The Sigma SD1 Merrill is built around the uniquely designed image sensor, but a high price, sluggish performance and a time-intensive Raw workflow make it a difficult sell to all but the most devoted Foveon disciples.

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  Excellent build quality. High-quality viewfinder. Good control layout. Unique sensor design. Infrared shooting capability.

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  Expensive. Sluggish performance. Subpar LCD. Substandard JPG output. Difficult Raw workflow. No video support.

The Sigma SD1 Merrill is a DSLR produced by Sigma Corporation, a well-known Japanese firm that specializes in creating lenses for other camera manufacturers. However, Sigma also produces digital cameras, such as the DP2 Merrill that was recently reviewed on our site.

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  Excellent build quality, Useful quick-set menu, Excellent image quality

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  AF problems in low light, Frequent writing to the memory card, Lacks video, live view, top LCD

Alternatively, the camera can automatically take a picture either two or 10 seconds after the mirror's been moved.

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  Excellent IQ at low ISOs, Images contain bags of detail, Robust build

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  Frustratingly slow write times, Noise at high ISO, No live view or video, Sigma raw software slow

The SD1 is a no-frills SLR with a very basic feature set that offers exceptional image quality at low ISOs (100-400). However, it's let down by slow file write times and erratic control behaviour during this process.

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  Exceptional image quality at low ISO, especially in Raw mode, Very good build quality (including weatherproofing), Straightforward operation, with external controls for all key functions, Large, clear viewfinder, Excellent grip, extremely comfortable to shoot for extended sessions, Near-perfect...

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  Extremely slow file write speeds, with erratic control behaviour while writing, Poor image quality at high ISO, with green and purple colour blotching in shadows, Evaluative metering somewhat prone to highlight clipping, Overly-conservative highlight clipping warning (can encourage underexposure),...

The latest DSLR camera from Sigma Corporation is the SD1 Merrill, named for Richard “Dick” Merrill, inventor of the X3F CMOS chip, which uses a type of layering that splits light into red, green, and blue at every one of the 4,800×3,200 photo sites on the sensor.

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  Medium-format color and resolution at a DSLR price

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  Doesn’t offer live view or video capture capabilities

The SD1 is Sigma’s new flagship SLR system. It uses a brand new sensor with Foveon technology and a nominal resolution of 14.8 MP. This means that the camera is able to record RGB information for every single pixel.

By Michael Reichmann, with the assistance of Nick Devlinand the participation of Laurence Matson TheSigma SD1is that company's long-awaited APS-C sized camera using a Foveon X3 sensor. The camera was first shown at Photokina in late 2010 and started to ship in June, 2011.

This is an excellent camera. Can I order an English instruction manual? Also I did not get the Sigma pro 5 software disk in the box as described in the order. After I get the software I can put the camera through its paces. I have followed the FOVEON X3 imaging chip since it was introduced.

I tested sigma camera SD1 for one day and battery lasted for only 90 shots first charge 72 shots the second charge.(about 73 degrees outdoors) has interesting buffer design 2 or 3 buffers. Indoor portrait photos were below expectations in color and b and w I give it no star (that bad (quality).

In a first time excuse me for my bad english wrtitten... i'm a french old professionnal photographer and i used more than half of my career the argentic system... When i used for the first time the numeric sensors i had to see that the colors are not really precise when you compare them to the...