I used the Olympus E-420 for a few days, but the pointy viewfinder, though a minor thing, just bothered me way too much. So I decided to finally get the Sigma DP1, one of the first things I blogged about. The DP1 has its own faults of which the speed is probably its worst. Every review I read commented about that fault making it sound “useless.”  It lowered my expectations to the point that I thought the camera was going to be like a floppy drive Mavica. I’m so glad I read all those horrible reviews. While playing with the camera, I found myself saying, “wow, it’s not that bad.” Now onto the observation bullet points:

• I used SDHC Class 6 Patriot 4gb card. This made the shot to shot speed feel faster.
• It is true, the autofocus does not always work in dim light.
• The autofocus speed when it does work is tolerable.
• Shutter lag isn’t instant, but still tolerable.
• I thought menu navigation was going to be sluggish and unresponsive. It isn’t. Viewing images isn’t slow either.
• It is smaller than I expected. Smaller than the Canon G series.
• Not as conspicuous as a person carrying a DSLR.
• I actually like the included strap. I took off the suedette material because I like wearing the camera diagonally.
• It comes with a fleece pouch that I really do use since I bring the camera with me everywhere I go. I just put it in my bag. Carrying your DSLR with you everywhere you go is bit of a pain.
• Its dynamic range is nice. I don’t get as many blown highlights like I would with other point and shoots. Maybe better than my D80?
• It is the ultimate pixel peeper camera.  Looking at the images at 100% magnification is incredible.
• RAW files are not compatible with Adobe Camera RAW and DNG Converter yet.
• Sigma Photo Pro is really weird probably because I’m not used to it.
• If image quality and portability is your main goal, this is the only game in town.