Sigma SD14 review

When it was announced in February 2002, the Foveon X3 sensor was seen by many as the future of digital photography because (unlike almost every camera on the market which uses a color filter array), the X3 sensors measure color information for all three colors at every pixel location. Sigma's SD9, announced alongside Foveon's X3, was the launch camera for the technology, and was followed by its successor the SD10 and Polaroid's x530 compact - the only three commercially available (to consumers, anyway) digicams with full-measured color. The Sigma SD14 and its sibling the Sigma DP1 mark the fourth and fifth cameras to be able to make this claim, and they both share an identical imager.

The Sigma SD-14 has a 4.69 effective megapixel resolution from 14.1 million photodiodes arranged in three layers, as per Foveon's by-now famous layout which records full color information at every pixel location. (Traditional Bayer-sensor cameras capture only one color at each pixel location, and interpolate the other two colors from surrounding pixels, leading to somewhat reduced luminance resolution, and a significant reduction in chrominance resolution and other color-related problems). Maximum resolution is 2640 x 1760 pixels, with a 3:2 aspect ratio, though the SD14 offers an interpolated "Super High" JPEG mode with 4608 X 3072 pixels. The Sigma SD14 captures either JPEGs or .X3F Raw images.

Read the SD14 review at imaging-resource.com

Company profile: Foveon

Foveon is well known for its development of X3 image sensor technology, the patented 3-layer image sensor architecture breakthrough which provides a fundamentally better way of capturing color images. The technology was developed using standard CMOS semiconductor process steps and produced the world’s first commercially successful image sensor that did not require color filters to create a color image.

But there is more to the company than just great sensor technology. Bringing X3 sensors to the imaging market is the result of the efforts of a multidisciplinary, innovative team comprising knowledge in silicon technology, chip design, image processing, firmware creation , hardware design, and manufacturing all working together - dedicated to making the imaging experience better, more colorful, and sharper.

The Foveon X3 image sensors this team has developed have found popularity in DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras manufactured by Sigma Corporation. Sigma has produced DSLR and compact cameras using Foveon X3 image sensors, delighting camera owners with amazing image detail and color.

The close cooperation between Sigma and Foveon led to Sigma’s purchase of Foveon in November of 2008. Foveon continues to be based in San Jose, CA and will produce new and exciting X3 image sensors and image processing techniques to meet the requirements of the demanding image capture market.

From Foveon website