The Sigma will receive an update this March, to correct bugs, but in Summer firmware update Ver.2.00 will bring CinemaDNG 120/100fps shooting, cinemagraphs and more to the small cine camera.

Since its launch, the Sigma fp, the world’s smallest full-frame mirrorless camera, continues to attract the attention of users, both photographers and videographers. Sigma’s first L-mount camera to be released, as well as the first Sigma camera to feature a backlit CMOS Bayer-Pattern sensor, the fp may be small in physical stature, but it is a heavyweight in terms of features and extensibility. Highly customizable in format and function, the Sigma fp is an essential tool for the visionary.

With robust still and video capture, the pocketable full-frame Sigma fp is a camera body that changes its shapes with great flexibility centered around the user. From still street photography in one of its most compact forms—to kitted out for professional filmmaking with 12-bit CinemaDNG motion capture, the Sigma fp is the ultimately customizable camera, says Sigma. In recent months, a gallery of photographers and videographers has shared with the world how they use the Sigma fp, and that’s interesting stuff to read if you want to know more about the real-worls use of the fp.

Rigging the Sigma fp

Last October Sigma Cine Pro Timur Civan shared his first impressions of the Sigma fp camera on the company’s worldwide Sigma Global Vision website. He noted that “While there are other Full Frame camera systems in form factors similar to the fp, none of them as of this moment that I know of can shoot such high quality RAW. There was a certain feeling that you could take anything shot on fp, and with a little color correction, cut it into a professional project.”

Another article that may interest those who have video as part of their daily life is Graham Sheldon’s Quick Guide to Rigging the Sigma fp Camera for Cinema Users. The author shares multiple suggestions, including tips for those who need to shoot aerials, and ends with a note: “We’re only scratching the surface, but my hope is that some of these tips will help get those synapses firing and guide you to your perfect Sigma fp rig.”

Grading Sigma fp’s footage in DaVinci Resolve

Sigma Pro Jim Koepnick took the camera to explore its potential as a photography tool, and gives his first impression of the new Sigma fp through portrait, street, sports, and aviation photography in the article Sigma fp for Still Photography: First Impressions. A photograph is worth a thousand words, so the series of photographs that illustrates the text show the variety of situations the photographer took the camera through. Visit the page and be amazed. Read the text too, to get the complete story!

Photographing Foxes and Singing Dogs with the Sigma fp is the title of the article by Anabel Dflux who tested the camera through portrait and animal photography including some shots of foxes and dogs! It’s another good example of the things the small package can do,specially under available light.

In Sigma fp Footage: The Impact and Value of CinemaDNG in a Tiny Package by Mitch Hannon, the author explores Sigma fp 12-bit CinemaDNG footage grading in DaVinci Resolve. He writes this: Working on tight deadline under an embargo agreement, we were amazed by what we saw in the Cinema DNG files shot by our friend and colleague, Graham Sheldon —this footage was some of the most gradable footage we’ve ever dealt with! Working in DaVinci Resolve, we were blown away by what we found”. To know more, follow the link and read the whole story.

A firmware update this March

My fp Experience with Sigma Pro Elle Schneider is another article that shows how professionals are using the camera. As a final note to her text the author writes this: “ As Joe E Brown says at the end of Some Like it Hot, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” But for an affordable, everyday shooter that delivers great quality stills in a small, durable body, that can also output raw video when called upon, and puts creativity back in your pocket? For that, the fp is a pretty perfect little camera, and I’m excited to add it to my arsenal of tools.

This last text was published two weeks ago and serves us to return to the news from Sigma, continuously evolving its fp camera system. The first update comes with firmware Ver.1.02, which corrects card errors when using certain SD cards, and introduces added lens aberration correction processing. This still in development firmware update is scheduled to be released on Wednesday 18th March 2020.

HDR shooting, cinemagraph support and more

The big update comes next Summer, when the company will release firmware update Ver.2.00. It will improve the camera’s capability with the addition or improvement of a number of functions including CinemaDNG playback, cinemagraph functionality and movie recording with the Director’s Viewfinder.

Here are some of the key features and benefits that Sigma fp users will have available after the firmware update.

• Supports CinemaDNG 120/100fps (FHD 8bit) shooting.
• Supports cinemagraph functionality.
• Supports still image shooting during live view and movie shooting in Cine mode.
• Supports HDR shooting.
• Supports Director’s Viewfinder recording function.
• Supports SDK (Software Development Kit).

It does not stop there, and Sigma has confirmed that the company continue to release firmware updates to add to and improve Sigma fp functionality.