[edit, this post is bumped (brought to top) every time there is an important update being made on the X3F Quick look plugin. The original post was made back in 2008 and bumped a couple of times since then. Now it's time again!].

Jeff Sickels, the creater of Sigma X3F quicklook plugin has once more shown his skill and released a new update with OS X Lion support! He writes:

An updated build of the X3F Spotlight Importer and Quicklook generator is now released for Lion. See version 1.5.1 on the software link.

Here’s a movie I made a couple of years ago about the plugin.

Sigma today announced the following (or some of it).. And as far as I can see they’re really pushing that optical stabiliser into more or less all lenses in the line up! And not only that, if you translate that Japanese stuff you find that the 105mm also has “Adopted a highly weather resistant construction, also supported the harsh conditions of professional photography” – of course, it’s supposed to be used together with the soon to be released Sigma SD1 and MAAAN is this going to be fun!

SIGMA 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 II DG HSM

SLD glass + Full frame + HSM + dust and moisture resistant..
(According to the google translation that is)

SIGMA MACRO 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM

Optical Stabiliser + SLD + HSM + full frame + weather sealed

SIGMA APO 50-150mm F2.8 EX DC OS HSM

Optical Stabiliser + SLD + HSM

SIGMA APO 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM

Optical Stabiliser + HSM + full frame + weather sealed + FLD glass!! This is a biggie because it’s really top of the line type of glass!
(Also said to be Sigmas best lens ever made!)

SIGMA DP2x

According to Sigma it has something called AnalogFrontEnd or AFE. Analog signal data gets better, thus the tonal rendering gets better.

Sigma DP2, Silkypix development. Full size.

At least I think she is a relative, somewhere there on Linn’s side.

A year ago I used Silkypix quite a lot, I really loved its noise and color control, I was running the UK 4.0 Pro version and at the time it had native support for SD9, 10 and SD14 raw files. One day not long ago there was an update released with SD15, DP1 and DP2 support – (maybe DP1 was supported before) but when installing the update my software died. And no delete, reinstall worked until a couple of days ago. I decided to have a look at some old DP2 files (Was trying to find something useful to show Kendall who asked about using the Dp2 in the studio) and I just wanted to show you three shots taken at ISO400 and ISO800. The way you can control colors is just amazing..

They all have been straightened and rotated a little too, so keep that in mind when pixel peeping if that’s your thing.

They’re all available as full sized version and I might add that there is quite a lot of visible noise, but only the good looking and real version. :)

Full size can be found in my Spring 2011 set.

I’ve been busy with christmas stuff and also with the trip to Stockholm – it’s now in the middle of the night and I just can’t sleep without having posted at least a few pictures before falling into infinity.. So here’s a little something..

Sigma 8-16mm is incredible. Handheld in full speed. :)

Instead of a hotell I used one of my friends – Let me introduce Anders Gustafsson shot using the 8-16 at it’s widest. Some strange corrections applied in LR3.

And also a few pictures of what we actually did in Stockholm.. These are “real time” stuff edited on the spot using a green screen, chroma key thingi and a mac. We printed directly to customers in a big shopping mall. I was only there as a guide to build the set and make the light etc look good. Here’s a few test shots we did before leaving.

..and Finally we printed some shots and framed as christmas gifts. Hopefully the receivers doesn’t visit this site before christmas eve. :)

Could’t help myself from not being inside the frame as well.. Both above shots taken with Sigma DP2 – Shots inside frame taken using Sigma SD14.

It’s now 02:44 and it’s really really time to go to bed. Good night everyone, wherever you are!

Ahh.. Not sure if you ever been in this situation? I’m currently online with one of my students, she’s from Germany and she’s asking me to send some old shots of her. So I’m digging some in my Lightroom library – while doing that I find these very special shots from a wedding a year ago – the first wedding where I dared use more or less DP’s only and now when I look at these shots I think that I want to play some more with the RAW – you know.. (I often get that feeling)..

Especially this first shot with that BEAUTIFUL redish light thingi that only the original DP1 could make. I’m thinking to myself, didn’t SPP 4.2 bring lots more dynamic range compared to the old version? Yes, it did! So that shoulder would look MUCH better today!! And that would, should be true! Perhaps I could reprocess if only I didn’t have space issues at some point – doing away with some less important files – not sure where either! Did I delete? No, I wasn’t that stupid or?

