Pop quiz, hot shot: you release a product to tepid critical response. Despite having a good concept behind it, it’s slow, limited, and performs badly in low light. After a year and a half, you release its sequel, which is better but still not really that good. What do you do?

A) Forget this approach, try something new like Micro Four-Thirds
B) Get a decent lens on that thing and improve responsiveness
C) Tell her that you want her love
D) Release a new version of the old product with such changes as it would take an expert in these things to see the difference. Delude yourself into thinking these minor shortcomings were the reason your product was received so poorly.

If you chose D, you’re Sigma!

Seriously, the DP1 was never a great camera, and the DP2 was a minor update. And now they come out with this DP1s? It’s like Microsoft coming out with Vista (plus DirectX 11) after Windows 7 comes out. What an utterly inexplicable move this is!

[via Photo Rumors]

But the more I look at the specs, the more it looks the same. It uses a similar sensor (after buying out Foveon they may have appropriated some of their improved tech), a similar fixed lens (though significantly faster — f/2.8 vs. f/4), and the body looks almost completely unchanged. The button configuration has been switched around somewhat, but that’s about it, and the LCD screen (which was reviled in reviews) doesn’t seem to have changed either. You can focus a little closer (11 inches) but that’s not saying much.

I’m really hoping this camera turns out to be a better piece of kit than the DP1, but unless a lot of the changes are unadvertised, I don’t think it’ll be surpassing it by much. Still, we’ll do what we can to review it and cover what the rest of the world says about this interesting camera.

[via Imaging Resource]

What does this mean for you? Well, it means that they’re going to keep on plugging away with their current strategy, and hopefully the DP2 will be a real player. I was rooting for them; it must be difficult to be a third party in the DSLR business. Nobody knows when the DP2 is due, but I’m looking forward to it.

The Sigma DP2 features a 3-layer 14 megapixel Foveon X3 sensor (2,652×1,768) with an updated True (”Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine”) image processor to enhance image quality and boost processing speed.

Sigma also equipped the DP2 with a new 24.2mm F2.8 lens (equivalent to 41mm on a 35mm SLR camera). The camera comes with a 2.5-inch LCD display and is sized at 113.3×54.6×59.5mm (4.3mm thinner than the DP1).

Sigma will present the camera to the general public during the Photokina 2008, a trade show that starts today in Cologne/Germany. There is no word yet from the company regarding price or release date (not even for the Japanese market).

One month and change after DP Review gave the Sigma DP1 a so-so review, David Pogue now offers his two cents. Like DP Review, Pogue likes the SLR-in-a-point-and-shoot’s body, but says it’s not the end-all, be-all for the concept.

The Sigma DP1, in case you don’t remember, essentially puts an SLR sensor inside a point-and-shoot’s body, to mixed results.

While Pogue admits that the camera is a technical marvel, it doesn’t deliver as well as we might like. The lens doesn’t zoom; it’s too slow for proper action shots; the RAW files don’t work with PhotoShop; there’s no viewfinder, and the LCD washes out easily; and there’s no lens cap, for Pete’s sake.

Best advice: tread lightly with this one.

The thing about the DP1 is that it has a big ol’ DSLR-sized sensor and a lot of the benefits that come with it (increased resolution, better image quality, RAW capture), but keeps the small form factor of the point-and-shoot. However, it lacks many of the consumer-friendly features of modern point-and-shoots, and has only a (serviceable, but still) 28mm prime lens, which limits one’s framing options somewhat. DPReview found that in good conditions it was fantastic, but in low light and action it was a poor performer. There’s more (lots more) in the review.

Sigma is a well-known high-end camerawell-known third party lens company and they appear to be teasing us with a pre-Photokina website tells little about the product but definitely generates a bit of excitement.

It seems this new camera will have a Foveon image sensor and some new ways of processing RAW image data. Other than that scant information, we’re going to have to wait until September 26 when they’ll launch the thing officially.

Product Page [Sigma via LetsGoDigital]