Dear Michiel and Tariq, thanks for your input. It must be the preview JPEG as you mention. I don't mind the post-preview JPEG file for landscape and architecture but for close up portraits, I prefer the neutral starting point of the JPEG preview. It is not a problem to return the files to their neutral status, I just thought there might be a quicker way.

The post-preview JPEG image, on portraits, darkens the image, does something funky with the white balance, adds too much contrast and sharpness, etc. It turns an otherwise friendly looking face into a gritty, dark looking portrait. I often want that effect, but not on women (usually). To counter this, I usually slightly boost SPP fill light, decrease sharpening, increase exposure, and play with the white balance. That is just my experience. Thanks for sharing yours!

Also, I do absolutely love this camera. I am always excited to pull it from my bag over my D800E currently. Just something about the files. So unique and beautiful.

I read this thread back in October before going on a long trip to the Falklands and South Georgia. I decided to purchase the DP2M the week before the start of my trip since Sigma in NY had it in stock. I am glad I made that choice. I was very happy with the results I was able to get. Here is one example - first process in SPP, over to Lightroom with Nik plug-ins

chivasfan wrote:
I read this thread back in October before going on a long trip to the Falklands and South Georgia. I decided to purchase the DP2M the week before the start of my trip since Sigma in NY had it in stock. I am glad I made that choice. I was very happy with the results I was able to get. Here is one example - first process in SPP, over to Lightroom with Nik plug-ins

That's a great shot, though I'm seeing some vertical banding in the clouds - Present in the original file or a product of the Nik processing perhaps?

Also, I'm curious as to which filter(s) in Nik - I love their stuff and run a few myself.

Still a very nice shot - looks like something from Happy Feet ;D

chivasfan wrote:
I read this thread back in October before going on a long trip to the Falklands and South Georgia. I decided to purchase the DP2M the week before the start of my trip since Sigma in NY had it in stock. I am glad I made that choice. I was very happy with the results I was able to get. Here is one example - first process in SPP, over to Lightroom with Nik plug-ins


I'll bet this photo is totally mind-blowing full size!

+1 chivasfan! Fantastic photograph!

In Amsterdam they have as may bikes as your pinguins

Very nice shot of Amsterdam, the colors on the walkway really stand out.

Yes the banding is in the original as well, it shows up more because of the NIK software. I use the detail extractor and the tonal contrast filters. Now that I am back home I will need to work on these much more to correct the banding as much as possible.

I still like what I see although it is well known about some of the issues with the sensor and processing required. I do think the detail is mind blowing and therefore worth the trouble. It was very nice to have the Sigma DP2M in my jacket, it made it easy to use and always available, whereas with my Canon bodies and lenses I had to choose what I wanted to carry. I enjoy my shots from the Sigma more than the ones I shot with the Canon, in this case a 5mk3 with 24-70 v2.

Here is another one, both of these are from St. Andrews Bay in South Georgia.

Hi Luz,
Awesome shots from that trip. I believe that you or we need to be selective in apply any of the plug-ins and not just globally. I started making adjustment to reflect that in the last few weeks. Nonetheless, the images comingh from that camera are really impressive.... .

Joshua

chivasfan wrote:


Yes the banding is in the original as well, it shows up more because of the NIK software. I use the detail extractor and the tonal contrast filters. Now that I am back home I will need to work on these much more to correct the banding as much as possible.

I still like what I see although it is well known about some of the issues with the sensor and processing required. I do think the detail is mind blowing and therefore worth the trouble. It was very nice to have the Sigma DP2M in my jacket, it made it easy to use and always available, whereas with my Canon bodies and lenses I had to choose what I wanted to carry. I enjoy my shots from the Sigma more than the ones I shot with the Canon, in this case a 5mk3 with 24-70 v2.

Here is another one, both of these are from St. Andrews Bay in South Georgia.

Ah I see great info - I had no idea the camera could exhibit this under normal circumstances - I'll have to investigate more, as I plan to eventually at least rent the thing.

Still, excellent shots and I'm sure they look excellent printed You could possibly try Topaz Denoise, with de-banding selected, on just the clouds to see if it would work, but that's a 50/50 shot - sometimes it seems to help (like Canon's shadow banding) other times nothing.

And your reasons for the camera are exactly why I chose to convert to m43 instead of letting my 5D2 and 7D sit around all the time -- I was tired of making choices between gear because of bulk / weight, so now I can carry 6 lenses, 2 bodies and a flash in a small-ish Canon backpack and carry it all (for still less weight!)

First outing

superb stuff.
couple from me

Love that last one nandadevieast!

Old Dutch twilight, just outside Amsterdam.

hmm i have not seen this thread before but wow its sublime.

carstenw wrote:
sculptormic wrote:
I have now another problem on my main computer. SPP doesn't work at all even after removing the program and installing a new version. Strange! On my notebook everything works fine.


Windows or Mac?

Didn't see this carsten.

Both computers are Windows.
Still no change, must be some conflict in my main computer.

Have you cleaned out your registry between the installs?

No I only used uninstall in istalled apps dialoque box. I will try and run a regestry clean program, or is there a better way?

It is easy enough to do yourself. Just click the Start button, and type regedit into the command line field. Once in the Registry Editor, open the hkey local machine part, then Software, and then look for Sigma Corp or SPP or similar, and select it, and press delete. This will delete all the settings this program has made in the registry since being installed, and may fix the reinstall problem. If it doesn't fix it, there may be DLLs in the System32 or Windows directory, or other crud lying around, but the registry is a good first try.

Could not find a thing related to Sigma or SPP with regedit. I saw some DLL's with SP in it but those were with much older dates so I don't dare to delete them.

I did a compleet reinstall again but nothing changed. It just says: Sigma Pro Photo doesn't work anymore. Weird!