Cool I am interested to find out if you can switch the mounts...keep us informed....
Yes! The factory Sigma lens mount on the SD15 was successfully switched with a Nikon mount (as it has been done on the SD14).
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Luis Guevarra (he's great to deal with) at:
http://www.sigmacumlaude.com used my SD15 as an experiment and model for future SD15 mods. He produces two mount models - the better version has a few more screws for sturdier operation with heavy lenses. There were some differences in the new mount but it was not to hard to accommodate to them.
The new camera has some very welcomed advances of interest for converted cameras. The Internal Focus Confirmation works very well after conversion. It's very sensitive, even works in low light and well stopped down, and the Beep is not a faint one as in the SD14.
Exposure metering works well in Aperture Priority by setting the Aperture Dial to f1.0 and, when shooting Light or Bright Objects, dialing in an E.V. Compensation of -1 Stop, sometimes more. This seems to be a problem to all SD15, not only to converted ones, as I been seeing in images shown in forums and reports of users burning the Highlights.
The Memory Buffer is larger and you can shoot longer sequences without choking it. Menus are better with more useful options. The large LCD screen is a welcomed change.
I did not see color problems worth mentioning. Auto White Balance seems to work well , but ISO beyond 400 are still not really usable, ISO 800 might be usable for some type of images . High ISO might be a good things for the camera's new Black and White option, as the Grain can add character to Dramatic Images.
Congrats...I am gonna wait about 3 to 4 months...to see what issues come up...:z04_whis_gummikau02
I took my SD15 camera to Lebanon on a self-imposed photo assignment. It froze up once or twice, and I think I had to remove the battery and restart; I lost a small amount of images that way.
There is some talk on the internet of a "recall" of the SD15.
The SD15 was not recalled, however, there were 81 units sold in Japan which were part of a single run of SD15 production which had issues that Sigma wanted to address, so they notified those who had these particular cameras and exchanged them with later production models. Again,
only a relatively small number of units were affected and those were in Japan only.
Here is the official Sigma page about it:
http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/news/info_100729.htm
Here is the English translated version of that same page:
http://translate.google.com/transla...o.jp/news/info_100729.htm&sl=ja&tl=en&act=url
I try to sum up my interpretation here (based on the official Sigma press release about it):
Customers using the SD15
2010.7.29
Thank you for your loyal patronage of Sigma products.
At this time, our shipments SD15 DSLR cameras is in the process of adjustment. Problem: unsuccessful image processing, and the shipment of some domestic camera bodies does not meet our quality standards for us.
Customers with the following SD15 serial numbers should contact us and we will exchange them for new products through our customer service.
We apologize to inconvenienced customers using the products in question. We're always working to improve the quality of our future products, we thank you for your patronage to our products and our company's future.
______________________________________
Problem:
The higher granularity will tarnish the image.
Relevant SD15 serial numbers (81 cameras affected):
-
1001082
-
1001205
-
1001224
-
1001233
-
1001284
-
1001463
-
1001519
-
1001591
-
1001593
-
1001672
-
1001684
-
1001709
-
1001712
-
1001725
-
1001750
-
1001766
-
1001793
-
1001803
-
1001805
-
1001807
-
1001808
-
1001810
-
1001832
-
1001844
-
1001851
-
1001860
-
1001870
-
1001882
-
1001884
-
1001890
-
1001895
-
1001922
-
1001927
-
1001942
-
1001951
-
1001953
-
1001957
-
1001965
-
1001986
-
1001988
-
1002000
-
1002002
-
1002013
-
1002015
-
1002017
-
1002041
-
1002071
-
1002075
-
1002088
-
1002119
-
1002122
-
1002145
-
1002149
-
1002157
-
1002163
-
1002172
-
1002174
-
1002207
-
1002213
-
1002215
-
1002221
-
1002224
-
1002247
-
1002252
-
1002260
-
1002269
-
1002270
-
1002276
-
1002279
-
1002282
-
1002285
-
1002288
-
1002316
-
1002334
-
1002391
-
1002411
-
1002440
-
1002441
-
1002460
-
1002461
-
1002462
Other SD15's with different serial numbers than above, please use with confidence.
About a complaint:
For applicable products, they will be replaced free of charge -- Customer Service Contact
Contact us regarding this issue:
Sigma Corporation Customer Service
0120-9977-88 (for PHS mobile phone, dial 044-989-7436)
Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 to 18:00 (weekends and holidays, and our summer holidays (August 13 - August 16), New Year we will be closed)
It is possible to shoot landscape (non night scenes) without tripod then it is cloudy day?
I have had success doing this on overcast days.
how good or bad to use built-in flash at home? (of course i guess it's not excellent, but hope - maybe not so bad)
I have not tried the built-in flash, but I imagine it would be similar in performance to the SD14's built-in flash.
Many people say that Sigma SD14 is terribly slow during focusing and writing the files. Is SD15 much better?
I have converted my SD15 (and previously my SD14) to fully manual Nikon mountable lenses, and have no auto-focus capabilities. The SD14 did have relatively slow writing speeds with a small buffer. This has been improved on the SD15, as the buffer is much bigger and the increased write-speed is somewhat dependent on the type of SD memory used (recommend the latest high-speed class 10).
