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Sigma fp and fp L are the first mirrorless cameras to feature EL ZONE metering in major firmware update

Sigma has released new major firmware updates for both the 24-megapixel Sigma fp and 61-megapixel Sigma fp L mirrorless cameras. The new updates add a number of new features to both cameras, including the “Warm Gold” colour mode, support for 4TB SSDs as well as Atomos Cloud Support. They also bring the EL ZONE metering system to both cameras, making them the first mirrorless still/cine cameras to feature it.

The EL ZONE metering system was created by cinematographer Ed Lachman, ASC. It’s a false-colour exposure tool that displays the standard exposure (18% grey) as grey and shows 6 stops of highlights above middle grey, and 6 stops of shadows below middle grey, using a standardised colour-coded format, letting you maximise your camera’s dynamic range and offering more consistency from shot to shot.

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Sigma will replace your fp dials and buttons to make it feel like an fp L – for a price

Sigma has announced a new service for owners of their Sigma fp mirrorless camera. The new service provides a “for-free customisation” of your camera, swapping out the standard buttons and dials of the Sigma fp for those found on the Sigma fp L. That service will cost $150.

While this might not sound like a big deal, I’ve been told by friends who own both the Sigma fp and the Sigma fp L that there is a very different feel between the two cameras, and that the dials and buttons of the fp L are much firmer and less prone to accidentally being knocked, potentially sending your settings all over the place when you least expected it.

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Sigma releases new firmware for the fp to bring it more inline with the fp L

Sigma has released a new V3.00 firmware for the Sigma fp mirrorless camera. It comes with some new features that bring it more in line with those found on the new Sigma fp L. It adds compatibility for Sigma’s EVF-11 electronic viewfinder, save/load settings, custom button assignments, new cameras added to the Director’s Viewfinder mode and more.

It doesn’t bring it completely up to fp L spec, due to hardware limitations of the fp. It can’t magically add a low pass filter or provide USB power supply, crop zoom or “Image plane phase-difference AF”. But it gets it much closer to that of the newer model.

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A funny lens hood to kill all window reflections

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Have you ever wanted to shoot out of a window, but the reflections ruin the shot?  Introducing the Haida super wide-angle silicone lens hood (Amazon, B&H).

As the name describes, this is a silicone hood for your lens. It’s has a designed contort to seal around a window to cut out unwanted reflections. It comes in two sizes, One for 50-70mm lens and another for 70-90mm lens. Most of my lenses are on the larger side, so I opted for the 70-90mm version.

The large hood is 210mm wide and is designed to stretch over your lens to hold in place. You can even do this while the lens is mounted. Check the photo above.

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Tearing down the Sigma fp – the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera

Since making is debut in July of 2019, the Sigma fp has gained notoriety as a very capable camera among its mixed reviews. The decidedly lowercase ‘fp’ is Sigma’s first full-frame sensor. The fp was released the same year that all other major camera manufacturers that aren’t Sony were releasing their first or second full-frame mirrorless cameras, and in typical Sigma fashion, the fp stood out from the crowd.

It’s certainly doing its part now to popularize the sensor-in-box style form factor that makes so much sense for video shooters. This design also makes it a great candidate for conversion to Infrared!

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Sigma sent the fp up into space to shoot 4K RAW video of the earth from 100,000ft

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The world’s smallest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera (no caveats required) is now… space’s smallest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera? Sigma UK teamed up with Sent Into Space to send a pair of Sigma fp cameras (each attached to a Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art) into the upper atmosphere – one shooting stills and the other shooting video – to capture the view from around 100,000 feet.

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Stupidly wide, The Laowa 9mm f5.6 W-Dreamer on the Sigma FP

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I’m no stranger to a wide-angle lens, back in my crop Pentax days I used to love shooting my old Samyang 8mm Fisheye, and more recently with my Sigma fp I’ve been enjoying the 14-24mm f2.8. On a full-frame sensor 14mm is already really wide, so imagen my excitement when Laowa asked me to try their 9mm f5.6 W-Dreamer lens.

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Despite what Sony says, the A7C is not the “world’s smallest and lightest full-frame camera”

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Announced this morning, there is no doubt or question that the new Sony A7C is Sony’s smallest full-frame camera, but in the promotional material for the camera – which you can see above, Sony is claiming that it’s “the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame camera”. Well, it’s not.

Even if we narrow the field down to “interchangeable lens full-frame camera”, it’s still not the smallest. Nor is it the lightest. As I mentioned a couple of days ago when some of the specs leaked, that honour still remains with the Sigma fp. And since the official announcement absolutely nothing has changed.

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Sigma subtly trolls Canon on Twitter over overheating issues

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Canon’s taken quite a bit of flack around the overheating issues of the EOS R5 and EOS R6 mirrorless cameras. Canon has announced new firmware for the EOS R5 which extends the recording time a little, although it’s not going to make much practical difference to many would-be Canon filmmakers.

It’s not often, though, that we see a company making a subtle little dig at a competitor for issues with their gear, though. Sigma posted a tweet that, while it doesn’t specifically call out Canon or the EOS R5 does have a rather obvious intent, extolling the not-overheating benefits of a big heatsink in the Sigma fp.

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The Sigma fp now supports 120fps ProRes RAW, Blackmagic RAW, HDR video and cinemagraphs with new firmware

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Sigma has released firmware 2.00 for the Sigma fp mirrorless camera. It’s a major firmware that adds some significant features to the camera, including external ProRes RAW recording to the Atomos Ninja V up to 120fps, as well as BRAW recording to the Blackmagic Video Assist 12G. It also now offers internal raw recording with 12Bit CinemaDNG at up to 30fps at 4K and 100fps at 1080p.

As well as all the new raw video options, the new firmware also brings cinemagraph creation and playback, HDR video, Zhiyun Weebill S connectivity, dual ISO (100 & 3200), and a bunch of other improvements and new features.

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