Fujifilm X-Pro 1 vs. Sigma DP2 Merrill (first impression and final)

After traditional “spring clean-up” of my collection (read: sell, sell, sell) I got some cash to acquire new toys. Since I already have superb 35mm and 14mm lenses for my Fuji X-Pro 1 I start thinking about 18mm lens. But after some research I quickly realized that for additional $200 I can acquire Sigma DP1M. Similar focus length as Fujinon 18mm but it would give me an opportunity to explore famous Foveon sensor.
I closely followed Foveon story since its introduction about 10 years ago and several times I seriously considered to buy it but couldn’t justify the price. With the recent price drop DP1M become a very attractive alternative to Fujinon 18mm.
Next step, I contacted several fellow photographers and they all recommended going with DP2M instead of DP1M.  They unanimously claimed that DP2M sensor /lens combination is magical and rivals medium format quality. Medium format?? They’ve got to be kidding me…
But the seed was planted and few days later I made the most impractical decision, I purchased DP2M and ended up having two cameras both with exotic APS-C sensors, tons of quirks and lenses that cover similar focal length.

Obviously my next step was to compare them :)
Fujifilm X-Pro 1 and Sigma DP2M are completely different beasts. I hope there is no need to explain the differences. I also will not talk about camera's performance, AF speed, ISO, AWB, battery life, etc, etc. It is all well documented and discussed thousand times.  Yes, they both have quirks, but those quirks are nothing compare to shooting  4x5 sheet film @ ISO 50 (with image upside down), which I still occasionally do.
I don't care about quirks as long as I can get excellent image.

So I decided to compare them to see just how much details each camera can render at their lowest ISO. That's all.

Part 1 - default settings

Setup:
1. Fujifilm X-Pro 1, Fujinon 35mm, ISO 200, RAW processed to TIFF 16 bit in Capture One Express. Sorry Adobe but if I would process Fuji raw with ACR it would fail miserably in this comparison.
2. Sigma DP2M, Sigma lens 30mm, ISO 100, RAW processed to TIFF 16 bit in Sigma Photo Pro

All photos were taken in aperture priority (@5.6), on a tripod, using self-timer. Both raw converters were set to their default settings.
Please consider that focal length is different (35mm vs. 30mm). Both test RAW files can be downloaded from my Dropbox here

Do you see the difference? Another one

The difference seems less obvious in close-up pictures, especially if RAF files is processed in Aperture.  But I am still getting slightly more details from DP2M. See below.

* Both raw files are available at my Dropbox.

Couple more DP2M photos (full size followed by 100% crop)

Day 1: one word - impressed, two words - blown away :)

DP2M may looks like a toy, but it's not.

*** May 09, 2013 Update ***

Part 2 - beyond default
I will process both files to the best of my ability and tools available.

I decided to stop testing after reviewing this DP2M file.

Don't click on the picture above, you should go to my ==>  Flickr gallery, open file in its Original Size and View in the Full Screen mode.

Folks, I have never seen anything like DP2M image quality with any of my previous or current cameras (both film and digital). Yes, I got some very close results but not the same.

Thanks,
vkphoto