this site is not updated. I know you noticed and all but i should perhaps write it as well. I’ll be back, but not sure when – lots of you have written to me without getting an answers and I’m terribly sorry for this, i’ve been focused on other things.

Hi everyone! You might wonder why I’ve been so silent lately and the reasons are a few – first because my job does take lots of energy – and the second being that I’m not very satisfied with how SPP5 works – not very satisfied being the kind way to put it. No other player have shown up having good support (or any support) either so here I am with half a tool.

Linn took about a thousand full RAW’s on her trip to Paris (which by the way went perfectly fine!) but dealing with those raw’s and with others has been painful. Both because of speed but also because of how colors and noise are handled by SPP. But Speed being my biggest concern. SPP as it is, gives me RLS.

Anyways. I’ll be back when things changes.
Btw, SD1 isn’t bad. SPP is.

Hi folks!

My wife has a dear friend visiting from China and they decided to go to Paris as a small vacation in the vacation – and they will stay at hostels but if anyone out there lives in or close to Paris and can host my wife and her friend that would be awesome! They don’t need anything fancy, just a sofa or the like.

Please email her at liudongyun@gmail.com or call her at +46 734-015124

Just a short note about my new CF card that I ordered from Taiwan, Photofast G-monster – the 64GB 90mb/s read and 60mb/s write card that has gotten great reviews in it’s smaller siblings – now, would it work on the SD1? And with what speed? I’m pleased to announce that it works and that with 1111 shots left in the display I feel great! Also, taking a 7 shot burst with RAW+jpeg takes 82s from first shutter to no blinking light – that’s 11,8s per picture (or, per two pictures) – what was more interesting wad that I got the exact time with RAW only! Size? Images took 408mb of disk space.

I might add that the SD1 takes a longer time to calculate / process the shot than saving it.. I think 3-4s for each save.

Alright, over and out.
From TC/G Nordica in Kunming on my iPad

 Original

Another shot from my trip up north and this time it’s a Yak bull (At least I think so).. :) It’s a shot taken at ISO200 – You may want to open the shot in PS in order to fully see what I see, it’s still the strange profile bug making my shots look weird online. :(

Now, maybe you would like to know what the shot looks like in it’s none edited state?

I started with the last shot (almost) and saved at 16bit tiff, and worked with the dodge brush in Aperture to get where I wanted. I’m getting better with Aperture with everyday that passes. It’s good to be forced sometimes. :) I’m even thinking of installing Pixelmator and work with that instead of Photoshop.. At least while in China. :)

Mostly long exposures at night, indoors in mixed light and one really sharp shot from early morning in sunlight.

Some shots from yesterday and the day before – Some story telling images that might be quite interesting to look closer at.

I’m currently at a very bad internet connection and later tonight I will be in Dali (I’m in Kunming right now) and in Dali I hope to have a faster connection so that the above RAW Packs can be uploaded. They’re about 500MB together.

They’re worth the wait! :)

I’ve been on a trip to London for a week and now I’m digging deep into the flow of comments made and the SD1 that was about to enter my hands last week was – not sent – but is now. So in this coming weekend I have my first wedding using the SD1 which will truly be interesting. Anyways, some of you have had your comments blocked by my system but I released them now so they’re out there again. Sorry about that.

Steve Chong is another one of my sources for inspiration. He’s been shooting film a lot in the past but somewhere around 2004 he bought his first Sigma camera and he’s now fully addicted to three layered photography. He is also one of those people that thinks SD1 is cheap and that shooting above ISO400 is for kids. ;)

Anyways, please welcome Steve to my little wall of inspiritors. (my own word). He will also add more images as time goes by and we can expect some SD1 talk as well from him.

Michael Reichman from Luminous landscape wrote an article yesterday trying to somehow bring clearness into the pricing of the SD1. It’s well worth a read.

btw, somewhere in some post there must have been a <strong> or <b> without an end </b> because now I have lots of bold text everywhere. :/ Trying to fix.. Also as some of you noticed, my site went down yesterday due to heavy traffic. Thanks for all emails reminding me. :)

Btw #2. Don’t pixel peek those jpeg’s posted on Sigmas site too much – They’re developed from RAW and saved as pretty low compressed JPEG’s – White balance is definitely not perfect in some of the samples it seams so wait for my RAW pack before judging too much.

