Sigma DP1 Merrill

The Sigma DP1 Merrill ($999 direct) is the latest iteration of the company's ground-breaking DP1, which, back in 2009, was?the first digital compact to squeeze a D-SLR sized APS-C image sensor into a pocketable body. The market is a bit more saturated now, with competing models like the Leica X2 and the full-frame Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100. The DP1 Merrill sets itself apart from the crowd with a wide-angle (28mm equivalent) lens and a Foveon image sensor, but it's a camera?that requires some work and patience to really appreciate. If you're a more casual shooter, you're better off with our Editors' Choice, the Sony RX100, a pocket shooter with a smaller, but top-notch, 1-inch image sensor, and a lower price.

Foveon Image Sensor, Design, and Features
Much like the Sigma SD1 Merrill, the DP1 uses a Foveon X3 image sensor. This design uses three layers to record information,?each one sensitive to a different color channel. Traditional digital cameras use a single-layer sensor with a Bayer overlay, which has grids of red, blue, and green pixels to create a color image. Each layer of the DP1's sensor boasts a 15.4-megapixel resolution?because of this, Sigma advertises it as a 46-megapixel camera, even though the resulting, printable images are limited to 15.4 megapixels in size.

The sensor design omits the low-pass filter, which is a trend on higher-end cameras. But because of its design, which by its nature omits the Bayer color-array filter, there's no danger of moir? entering into your shots. The downside to the unique design is that there's no support for the DP1's Raw format in Lightroom or similar software programs?you'll have to use Sigma's Raw software to process photos.

In terms of design, the DP1 is essentially a brick with a lens, measuring 2.6 by 4.8 by 2.5 inches, and weighing in at 12 ounces. It's not that far off in size and weight from the 2.7-by-4.9-by-2 inch, 11.2-ounce?Leica X2, which has a narrower 36mm-equivalent lens. The X2 supports an add-on EVF, which is an option that is not available on the DP1. There is a hot shoe directly above the lens, so using a fixed optical finder that matches its field of view and trusting its autofocus system is an option.

The lens is a 19mm focal length, which translates into 28mm in terms of full-frame photography. It has a maximum aperture of f/2.8. The field of view is the widest of all of the current fixed-lens compact cameras. (Sigma also makes a DP2 Merrill with a 46mm equivalent lens, and a DP3 Merrill with a 75mm, each with a maximum f/2.8 aperture.) If you're looking for zoom, look elsewhere, but for those of us who see the world in that focal length, the DP1 is a welcoming camera.

Pleasingly minimal, the camera's color scheme is flat black, with a metal chassis that is cool to the touch. Buttons are labeled in white?for shooting functions?and red?for playback functions. On top you'll find Power, Mode, a control wheel, and the shutter. The rear houses the Auto Exposure lock, a four-way controller with a center select button (the up direction lets you select the focus mode, the bottom the focus point), Play, a button to control the amount of information shown on the rear display, a Menu button, and the QS button.

The QS (Quick Set) button grants access to seven quick shooting controls. Press it once and you can adjust the ISO, Exposure Compensation, Drive Mode, and image format settings. Press it a second time and the menu switches to White Balance, image compression, color balance, and image format (in the same place as the first menu) settings. It's a well-designed interface, and lets you adjust settings without diving into the menu system.

The 3-inch rear display packs a 920k-dot resolution. It's sharp and gives you a good idea about the quality of the images you are capturing?although if you're shooting at higher ISO settings, the JPG previews that are displayed will look downright awful compared with the Raw files that the DP1 can capture.

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