battery compartment and SD card slot (as much as UHD-II speeds supported) are on the underside of the digicam. You’ll be able to even report footage on to a conveyable SSD by way of the Kind-C port.
General, the construct high quality and end of the Sigma fp are spectacular. The matte black materials doesn’t choose up smudges or dust simply, it’s extremely compact, and we love the modular nature of the design. Nonetheless, when you’re going to be utilizing this digicam with no rig, it won’t be nice.
For example, the fp doesn’t have a handgrip, because the entrance is totally flat. This didn’t give us the perfect confidence when capturing with one hand. We additionally discovered the rear dial to be a bit fiddly, because it has a little bit of play and might simply be rotated with even an unintended contact. Nonetheless, the standard and suggestions of the remainder of the buttons and switches are superb.
Sigma fp specs and options
The Sigma fp encompasses a 24.6-megapixel, full-frame Bayer CMOS sensor. Sigma has solely used an digital shutter right here, which is how this digicam is ready to obtain 18fps burst capturing. The fp makes use of the L-mount, which makes it appropriate with lenses from Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma, together with Sigma’s personal DSLR and Cine lenses utilizing adapters, which you’ll have to purchase individually. An non-obligatory MC-21 mount adapter allows you to use Canon EF lenses too.
For stills, the fp is able to capturing 14-bit RAW (DNG) photographs. It has an ISO vary of 100-25,600 (expandable to 6-1,02,400), and a most shutter velocity of 1/8,000 of a second. The Sigma fp has 49 selectable autofocus factors and depends on distinction detection autofocus. There’s no on-sensor part detection autofocus right here, which is why steady autofocus is a bit gradual.
The Sigma fp is straightforward to deal with, due to its compactness
In terms of video, the Sigma fp can report in 12-bit CinemaDNG (8-bit for in-camera recoding) or within the MOV format utilizing H.264, when you want one thing that’s simpler to share and edit. You’ll be able to shoot at as much as 4K 30fps, with different framerates similar to 24p and 25p are additionally obtainable. Full-HD decision movies may be shot at as much as 120fps. The fp can even seize metadata similar to a timecode, to be used in filmmaking. It helps options similar to the flexibility to regulate the shutter angle, a body information for various cinema-grade facet ratios, and has one thing known as ‘Director’s Viewfinder,’ which simulates how the body would look on cinema cameras such because the Purple Mostro 8K.
Sigma despatched us the 45mm f/2.8 DG DN lens with the fp for our evaluate. That is a part of Sigma’s ‘Up to date’ sequence and encompasses a focus ring and an aperture rung. This prime lens doesn’t have any stabilisation of its personal, which implies you’ll should depend on the digicam’s digital stabilisation.
The menu system of the Sigma fp is pretty easy and straightforward to get used to. It’s segmented into three predominant classes — Shoot, Play, and System. The Shoot menu has a number of tabs which allow you to configure issues like Auto ISO, drive mode, bracketing, HDR, crop mode, and stabilisation. The Shoot menu adjustments relying on whether or not you’re within the Nonetheless or Cine mode. Some further options promised for future software program updates embrace HDR for video recording; Cinemagraph, which helps you to create animated GIFs from small video clips; the flexibility to play and evaluate RAW footage on the digicam itself; and the flexibility to report video utilizing the Director’s Viewfinder possibility.
Sigma fp efficiency and battery life
We start with the video efficiency of the Sigma fp, since that’s its major objective. The small dimension made it very handy to shoot video on the go in addition to to seize candid moments. This digicam can be helpful for road capturing because it doesn’t draw an excessive amount of consideration. We primarily used the fp handheld, however professionals will ideally need to use it with a gimbal or in a digicam rig, which is the place its true potential lies.
Nonetheless, for informal capturing utilizing the MOV format, we have been very impressed with the standard of movies that the Sigma fp managed to seize. Colors have been correct, sharpness was glorious, and the prime lens we used produced some very good bokeh. Video high quality was equally spectacular in low gentle, with good element, sharpness and colors. The fp does hunt for focus a bit greater than typical in low gentle, particularly when making an attempt to give attention to distant objects.
