The camera was launched at the Photo Marketing Association Annual Show on February 18, 2002.

Other sensors detect only one color at each site and interpolate to produce a full-color image.

This split power system showed that the camera functions (inherited from Sigma's SA-9 film SLR) were not integrated at all with the digital half.

[1] Reviewers and users reported good results in good lighting, but poorer ones in low light using either high ISO sensitivity or longer exposures.

The SD9 was succeeded by an updated model, the SD10, which addressed the power and low-light issues.