And this one.. just a perfect DP2 shot – just wanted to check again if it by chance was in focus.. Perhaps I could make a slightly enhanced version for some sales page of some sort… but NO, first I need to FIND IT!!! aaaaaa

Luxury issues.. But still. :)

I really have a tough time getting a place to stay in Cologne / Köln (The whole city is packed with people – every corner seams to be taken. aaaaa)  so in my misery I found two ways to air paint text using my iphone.

The first way was inspired by a story run on IDG.se were some french guys (I think) painted 3D models using their iPad – it looked cool and I though that I could do something myself but a bit simplified. First I searched for a suitable font which I cut into pieces – I then saved each piece as a picture and I made a slideshow out of them. I saved as a movie, exported to my iphone and put my DP2 on 15s and swiped the phone infront with a nice speed. So the R in Rytterfalk is really three pieces of JPG files, the middle part showed twice as it’s thick.

The I wanted to go further and developed my idea a little.. :

By making a long text and then pan it behind a tiny letter box hole I managed to make any text or picture come out like the picture above. Dp2 used for all shots.

Two videos for those who want to try!

Good luck! :)

Those fire shots from a couple of days ago made me wanna try SPP 3.3 again and I realize that I should try it much more in the future. Above shots are developed using SPP33 too even though I’m not sure it would differ that much from SPP4.1..

It’s also interesting to note that it’s the same light – well, more or less the same exposure too just a few minutes apart but I played differently with white balance in SPP. Which do you prefer?

Lots of new shots taken mostly with DP2 at my China 2010 set at flickr.

EDIT! I redeveloped some using SPP 3.3 and added some others. Please see the full set for higher resolution.

Now, it was getting dark, really dark and that’s when people started to gather in the city center of Xia Guan, the Capital of Dali County. Now, this festival sounds nice and I’ve noticed preparations for days. People walking around with large torches, or truck loads with them preparing for the final day of sells.

Fire festival. I heard about it for years but I never had the chance to go and now, finally I’m here! My SD15 (had to return the “pre-version” and being sent a real one) is stuck in customs and I only have my DP1s and Dp2. Not that they’re not good but the SD15 would give me more situational shots – but I’m very very happy with these images! Not as many as they could have been but SPP did a great job on those colors!

The strange thing is that EVRYONE was here, streets where filled with people of all ages and torches was being lit everywhere. Some placed like on the picture above as a big fire others where carried around.. Everything would have been just fine if it stopped here but no, these Chinese are crazy! in every street corner sits people selling some kind of powder containing wood and from the smell I guess it’s something else that ignites superfast and this powder you buy and then you take a hands full and throw it into the fire! It all fires up with a woff and a huge flame and people are cheering.

Three images below, made using SPP3.3. First is Linn, second me and third her mom.

We bought some too and we had lots of fun but we soon realized that people carrying those torches was looking at ME with fire in their eyes and suddenly I find my self in a huge flame and my back is superhot – they’re throwing this powder at each other too! And me and girls are perhaps the perfect pray – it’s from now on I feel like a hunted animal and I don’t want to go home! It’s dangerous and it’s not dangerous and they’re putting me on fire with a smile! SOO STRANGE!!! :D

Below, the second more blue version is SPP 3.3 while the first is SPP 4.1. ISO is above 1600, but exposure compensated for higher so more noise visible. Still, fire is beautiful!

This guy was trying to get closer to me without me seeing and his friend had his hand full of powder getting ready to throw at me, luckily I turned around before it all happened and could get this shot instead. hehe.. We where really running around like crazy trying to hide with groups of people and at the same time I was eager to get some shots. aaaaa

I would be surprised if there was less than half a million people on the streets – it was that many and I didn’t see ONE foreigner. So I was the haunted one. haha. And beautiful girls too, like Linn. So we tried to stay together as much as possible – she went up in flames a couple of times and her but hurt.. at least she said. My eyebrows was curly the day after, says something about the heat.

All images available at full size at my flickr China 2010 set.

Crop from first shot. not 100%.

Now, I had a some days together with only DP2 – the strange thing is that when I bring the DP2, then all situations are begging for wider – and when bringing the DP1 the opposite. But these below worked perfectly well using the DP2′s 42mm lens. Also, a reminder. Edited on nothing calibrated but I think they should look ok.

