As the wise Chase Jarvis once said, the best camera isn’t necessarily the most expensive, but the one you have with you. For me, the biggest factor in whether I decide to carry a camera with me or not is weight. What might feel like a light camera at the beginning of the day, often feels like a tank by the end.
So when I discovered Sigma made the lightest full-frame camera in the world at just under one pound (370 grams), I was dying to get my hands on it. With a form factor smaller than your basic mirrorless camera, the Sigma FP L packs in more features than most full-fledged cinema cameras.
Not only is it an extremely capable video camera, but its 61-megapixel sensor also lets you capture incredible still images. In early 2020, I did a video overview of the original Sigma FP where I focused mostly on how it performed as a fully built out, raw recording, cinema camera. So in this overview, I decided to focus more on its photo capabilities and brought it along on my location scouting trip to Georgia.
Sigma FP L’s New Crop Zoom Feature
One of my favorite new features Sigma has included in the FP L is something called “crop zoom.” This allows you to digitally punch in on the FP L’s 61mp sensor up to five times while taking full HD, 1920×1080 images.
One of the biggest reasons I don’t love using primes is because I hate being limited to just one focal length. There’s not always time to swap to a different lens to get the shot, and crop zoom allows me to get those images I wouldn’t have been prepared to capture otherwise. Sure you could always take a full res image and crop in later, but I found the ability to recompose my shot super helpful. This isn’t just for photos either, when shooting 4K video you can utilize crop zoom to punch in and grab full 1080p video clips as well.
Custom Camera Settings
Another of my favorite new features is the ability to save and share custom camera settings. Included with the Sigma FP L are many different color modes you can use for shooting both video and photos.
With the tone correction function, you can dive into color correction even further and create your own custom look for your image. Once you have everything dialed in, you can save all of your custom color and camera settings into a QR code which the camera saves like a normal JPG.
I liked keeping these on my phone so that any time I ever wanted to pull up a look I’d created before, I just opened the image on my phone and downloaded all the settings straight to the FP L. In addition to photographers sharing custom presets, this will be an invaluable tool for camera operators working with multiple FP Ls on one set. Now you can get one camera set up exactly how you want it and quickly get all your other cameras to the same settings.
Optional Articulating Viewfinder
I have to say, one of the things that bothered me about the original FP was its lack of both an articulating screen and an electronic viewfinder. Call me old school, but I really prefer taking images through a viewfinder instead of looking at the back of the camera. I find it much easier to get both my exposure and composition right when I don’t have to fight with the glare on the back of the screen. Thankfully, with the release of the FP L, Sigma has also introduced an optional articulating viewfinder, the Sigma EVF-11.
While it does add a bit of a bulky feel to the camera, I was happy to deal with it for how much easier it made shooting. There are plenty of times I don’t need a viewfinder, though, so I thought the idea of having it be detachable is awesome. I also loved the physical switch on the side that lets you toggle between EVF and screen. This ensures you’re not constantly searching through menus every time you want to change it.
If you’re looking for a modular camera capable of anything you can throw at it, look no further. The Sigma FP L is ready to be built out into a full-on cinema machine, or used as a super minimalist high-resolution photography camera. I think Sigma has really upped the ante with the FP L and I’m excited to see how the other manufacturers respond.
Feature image by Cooper Naitove.
