A big draw at CP+ this year has been Sigma's DP2 Merrill 30mm (45mm equivalent) f/2.8 fixed focal length compact. As we noted in our announcement post, the DP2 features a three layer, 15.3-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor. It produces 4,704 x 3,136 x 3 (the number of layers) RAW images at its highest setting, generating file sizes of about 45MB — or roughly 10MB larger than the 14-bit uncompressed RAW images coming off Nikon's new professional D4 DSLR. Sigma had a couple of (very) pre-production DP2s at CP+ and we got to take a few quick shots with it on the show floor.

The exterior design of the new DP2 is generally unchanged from the version released back in 2009, although the scroll wheel has been moved from the rear to the top of the body, taking the place of the mode selector dial. The playback zoom and focus point selector buttons have also disappeared, giving the Merrill edition a very streamlined appearance. While autofocus on the test unit was slow, the Sigma rep was quick to point out that the software was far from finished, and that we could look forward to much better performance when the DP2 Merrill hits the market, likely in May or June.