This little girl  stood outside the window of a restaurant and she looked at me constantly – the guy sitting there is the restaurant owner and he tried several times to scare her away by banking on the window and by by looking at her with angry face.. But she remained with the same face, looking at me.. This is perhaps the only time I been thinking about adoption. :P

Also notice that some have a cropped version as well.. it’s not me taking two shots. :)

Decided that I wanted some practice using my Sigma 530DG Super and my Elinchrom Quadra. Today was a bright sunny day and I was hiding together with my students in the shadows trying to get optimum conditions for photography. I used both Sigma DP1 and DP2 and as soon as you see strong colors around the flash, that’s the DP1 used and It’s me forcing it by placing the light inside the frame (I enjoy those colors tremendously) . All shots processed using Sigma SPP4 and Lightroom 3 Beta 2. (from TIFF)

These above where the very first shots, I noticed that I had to turn on something in order to make it work. :) And as you might notice it has a very strong “flashy” feeling and by increasing shutter speed and lower the quadras power I got a more natural looking light. See below. Also notice that there is no “color” problems as long as light is outside frame.

Zooming by running! Above shot shows how you can get some cool colored light even from the DP2.

ON / OFF, With and without light below. Sigma DP2 used. It was pretty tricky to get a good ambient light in order for the background blue sky to show, but after a few exposures I found a good balance. ISO100 used.

And about the same place a few meters to the side, but this time using the Sigma DP1. And it’s also slightly cropped.

Silly tests below. ISO200. Dp2 and DP1.

And finally, one shot of Johannes who was holding the light most of the time. Shot taken using Dp1 and ISO200.

All shots available as full size, click here if you want to have a closer look.

Mixed ISO (ISO25 – 400), Mixed cameras. SD14, DP2. Developed using SPP4.

S

Alright, I guess this will be the first in at least two reviews of SPP4 and I want to concentrate on differences between this version and the old 3.3 image wise (will come back to selective noise reduction a bit more later on). Most things with this new version is good. It’s faster, has better colors and you can adjust amount of noise reduction. But, and there is a big but! Sigma forgot about all of us that loves BW conversions. :´(

Now you might wanna try out different WB´s instead of just fooling around with the color wheel. Each pre-white balance has been altered some and correct WB can sometimes make your day, more so with this version than with old 3.3.

If you have lots of ISO50 images around then you can go ahead and redevelop them because they will most likely look much better in this version, especially if some of that highlight was burnt. Higher ISO shots now has a much more vibrant look, greens are more green, reds are less yellow and less saturated at the same time but in this case this is all good. Also, you can now select white balance for a big bunch of images instead of having to select them one by one. Nice!

First, SPP manage to squeeze much more colors and life out of old high ISO images. Also, have a close look at that fire!!

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO400. You can see how fire has lots more dynamic range and the reflection in his face looks much improved. Also notice how the green trees behind looks more saturated and less dull. Both images has been treated the same, same settings, same WB (shade) and white balance picked from eye.

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO1600. Sigma worked hard to improve image quality in bad indoor light. Be careful with your WB selection as this one looked terrible with the wrong one selected. Also play around with that new noise reduction. Some images don’t need so much and you gain some nice saturation to leave it at lower levels.

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO50. What’s really amazing is how they improved ISO50′s dynamic range!  Take a look at the sky, and remember this image has lots of fill light applied. I think 0.8 on both SPP3.3 and 4.  Colors, especially reds looks better too. Less orange.

At first I thought SPP4 did a bad job, there seams to be less information in the highlight.

But after I pulled the exposure compensation slider back -2.0 you clearly see how much more dynamic range you get in this new version. Looks like a full stop or perhaps even more! ISO50 will certainly be more useful in the future especially with all these OS lenses coming! :)

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO200. Green has been more separated and it feels like you have more tones of green to play with. a very welcome addition! Not sure if Sigma beats Silkypix though, I think they’re still is ahead in the green departement. I know someone over at Dpreview complained about SPP4s green and I tried to find issues with it with many different shots from various cameras but without luck (or should I say, with luck?!) – and couldn’t really find any bad or flawed situations. Help me! :)

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO400. Inside a shop, mixed light. And as you see red has been mighty improved! Now contains much less yellow and has a more realistic tone – also lots more tones and detail inside the red. Nice! (same settings on both images, DP2)

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO1600. Now to the BAD. As you know I’m a monochrome junkie and I love how SPP deals with black and white high ISO images. But that’s now history and we now have something that looks terribly bad.

I’m sure Sigma will do something about this and I hope that they at the same time realize the need of monochrome white balance in RAW mode so that we can enjoy high ISO shooting for real!

SPP3.3 on the left and SPP4 on the right. ISO1600. The only good is that with lower ISO (below ISO400) this mess isn’t applied.

Please Sigma, have an option to turn this strange massacre off!

Alright.. This was a first look. Comments?

Just had to put up something developed using SPP4. Very smooth tones. ISO100. NO PS except text and cropping. AML-1 used. (close up lens from Sigma)
Full size (slightly cropped)