The most effective options of the fp is the flexibility to mess around with varied tone and color settings by the devoted buttons whereas recording. There are a big number of preset color choices or filters to select from, and the energy of every filter may be adjusted based mostly in your model of capturing. The ‘Tone’ button allows you to manipulate shadows and highlights on the fly, which we discovered immensely useful.
Coming to the digicam’s different options, there’s face and eye detection, which works nicely as quickly as you level it at a human topic. Steady autofocus isn’t very fast, because of the distinction detection AF system, however when you faucet a special space within the viewfinder and press the shutter half manner, the main focus jumps rapidly. There may be monitoring autofocus too, however this isn’t accessible in Cine mode. We tried the digital stabilisation, and located that it does an okay job of stabilising video. Whereas capturing, the Sigma fp did get heat however by no means too sizzling.
Switching to photograph mode, the Sigma fp is sort of competent on this space too. The stills we captured had glorious quantities of element. The perimeters round objects had good sharpness, and colors have been fairly precisely represented. Burst mode works very nicely, and due to the digital shutter, it’s just about silent. Stills captured in low gentle had good dynamic vary and element. Noise was handled very nicely and colors have been nicely represented.
Shut-up shot from the Sigma fp: ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/500, 45mm (resized for internet, faucet to see bigger picture)
Portrait shot from the Sigma fp: ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/100, 45mm (resized for internet, faucet to see bigger picture)
Shot utilizing the ‘Cinema’ color profile: ISO 160, f/2.8, 1/500, 45mm (resized for internet, faucet to see bigger picture)
Low-light shot utilizing the Sigma fp: ISO 6,400, f/2.8, 1/50, 45mm (resized for internet, faucet to see bigger picture)
With a UHS-II class SD card within the digicam, we didn’t have to attend lengthy earlier than burst photographs have been saved. We want the touchscreen had a bit extra performance, as aside from utilizing it to shift focus and zoom into a picture in playback mode, it will probably’t be used to work together with the fast settings or in the principle menus. We nonetheless managed to get round rapidly utilizing the 2 dials, however it will have been good to have had the choice to make use of the touchscreen.
HDR for stills is helpful once you want extra dynamic vary, however HDR pictures of individuals didn’t all the time end up nice. Pores and skin tones seemed a bit reddish, however for landscapes, it wasn’t too unhealthy.
We put the Sigma fp by our ISO check to examine how usable the upper ISO ranges actually are. The digicam delivered glorious sharpness until about ISO 3,200, at which level, we began to note delicate noise and a dip in sharpness. There wasn’t a lot of a distinction after this until ISO 12,800, the place particulars took a extra seen drop.
ISO check (faucet to see full-sized picture)
Nonetheless, noise ranges have been nonetheless very a lot in examine. On the most native ISO of 25,600 particulars and textures seemed noticeably smoothened and sharpness was significantly decreased. Going by the expanded ISO vary, we noticed that picture high quality was nonetheless salvageable until ISO 51,200, however going past that, it took a giant hit.
Battery life wasn’t the perfect. When solely capturing stills, we managed to get round 220-250 photographs per cost, and if we recorded just a few 4K video clips in between, this quantity dropped to about 175 photographs. You’ll in all probability need a spare battery helpful throughout shoots. You’ll be able to report video when this digicam is plugged into an exterior energy supply too. The bundled USB Kind-C charger can totally cost the battery in below two hours. You’ll be able to cost additionally cost it utilizing an influence financial institution if wanted.
Verdict
The Sigma fp may appear to be a mainstream mirrorless digicam but it surely’s something however that. It’s designed to compete with professional-grade cameras such because the Cinema Pocket sequence from Blackmagic, fairly than choices from Sony or Nikon. The most important benefit of the fp is its dimension and versatile nature, which makes it simple to suit into any rig or skilled setup. Plus, its compatibility with a variety of lenses is an added bonus. The construct high quality is great, video high quality is superb, high-ISO efficiency is strong, and stills are additionally first rate.
Focusing velocity and battery life may very well be higher, and in case you are on the lookout for one thing for extra informal use, then cameras such because the Sony A7 III and even Nikon Z6 could be higher choices. Nonetheless, when you’re on the lookout for a compact digicam with cinema-level options for filmmaking, you may discover the Sigma fp extra interesting.
Value (M.R.P)
- Sigma fp – Rs. 2,15,000
- Sigma 45mm f/2.8 DG DN lens – Rs. 47,500