Last week, Sigma’s CEO Kazuto Yamaki sat down with PetaPixel to speak about its new lenses and BF digital camera. As a part of that dialogue, Yamaki revealed that he doesn’t at all times wish to make uncommon cameras but in addition needs to create a “critical” digital camera worthy of the brand new 300-600mm f/4.
Up to now, Sigma manufactured cameras that had been extra akin to their contemporaries however in recent times has targeted its efforts solely on the weird or sudden.
“Prospects are on the lookout for one thing new, one thing thrilling, which is completely different from the mainstream digital camera lenses at this time. So at all times our prospects, [our] customers, are fairly inspiring to us,” Yamaki stated. Whereas he’s referring to his firm’s endeavors with optics, that philosophy appears to have expanded to digital camera manufacturing, too, which Yamaki confirms later within the interview.
“I feel it’s a Sigma’s mission to supply one thing completely different from others,” he says.
Nevertheless, Yamaki’s digital camera design mission received’t probably stay on this uncommon territory eternally.
“After all, my dream sooner or later is to make a really critical digital camera which can be utilized with this type of digital camera lens,” he added, pointing to the new Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS lens. “However proper now, most likely individuals count on Sigma to do one thing completely different from others. So that is simply one of many concepts we’ve got. However sooner or later, I’d wish to make it very significantly.”
The usage of the phrase “critical” to explain a digital camera able to taking full benefit of the 300-600mm f/4 DG OS lens is vital. Yamaki had beforehand defined that the Sigma BF digital camera was named after a line from a poem in Okura Tenshin’s The Ebook of Tea and stands for “beautiful foolishness.”
The BF is designed to be a playful expertise, one that permits photographers to revel within the pleasure of pictures and the easy issues — life’s “lovely foolishness.” It’s, subsequently, not a critical digital camera for critical photographers and isn’t meant to be. It lacks a scorching shoe, an digital viewfinder, a majority of the buttons and management dials fanatic photographers are used to, and it doesn’t actually have a reminiscence card slot. So whereas the 300-600mm f/4 DG OS might be used with the Sigma BF, it’s most likely not really useful.
It has been so lengthy since Sigma created a digital camera for “critical” pictures that it’s onerous to suppose what such a design would possibly appear like or how it will stack up towards Sony, Canon, or Nikon’s choices. It’s encouraging to listen to, nonetheless, that Sigma’s CEO does wish to deliver one thing to market that would stay on this area. When it does, photographers ought to count on a design philosophy that received’t limit it to the BF’s extremely low manufacturing output of just nine cameras per day — it’ll probably be far too common for this to make sense.
PetaPixel‘s full interview with Kazuto Yamaki could be seen and heard on the February 26, 2025 episode of the PetaPixel Podcast.
