Sigma’s Minimalist Digicam and Maximalist Lenses

It’s announcement season, and Sigma made waves yesterday with the revealing of one of the radically designed cameras that we’ve seen in a very long time: the Sigma BF. This full-frame digital camera is minimalist to the intense – though the 2 lenses that Sigma introduced alongside it are the alternative of minimalist!

In whole, yesterday’s product bulletins are as follows:

• Sigma BF: A full-frame 24 megapixel digital camera with a brand new autofocus system and a simplified design. Sigma says “All controls are built-in into simply three buttons, one dial, the shutter launch, and the facility button.” The digital camera will value $2000.
• Sigma 300-600mm f/4: A high-end zoom for sports activities and wildlife pictures, obtainable for the E Mount and L Mount. It has the makings of a dream lens for wildlife photographers so long as you don’t thoughts the burden (3985 grams / 8.79 kilos). The worth of $6000 is lower than half of what you’d spend on a 600mm f/4 from Nikon, Canon, or Sony.
• Sigma 16-300mm f/3.5-6.7 DC: One of many longest superzooms ever made, with an 18.8x zoom ratio. This lens is for APS-C cameras and can be obtainable for the Sony E, Leica L, Fuji X, and Canon RF mounts at a worth of $700.

Sigma additionally introduced a brand new company branding, together with a brand new brand and the launch of the Sigma Basis to advertise the artwork of pictures. A few of their current lenses (particularly the I-series primes) can be repackaged with the brand new brand and branding, though the optics, costs, and options gained’t change.

Right here’s just a little extra details about these bulletins.

Sigma BF Announcement

In the event you spend lots of time round photographers, there’s a subject that may inevitably come up: the right digital camera they might design if they may. And whereas no two photographers have precisely the identical perfect digital camera in thoughts, I hear the identical theme loads: simplify, simplify, simplify. Why can’t a digital camera simply have a couple of buttons and dials for the important settings and name it a day?

I’ve to confess, I’m not utterly offered on this philosophy myself. Practically each “further” setting for one photographer is an important characteristic for an expert on the market someplace, and digital camera corporations can solely minimize so many options earlier than they begin shedding prospects. Nonetheless, I do recognize cameras that make it simple to entry their most vital settings and get out of the way in which as a lot as potential. The Sigma BF goals to just do that.

Right here it’s from a couple of totally different angles:

Sigma takes the minimalism additional in a couple of different methods, too. The digital camera has no in-body picture stabilization, no mechanical shutter, and – most surprisingly of all – no reminiscence card slot. As a substitute, the digital camera has a built-in SSD with 230 GB of storage, which needs to be sufficient for 4300 uncompressed RAW recordsdata. Photos are transferred to your pc through a USB-C port, which is the one port on the digital camera.

On prime of that, every copy of the Sigma BF is machined from a single block of aluminum, and the buttons use haptic suggestions when pressed. This provides the digital camera an ultra-sturdy development and, doubtlessly, higher climate sealing in adversarial situations. Nonetheless, Sigma doesn’t make any particular claims in regards to the BF’s climate resistance that I may discover.

One main good thing about such a streamlined digital camera is the burden. Together with the battery, the Sigma BF weighs simply 446 grams (0.98 kilos), making it the third lightest full-frame shopper digital camera ever made (solely barely heavier than Sigma’s personal fp and fp L). Due to the L Mount, the Sigma BF is suitable with a variety of lenses from Panasonic and Leica along with Sigma’s personal glass, so it is best to have loads of light-weight lenses to select from in the event you’re on the lookout for a pleasant journey equipment.

As for different specs, for higher or worse, the digital camera’s 24 megapixel BSI sensor and eight FPS taking pictures are fairly typical baseline options today. The brand new autofocus system is doubtlessly extra attention-grabbing, because it makes the BF the primary Sigma digital camera with a topic recognition system that may establish individuals, canine, and cats. At a worth of $2000, the BF strikes me as moderately priced for a specialty digital camera, despite the fact that there are inexpensive cameras with related options on paper.

Oh, and what does the “BF” title imply? Sigma’s one-of-a-kind CEO Kazuto Yamaki says it stands for “Stunning Foolishness.”

Sigma 300-600mm f/4 Announcement

It’s not day-after-day you could name a $6000 lens a cut price, however that’s precisely how the Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS Sports activities lens seems to me. This high-end supertelephoto is so distinctive and thrilling that I feel it should persuade some photographers to modify to the L Mount, or no less than Sony, so as to purchase it – assuming that the efficiency holds up, in fact. (In truth, you might purchase this lens plus the Sony a1 II for lower than the price of the Canon RF 600mm f/4 L or Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S alone.)

What makes this lens so thrilling? Merely put, it’s a mixture of focal lengths, most aperture, and worth that we’ve got by no means seen earlier than. 600mm f/4 lenses are already uncommon and costly, however with the ability to zoom out to 300mm on prime of that’s unprecedented. It’s a tamer – although maybe solely barely tamer – sibling to the Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 from 2008 that was fondly nicknamed “Bigma” on the time.

Talking of “Bigma,” the brand new Sigma 300-600mm f/4 will not be a light-weight lens. Nonetheless, it’s additionally not as dangerous because it may have been. Right here’s a quick comparability amongst 600mm f/4 lenses previous and current:

• Sigma 300-600mm f/4: 3985 grams, 47.0 cm lengthy (8.70 lbs, 18.5 inches) – $6000
• Canon RF 600mm f/4 L: 3090 grams, 47.2 cm lengthy (6.81 lbs, 18.6 inches) – $13,000
• Sony 600mm f/4 GM: 3040 grams, 44.9 cm lengthy (6.70 lbs, 17.7 inches) – $13,000
• Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S: 3260 grams, 43.7 cm lengthy (7.19 lbs, 17.2 inches) – $15,500
• Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL: 3810 grams, 43.2 cm lengthy (7.01 lbs, 17.0 inches) – $8700 immediately
• Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 VR II: 5060 grams, 44.5 cm lengthy (11.2 lbs, 17.5 inches) – Now not offered new

As you possibly can see, the brand new Sigma 300-600mm f/4 is on the heavier and bigger aspect amongst this crowd, nevertheless it isn’t utterly out of left area. It’s additionally the least costly lens right here. And naturally, none of those different lenses has the power to zoom! (Although the Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S does have a built-in teleconverter that may flip it into an 840mm f/5.6 lens.)

How will it carry out? That’s one thing I can’t wait to check, though if different current Sigma lenses are any indication, it needs to be a terrific lens optically. Whether it is, then Sigma has simply put the “Large Three” of Canon, Sony, and Nikon on discover!

Sigma 16-300mm f/3.5-6.7 DC Announcement

This new lens will fly beneath the radar given the 2 earlier bulletins, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a record-breaker – particularly, the APS-C mirrorless lens with the widest zoom vary but. (There was a Tamron 18-400mm for APS-C DSLRs that also has the general crown, however we’ve got but to see the same lens seem for mirrorless.)

Superzooms by no means supply good optical efficiency, however they’re handy, and immediately’s superzooms are far more succesful than their counterparts from even 10 years in the past.

The Sigma 16-300mm f/3.5-6.7 DC is a fancy lens with 20 parts in 14 teams, however the weight of 615 grams / 1.36 kilos is sort of cheap. The focal size vary is equal to 24-450mm on full-frame (and the aperture vary is equal to f/5.3-10, however nobody ever mentions that 🙂

Sigma BF Press Launch