SD1 Merrill to sd Quattro - What have we lost?

TN Args wrote:

dsteiner wrote:

I can remember that there was a time when 'Sigma can't do birds in flight pics' posts were making the rounds on this forum - and that was long before Sigma announced a MILC. I do understand your point with the SLR having possibly currently still the edge when it comes to action photography, however, judging by the amount of action photos I've seen in this forum it is save to say that action photographers are in the minority. I'd be inclined to say that action photographers would choose another system altogether.

I agree. Action photographers generally realize that they will often need high shutter speeds in dim light, hence high ISO settings, so Foveon is not for them.

In any case, we are making right now an assumption that the EVF in the SD1Q is not that great for action shots: I'd suggest let's wait and see what it is actually like when we get our hands on it.

Sigma are claiming a short lag of 30-45 ms, which they say is in the same ballpark as the current mirrorless benchmarks. I guess the benchmark they used could not include the A6300 since it was released at the same time, and there are rumours that it is very good but no spec from Sony as yet.

Lets look at what that means. In a mirrorless, the EVF display is taken from the sensor. A lag of 30-45 msec to produce the EVF display from the sensor is only part of the total display. Say the lag is 50 msec and say I am taking images of a race horse at 40 mph. In one second said racehorse moves 58 feet in a second. So we have a 30 msec delay. Now to take the shot, the shutter has close and the sensor drained of charge and the shutter open - another few msec. In best case say 45 msec. How far does the horse move in 35 msec. Now look at the frame rate of the D5 - 12 shots per second. That is a shot every 83 msec and the delay when the shutter is pushed in less than a msec.

Shooting sports in a mirrorless - is a real issue. You compose a shot and it finally hits the sensor after the horse has moved 3 feet and probably you missed the suspension phase of the stride.

No 45 msec is too long.

I shot a high end Sony ( AR7 II) - the EVE sucks for action. These came form my D800E which is not a fast camera - but I've been around long enough to know how to anticipate.  There is no way a EVF could have taken this.

An EVF is fine for certain applications - it sucks for others.

We also have been so many times over the Merrill vs Quattro discussion that there is no need to start this again.

Totally agree, but there seems to be an entrenched fan base that won't stop lobbying. So I don't like our chances.

Realistically most people would not have expected Sigma to go back to the Merrill sensor for the new camera.

Agree, not happening, the image IQ is inferior.

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Arg