I recently read this enjoyable blog post 102 Things I have Learned About Street Photography.
I especially enjoyed 53. “Creepiness is proportional to focal length”. Don’t shoot street photography with a telephoto/zoom lens
Or as I would shorten it for humor’s sake, “zoominess equals creepiness”.
Anyway, he inspired me to try to shoot with my Sigma DP2s at street photography settings. He suggests 1600, but 800 is max on the DP2s, so I set it on that, and f/8 (because the max aperature on the G12 is that) and took some pictures while taking a stroll to Davis Square. Took my Canon G12 for comparison.
Once again, at first glance, both cameras seem to take similar images until you start looking at color and detail. Here’s the G12
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| Canon G12 ISO 800, f/8 |
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Now the Sigma DP2s
Even at ISO 800, I’d take the DP2s over the G12. I understand that ISO on a sunny day is absurd, but I just want to see what would happen if I was out doing street photography and today happened to be sunny. I didn’t process either of those images.
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| Sigma DP2s ISO 800 f/8 |
Next, I did a couple of 2 image stitches using Microsoft ICE.
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| G12 2-image stitch ISO 800 |
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| Sigma DP2s 2-image stitch ISO 800 |
Also, the Sigma DP2s was as fast, if not faster, then the G12 in taking street photography shots. I’m looking forward to doing more photos after reading Eric Kim’s inspiring blog posts.
By the way, he uses a $10,000 Leica. On a budget? I bet a used Sigma DP1* or 2 for $300 would give it a serious run for the money. Unfortunately, I’ll never know! 🙂
* And keep in mind these Sigma cameras are not “toys” (a nice way of putting it, I hope).