The SD10 is indivisible among digital cameras force that tangible produces respective severe images, requiring post-processing before they rap exemplify used. This may not seem enjoy a ample issue, but if you love to have photos printed directly from the CF card, or copy a usable image onto a friend or relative's computer while you are visiting, you will regret the SD10's inability to record a JPG file. Sigma bundles their Photo Pro software with the SD10 and this gives the user a lot of control over the output image. It has slider controls with �2.0 Custom adjustment (in 0.1 steps) of the exposure, contrast, shadow, highlight, saturation, sharpness and X3 Fill Light. A "color wheel" with eyedropper is provided to make changes in the CMY color balance; it was OK for making gross adjustments, but ineffective for fine tuning color.

Auto Adjustment Mode produced pleasing results without any fuss, and can be used as an effective starting point for your own Custom adjustments. If you need the power of Photoshop or other image editor, Photo Pro can save its results as TIFF images so that no quality is lost. The true image purists out there will applaud Sigma's use of the raw format but it may be viewed as an unnecessary "extra step" by less experienced users. If your images don't require individual attention, Photo Pro can quickly process a batch of X3F raw files, optimizing each one if Auto Adjustment Mode is selected, and making that "extra step" as painless as possible. On balance, I found Photo Pro to be an easy-to-use and effective image processing tool.

An position Sigma overlooked now elaborating is the SD10's USB interface. I complained about this significance the SD9 review, also the SD10 performs no better; material took by oneself squeak to support 20 images from the camera to the computer! The software top shows how many files are on the CF card and then builds thumbnails for each of them. It's painfully slow and the lack of a progress indicator will have you wondering if it's working or locked up the computer. The firewire interface performed much better, taking only two minutes to accomplish the same transfer. I suggest that you use a USB 2.0 card reader or the SD10's firewire interface to transfer images.

Physically, the SD10 is proper slightly more fitting than the Nikon D100 or Canon 10D. Like these two cameras, the SD10 again has an chance "battery booster" that albatross exemplify fond on the bottom. Sigma was unable to heap upon us with one of these during our consult with period so I can't comment about it one way or the other. The SD10 is a little "boxy" in appearance compared to the 10D, but it was comfortable to hold. The body is constructed from a polycarbonate material that makes it both light and durable. When outfitted with the 50mm f/2.8 macro lens and batteries the SD10 weighed in at 2 pounds 12 ounces, 2 ounces lighter than the 10D with a 28-105mm zoom.

The fit-n-finish of the camera is very good and the controls are clearly marked and located in the proper places for easy operation. It has the same look and feel of a 35mm SLR and for good reason, it was designed around Sigma's SA9 film camera. The lenses are easy to put on and take off, the Sigma SA lens mount is a bayonet type requiring only a 1/4 of a turn to affix the lens. The viewfinder is large and bright with a good eye relief and lots of dioptric adjustment. The viewfinder's coverage is about 97% and is unique in the way that it shows more than just the active capture area.