The Sigma SD15 is an updated version of

Sigma SD14 The Sigma SD14 is a digital single-lens reflex camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It is fitted with a Sigma SA mount which takes Sigma SA lenses. The camera was announced on August 29, 2006 with a "teaser" advertising campaign an ...

DSLR A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...

produced by the

Sigma Corporation is a Japanese company, manufacturing cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan. Although Sigma produces several camera models, ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and featuring the improved TRUE II image processing engine, but with the same image sensor as its predecessor. As such, the SD15 features the 4.7 MP

Foveon X3 sensor The Foveon X3 sensor is a digital camera image sensor designed by Foveon, Inc., (now part of Sigma Corporation) and manufactured by Dongbu Electronics. It uses an array of photosites that consist of three vertically stacked photodiodes. Each o ...

. After having showcased the camera in

photokina 2008 Photokina (rendered in the promoters' branding as "photokina") is a trade fair held in Europe for the photographic and imaging industries. It is the world's largest such trade fair. The first Photokina was held in Cologne, Germany, in 1950, a ...

and officially introduced during PMA 2010, it finally began shipping in June 2010. It is Sigma's fourth DSLR since the SD9 from 2002. There is some dispute over the 15.0 MP claim made by Sigma, resulting from the major differences between the industry standard

Bayer sensor A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camco ...

used in all other digital cameras, and the Foveon X3 full-color image sensor used almost exclusively in Sigma cameras. Since the Foveon sensor captures images via a three-layer red, green, blue silicone array similar to the three-layer technology used in Technicolor film, rather than the single-layer color interpolation method used by Bayer sensors, Sigma and Foveon count each RGB layer separately, so 4.7 MP times 3 translates to their 15.0 MP claims.

Differences with the SD14

While the SD15 retains the image sensor from its predecessor, it includes the improved TRUE II image processing engine that was already implemented in the

Sigma DP2 The Sigma DP2 is a high-end compact digital camera introduced by the Sigma Corporation. It features a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor (2652 × 1768 × 3 layers), the same sensor used in its predecessor, the Sigma DP1 and in the Sigma SD14 DSLR, a f ...

. Sigma claims that the new engine offers better quality with a faster processing speed while suppressing noise through a newly developed proprietary algorithm. The combination also offers a one-stop higher ISO range compared to the SD14, though the often desaturated rendition of natural green and oversaturation of blue has been retained. The SD15 also features a larger, higher resolution LCD screen. The SD15 also introduced Color Modes. The storage medium was changed from a

CF card CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the ea ...

to an

SD card Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

Software

Sigma Photo Pro

Postprocessing of

raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

X3F and JPEG of all digital SIGMA cameras Version 6.x is free Download for Windows 7+ and

Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...

Version 10.7+ (6.3.x). Actual Versions are 6.5.4 (Win 7+) and 6.5.5 (MacOSX 10.9+).

References

{{Sigma Cameras SD15 Cameras introduced in 2010