Well, it seemed like that last Friday when I set up to review new gear and old ideas in Stirling Street. I had just resigned myself to the thought that there was nothing new under the sun when I turned around and saw the
Sigma FP body sitting there...
Now a lot of people see things before I do - solutions to detective novels and pennies on the sidewalk for example - and many people see the reports about new equipment in the trade papers and the internet. That's fine - saves me trumpeting the stuff. I save my opinions for when I get the goods in hand...it means I can give an honest assessment of something without just repeating press release flak.
Of course, there are lots of situations where I have no valid opinion on a subject - drones or video or the complexities of photo association judging - and in these cases, I would be well advised to shut up and you would be well advised to ask someone else. But I can still respond when I encounter something that is simple and real.
Despite what the other advertisements may say about the
Sigma FP, I think it does indeed come into the category of simple and real. And desirable. I know I experienced a spike of camera lust when I photographed it on the product table.
Simply, it's a full-frame ( 24mm x 36 mm ) sensor mirrorless camera in the smallest possible compass. That's a $ 2 coin beside it in the heading image. It has a fixed LCD screen to let you see and do and a very basic rectangular shape. It is clean, with little concession to odd shapes or swish ergonomics. I suspect it is designed to be as unobtrusive a part of a photo rig as possible.
Right here you have to realise that a great deal of it is dedicated to video shooting - a subject you need to take up with the videographers. But is also a still camera with as full a capability there as with the movies. You select with a basic slide switch which approaches you will take and then lens and power it accordingly.
If you want to run as a small still unit - the internal battery and SD card layout are totally familiar. If you are going video, there are external adapters for power and probably extra batteries as well.
You'll see one feature on the body of the camera that is also showing up on other video-dedicated bodies; fixed grillwork or air cooling slots to dissipate the heat of continuous operation. Quite frankly, I think there are some dedicated still cameras that could benefit from this as well.
There are a number of buttons down at the bottom of the back - in places where you can poke them but not conveniently. This may be to preserve most of the rear architecture for the big screen. The playback and trash symbols are easy enough but I am curious as to what they think the tone and color buttons will do. Tomorrow I press them and see...