Update #2. On the Sigma USA SD1 page it now says “check back for pricing” – before it said $9600 – Interesting! (Thanks’ Chebb for the heads up!)

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/news/sigma-corporation-of-america-to-ship-sd1-camera-in-early-jun

The price mentioned is $970 (Sorry folks, it says $9700 but I wonder if that’s correct).. I’ll get back to this in a while.

Update: I tried to get a comment from Sigma Japan but at this point it’s been silence. Also noticed (Thanks’ BobNL) that the pricing on the Sigma USA page is somewhat strange – Get the SD1 together with a lens and you suddenly pay around $2000 less. Makes sense?

There are likely some good reasons for Sigma to do as they’ve done that I fail to see. It’s  a great camera – and those who can afford it will likely love it, but it’s truly going to be a rare sight. Not as I imagine things since the 7D pricing talk. (Been good promotion for Canon though!).

And, as some of you might have guest – I HAD IT! :D and Sigma has selected a few for public viewing and they are all available at the SD1 Sample gallery .

I’m not allowed to publish any of my photos taken using the SD1 and that’s because they enhanced things since I had it – soon I will have a production unit and then I will give you more than you can handle.

Obsolete! :)

I’m currently in Stockholm for a few days and tonight I’m free – anyone want to hang out with me and possibly take a few shots of the city?.. :) please?

I’m staying at Af Chapman, call me 0734-001717
–
Update! I’m super bored!! Please! Just have a chat, a coffee, beer whatever.. :D Call!!! Whomever!!

Billy Chan just received this mail from sigma about SD1 availability.

Dear Mr. Chan,

There is no influence of earthquake on any Sigma product, including SD1. Project is running as already scheduled. Regarding the availably time, countdown clock has started ticking. Due to confidentiality concerns I cannot provide further information regarding availability time of SD1.

Please keep checking it from the closest Sigma representative in your country. http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/english/network/index.htm

Kind Regards,

Vuslat Tatar

Alright a third post with only 120-300 OS images! As heavy as it is, it’s also very well balanced which makes you stable – that plus stabilizer and you will be able to take hand held shots in situations you didn’t think possible (or it only feels heavy.. ). Although, most of these shots was taken at 1/160s and above.

As a street lens it’s kind of big – A bit bigger than what people normally see, and especially bigger than you would mind pointing at you which also makes it kind of harder for someone like me wanting to “blend in”.. That’s also one of the great reasons to why the DP1 / DP2 is such great street cameras.. They blend.

This Dove is one of those great examples of shots where that tremendous amount of resolution shines thru. Have a look at the 100% crop just below and think for second about how it would look if it was taken using the SD1. mmmm.. Yummy!

As someone already pointed out, these are some really yellow flowers! :D Yes, and the secret ingredient is SD15 + color modes! And to get that spicy yellow tone found in nature you need to use “landscape” color mode as I did on the above shot – but beware – some shots just doesn’t look right with it so test but use your eyes and mind. Also at times you might tune saturation down a notch to make it more natural.

This last shot was taken using the SD14 and I’m really happy that I have some of those around as it’s color rendition is quite different and quite interesting compared to the SD15 which is more neutral and perhaps more correct, but not as fancy and the SD15 also lacks some of that extremely wide DR! A bit like changing film in the days.

Three days at a Baby fair in Göteborg – Shooting hundreds of kids and babys climbing a mountain, at least by the looks of it. The youngest model was two weeks old and the oldest – well, I think she was in her 60s. I used Linn as my computer girl, selecting, retouching and printing pictures. My little sister Emmy as the placing and getting kid to smile person – and finally myself as the photographer, using a Canon system and a 24-70L because we needed a tethered system in order to make everything flow smoothly. (SD1?!)

We had a great time although It really annoys me not being able to use my own gear when on missions like this. I’m still happy that the Canon works as well as it does. :) Today was the the final day and when arriving home it didn’t take long before we ran out shooting a little with the SD15 – just to make sure we didn’t hurt it’s feelings! :D