Sigma FP with 45mm F2.8 DG DN (C)
– Reviewed by: AL LEE / Text by Melody Tan

Image: Editor AL with the Sigma fp mounted with Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN (C)

19th July 2020, Singapore – Somewhere in July 2019, Sigma made an announcement and released the world’s smallest full frame mirrorless camera – the Sigma fp. No one saw it coming especially among the competitors, really. But it had certainly caused a storm among the mirrorless market no doubt. A year had passed since the launch and dealers locally had reported a renewed interest in the fp. Price aside, the increased attention for the fp has to be the affordable L-mount lenses from Sigma that kinda paired off the fp perfectly in a nice way.

For this review, I am pairing off the fp with Sigma’s highly popular 45mm F2.8 DG DN (C) – contemporary line – in L-mount. Before we get to the lens, let’s refresh everyone what’s fp made of.

Image: Sigma fp mounted with Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN (C) 

 
The fp got its fame for being the World’s smallest FULL FRAME mirrorless camera. Made with 100% aluminum body, the simplistic design reminded everyone of the earlier Sigma cameras – think SD series or Quattro etc. Simple yet bold in the fp’s case. Many were surprised (or shocked) at the large heat sink in between the main camera body and the LCD screen which was mimicked after professional video cameras allowing a free airflow to cool the camera down. Weighing at a mere 370gm, this feather-weight camera measuring 112.6 X 69.9 X 45.3mm is ridiculously small.

The heart of the fp – is a 35mm Full Frame (full size effective) bayer sensor with an arsonal of 24.6 million pixels. The fp uses a full time electronic shutter that eliminates shutter shocks, shutter sound, and possible lags that is common in other cameras and it greatly helped especially in fast-point-shoot situation or when using the fp for cinematic videos reducing unnecessary noise from the camera’s operation.

Some key features that we like was the “Fill Light” – an editing function previously found only in SIGMA Photo Pro, SIGMA’s proprietary image editing software, Fill Light had found its way into the body of Sigma fp. Fill Light function adds brightness to an image by adding extra light boost into the darker areas without affecting the overall exposure of brighter areas. This function assisted the fp to produce images with lots of details, (even on/at areas that are usually hard to edit or control using the standard exposure adjustment settings). The adjustable range, which was ±2.0, is now upgraded to ±5.0, making it possible to create exposure-perfect images easily. By the way the ISO goes all the way up to 102 400 – that is insane for a little camera like lil’ fp.

Other key functions of the Sigma fp includes the HDR that takes 03 exposures at one go, the cinemagraph that is a hybrid between still images + video (go google for it – this is amazing), the Face/Eye detection AF that is great for street portraits and a focus peaking that peaks at edges of selected color and all these in a little nice package in the form of fp. We secretly love the Color menu where many digital color filters is available (do check out “Teal & Orange” mode) and lastly, we like the super simple design and the fast switch between Stills & Cine mode.

For this review, we did not use any special color filter (except “Fill Light” in some shots) and we wish to present to everyone the original photos taken from the fp with the 45mm  F2.8 DG DN Contemporary lens. Editor took the fp to one of his favorite hangout – Singapore’s Chinatown to play with the fp.

The fp coupled with the 45mm, shooting at F2.8 created a bokeh that is more towards a F2 which was amazing in any sense. For all the images in this review, you are invited to view at 100% so you can see how much details were captured by the fp – super amazing.

I did a crop with over 70% on one of the images – you can check out what I meant by “lots of details”.

This is the original shot.

Now check out the crops (from the above image) in stages below.

Shot at F2.8, the sharpness is out of this world! The Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN (C) lens is a small tiny lens built & designed for street portraits and creamy bokeh. Inside the 45mm, its a simple design with 8 elements in 7 groups with just 7 circular aperture blades and starts focusing from as close as 24cm. It has a good magnification of 1:4 – means you can do quite a bit of close-ups shots and the aperture closes to F22. (it has an aperture ring on the lens too!).

Ed: When I was at Chinatown, I was a bit worried that the 45mm is a little too tight to cover Chinatown in general, but I realized that using the 45mm throughout the walk gave me new perspective and I learn how to manage the 45mm focal length and used it to get the images I want.

Chinatown is no longer that Chinatown that I once knew. It had taken a bad hit from the Covid-19 with almost 90% of the shops closed and the streets are near empty. Kinda depressing though.

To say the fp focus like lightning I will be lying, however, when I was shooting, many of these shots were “fast shots” and the fp focus fast and accurate, a very competent camera.

The above shot is an excellent example of the “Fill Light” function. amidst the shadows and strong sun casting an uneven light on this scene, the fp performed well and personally I love this shot a lot!

Using the fp, personally I find that the small size are excellent for shooting and it does not attract attention like a DSLR, the buttons are a easy to locate and use. By saying that, it also means a non-Sigma user can just pick up the fp and can operate the fp easily within minutes. The camera build quality is solid and the fp does RAW video too.

While no camera is perfect, the fp does comes with some downside – there is no built-in viewfinder or hot shoe and the battery (1200mh) drained out after about 220 shots (in between standby mode) The best consolation that I think the fp gives is its relatively low price.

OK people, Buy your Sigma fp or Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN (C) from our Accredited Merchants for a peace of mind.

Renting this Lens
For those of you who wish to try out the camera/ lens before purchase, we are pleased to share that this camera & lens is available for rental at our appointed rental merchant:

Camera Rental Centre is Conveniently Located at:
50 South Bridge Road, CMO Building,  (very near to Clarke Quay MRT)
#02-18. Singapore 058682
Website: http://sg.camerarental.biz/

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Reviewer: AL Lee
Chief Editor / Visionary & Brand Ambassador for Olympus Imaging Singapore

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Contributing Editor – Melody Tan

Loves quiet walks along beaches, has a mind of her own and decides everything in life in either black or white with nothing in between. Her priority these days revolves around her 2 lovely kids & teaching them music or photography. A lover of yoga and an avid traveler, Melody aims to visit at least 30 countries before she reach 40 years old – from what we know, she had completed 27 as of 2018.
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