Sigma launches 18-250mm DC OS HSM lens

Sigma has announced the 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM superzoom lens. Offering a 13.9x zoom range in a body only slightly longer than the company's current 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OS lens, this new model features an optical design of 18 elements in 14 groups, including four Special Low Dispersion elements and three aspherical elements to minimise aberrations. Designed for use on cameras with APS-C / DX sensors, the lens is expected to be available from March, for Sigma, Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Sony mounts.

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Sigma SD15 DSLR

September, 2008: The Sigma Corporation (COO: Kazuto Yamaki) is pleased to announce the new SIGMA SD15 digital SLR camera. This camera is the latest model in Sigma’s digital SLR camera SD series, powered by the 14 megapixel Foveon X3 direct-image-sensor it can capture all primary RGB colors at each and every pixel location arranged in three layers.

The developing SD15 incorporates the “TRUE II” new image processing engine. It provides high resolution power and reproduces high definition images rich in gradation and impressive three-dimensional detail. Incorporation of the large 3.0 inch LCD monitor and improved processing speed provide ease of operation of the camera.

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Sigma SD14

When it was announced in February 2002, the Foveon X3 sensor was seen by many as the future of digital photography because (unlike almost every camera on the market which uses a color filter array), the X3 sensors measure color information for all three colors at every pixel location. Sigma's SD9, announced alongside Foveon's X3, was the launch camera for the technology, and was followed by its successor the SD10 and Polaroid's x530 compact - the only three commercially available (to consumers, anyway) digicams with full-measured color. The Sigma SD14 and its sibling the Sigma DP1 mark the fourth and fifth cameras to be able to make this claim, and they both share an identical imager.

The Sigma SD-14 will have a 4.69 effective megapixel resolution from 14.1 million photodiodes arranged in three layers, as per Foveon's by-now famous layout which records full color information at every pixel location. (Traditional Bayer-sensor cameras capture only one color at each pixel location, and interpolate the other two colors from surrounding pixels, leading to somewhat reduced luminance resolution, and a significant reduction in chrominance resolution and other color-related problems). Maximum resolution is 2640 x 1760 pixels, with a 3:2 aspect ratio, though the SD14 offers an interpolated "Super High" JPEG mode with 4608 X 3072 pixels. The Sigma SD14 captures either JPEGs or .X3F Raw images.

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Sigma DP1 Overview

Review by Shawn Barnett

The Sigma DP1 was designed for anyone wanting digital SLR quality in a small package. Starting with the Sigma DP1's sensor, Sigma chose Foveon's 14.1-megapixel sensor that outputs a 4.64-megapixel image. Each of those pixels is created by three photosites that are stacked in layers, recording full color information at every pixel location. The maximum resolution is identical to that of Sigma's SD14 digital SLR: 2640 x 1760 pixels (uninterpolated), with a 3:2 aspect ratio. (Traditional Bayer-sensor cameras capture only one color at each pixel location, and interpolate the other two colors from surrounding pixels, leading to somewhat reduced luminance resolution, and a significant reduction in chrominance resolution and other color-related problems).

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