Sigma Dp1 or Leica Dlux 3

http://www.apple.com/aperture/specs/raw.html

The DLux 3 is on there, but not a single Sigma, probably due to the Foveon chips.

Ian

Ap supported the DLUX -2 in 1.5.6....the camera has awesome image quality (and lots of stuff to fiddle with) and Ap's raw engine is excellent..good luck.

cheers
david

PS - I've blown up images from the DLUX-2 to 30x50 (extrapolation with GF) and and they look very, very good...

Panasonic's Model is the LX-2. It is the same identical camera except for the branding and the faux leather case that comes with the leica. I've had it for a while now and it's an excellent little camera, however the Sigma DP1 is a truly unique milestone for a compact digital camera because it really does give SLR quality images from a compact.

I've been using the D-Lux 3 as a second camera for over a year now; happy with image quality & features, esp. wide angle and shutter/aperture controls. Movies can consume a lot of space, but quality is good.

One problem - transferring to both old G5 and new MacPro is very slow. SD cards not recognized when in card readers, and must use USB cable from camera. Tried camera in PTP and USB mode, and still can't find a fix.

Also, Aperture did not support D-Lux 3 RAW for maybe 10 months, so that was a drag.

hi,
I am a painter and designer. I have just started doing a lot of photography related to my work - I bought the Leica V-Lux and Sigma DP1. Obviously very different cameras but having taken quite a few shots side by side I can quite definitely say the DP1 is on another planet! Also its simple manual controls are excellent and very useable. The V-Lux makes me think oh well I will leave it in its bag?!

V-Lux comes with Photoshop Elements. A Raw processor that connects nicely with Photoshop and includes some of its finer editing tools. However beware because the V-Lux Raw file is not supported and so it has to be converted in Adobe DNG converter (which appears to chuck away most of the file size - sorry compress it..!) Its a faff and means the review of groups of images is hard work. However the same Raw files appear automatically in Preview! and iPhoto.

Sigma PhotoPro is a basic all over processor (ie no selecting individual areas of the image..) but is very good. It only exports tiff however (and jpg ofcourse) - no Raw! The world is not ready for Foevon Raw it seems!

The Leica paints the images sweetly - has a fab fine macro and excellent zoom. Outputs large files (twice as big as the DP1) but detail is in no way comparable to the DP1 which as I have said is another world aesthetically. It is a realists camera. And tiny - virtually invisible somehow!

? All the above refers to Raw.The in camera preview images off the DP1 are not relevant. Note the DP1 is rather slow and unresponsive - its viewing LCD awful and has a stoneage Box Brownie feel. It is a delight to look at (cept the word SIGMA on the front ie. the typography..) .. a very sexy functional little guy in a sharp black suite. With that little extra.. They say its the poor mans M8? Maybe just a very unique mate.

oh!
It put a question mark where I said the Leica Raw files appear automatically in iPhoto and Preview..

Regards
Dee

You may want to read the DP1 review on dpreview.com posted this week before buying that camera:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0805/08051901sigmadp1review.asp

You may want to read the comments about that review in its own forum from DP1 owners.

Also to add to the comments about the Leica (V-Lux) - the transfer times between camera and iBook etc are awful - unless you put the card in the Sigma in which case it is superfast! The V-Lux LCD screen is great due to the way it twists and makes the new Sony one look a bit lame..

Sigma Raw is not supported from the DP1 in Aperture. Sigma raw software is excellent and exports 16 bit tiff.

I hope to buy a Digilux 3 next which apparently works well with Phase One Capture software.. I really do not expect it to compete with the DP1 tho? Again the zoom may be useful and the f2.8 lens (the DP1 is f4 sadly tho with 15 second exposures it does brilliant night photos..)

The negative talk about the Foveon sensor is vested interests talking.. and a deeply conservative trend in the photographic industry? Its the pc vs mac thing and a lot to do with creative flexibility - my impression. Have a look at what this guy is doing.. http://photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=1675561 - ..technically (the adapting of use of the Foveon sensor with Leica lenses..)

Oh!
This is one link to discussion re: the DP1 dpreview.. and other such generally negative sniping etc..
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1027&thread=28037609

The DP1 looks like a point and shoot but is not. Hence some of the probs in reviews (that is a precis of the essential point..). The camera does not have many of the qualities of the best p&s cameras - because it is not a p&s - and is rarely compared to a professional slr - with which it competes easily in image quality (and usually betters - they say..) because it is the size of a point and shoot!

Its a new breed in short.

Also the Foveon sensor works completely differently and effectively paints reality differently so comparison again is a lot harder. (All other chips on all other cameras are directly comparable!) 'Comparing' Mac OS with Windows always throws up similar problems..

Lastly.. the Fill Light and negative fill light tool in the Sigma Raw software is very very useful and was invented apparently by Sigma tho other emulators are not as good..

I hope this is useful - I will shut up now!