The Sigma SD9 is a

digital single-lens reflex camera A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor. The reflex des ...

(DSLR) 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 mode ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The camera was launched at the Photo Marketing Association Annual Show on February 18, 2002. It was Sigma's first

digital camera A digital camera, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in Digital data storage, digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Dig ...

, and was the first production camera to use the unique Foveon X3 image sensor, which reads full color at each pixel site. Other sensors detect only one color at each site and interpolate to produce a full-color image. The SD9 had two separate power systems; one set of CR-123A lithium batteries in the handgrip powered the camera functions, while another pair of CR-V3 batteries or four AA size

rechargeable batteries A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or prima ...

in a battery tray in the base powered the digital functions. This split power system showed that the camera functions (inherited from Sigma's SA-9 film SLR) were not integrated at all with the digital half. Another unusual feature of the SD9 was its "dust cover" filter right behind the lens mount, to prevent dust getting into the chamber and onto the sensor when changing lenses. Reviewers and users reported good results in good lighting, but poorer ones in low light using either high ISO sensitivity or longer exposures. The SD9 was succeeded by an updated model, the SD10, which addressed the power and low-light issues.

References

External links

Review at dpreview.com

Sigma USA page on the SD9

SD9 user image galleries

SD 9 CNET specs

SD 9 Manual PDF
{{Sigma Cameras SD09 Cameras introduced in 2002