CP+ Interview With Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki

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Jul 20, 2010
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DPReview was able to sit down with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki and talk all things lenses at CP+ in Yokohama, Japan. One thing we have learned reading this interview is that Sigma truly listens to customers and tries to make the products we ask for.</p>
<p><strong>From DPReview:</strong></p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Q: You’ve told me previously that you really want Sigma to make more wideangle lenses. Do you think you’re achieving that goal with the 12-24mm and new 14mm?</strong></p>
<p>A: Yes, but I’m still not satisfied. I think we need to make more wide-angle lenses. A fast 14mm was one of the lenses that our customers were asking for. Most existing 14mm lenses are F2.8, so F1.8 was a challenge.</p>
<p><strong>Q: Sigma’s new Art-series lenses have a degree of weather-sealing – why now?</strong></p>
<p>A: It’s based on customer demand. Some of our customers said that rain and snow sometimes got into the lens mount, so they wanted sealing. And the other reason is that it’s becoming a trend. Other manufacturers are offering sealed mounts.</p></blockquote>
<p>You can read the <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/9146806951/cp-2017-sigma-interview-we-ve-learned-that-some-customers-require-exceptional-lens-performance">full interview over at DPReview</a>.</p>
<p><em>**You can now receive a preorder notification from us once pricing is available for the new Sigma lenses. We also have a few surprises in store for those that do. Check that out <a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/preorder-information-for-the-new-sigma-lenses/">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>image credit // <a href="https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/9146806951/cp-2017-sigma-interview-we-ve-learned-that-some-customers-require-exceptional-lens-performance">DPReview</a></em></p>
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ExodistPhotography said:
The article was a good read. Funny that the CEO thinks just adding a seal around the lens mount is "weather sealing". #rolleyes ::)

It is actually, it is a degree of weather sealing. Canon also does things in varying degrees. i.e. Add a front filter to complete weather sealing.
 
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He has turned this company around. Kudos to him. I'm amazed at the speed of introduction of new products, improvements in quality and quality control. I only wish they made really good RAW processing software and an improved camera as together I would get one in a heartbeat!
 
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I have to admire where he has taken the he company. In a few short years they've gone from cheap alternatives es to quality rivals. The build is great and they are nicely designed. I know an official repairer and he's quite impressed with how they are built and the docking station concept for updates and AFMA. I'd love them to bring out a new 180mm macro lens.. I'm tempted by the 14mm 1.8, just waiting confirmation about coma performance. I will be disappointed if it's poor on coma.
 
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slclick said:
zim said:
Is that a 6DmkII he's holding ;D
Nice advert for Canon ;)

Dollars to doughnuts he sells more EF mounts than SA. So sure.

I'm sure he does too.

Why does Sigma bother with an SA mount? Why don't they produce bodies with Canon EF and Nikon FX compatible mounts? I'm sure they can retro-engineer them.

If they did, I might be tempted to try one of their bodies.
 
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AJ said:
slclick said:
zim said:
Is that a 6DmkII he's holding ;D
Nice advert for Canon ;)

Dollars to doughnuts he sells more EF mounts than SA. So sure.

I'm sure he does too.

Why does Sigma bother with an SA mount? Why don't they produce bodies with Canon EF and Nikon FX compatible mounts? I'm sure they can retro-engineer them.

If they did, I might be tempted to try one of their bodies.
In one of an earlier interview, Yamaki says that "It was the dream of Yamaki’s father—Sigma’s founder—to become a camera manufacturer."

https://petapixel.com/2016/10/12/sigma-still-make-cameras-sigma-ceo-blames-zombie-father/
 
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Interesting comment here:

Of the lenses in the Global Vision line, which were the most complex to bring to market?

Our 12-24mm zoom. Because that lenses uses a very large aspherical element, and at the time, no other company was producing an element of this kind, and there were no machines capable of producing it. So we designed a custom machine to make that element. But as a result of developing that technology, we were able to create this new 14mm F1.8.


I love how the only thing holding them back from doing it was to just do it. How many times has Sigma just barreled through a tribal perception like "you can't make an f/1.8 (crop) or f/2 (FF) zoom" or "14mm lenses can't be faster than f/2.8" because they had the audacity to say why not?

I recognize that physics is a cruel mistress and these lenses are heavy as hell, but their attitude towards pushing boundaries remains a delight to watch.

- A
 
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And all the comments about the Global Vision line resurrecting the company's reputation and fanbase are well-deserved.

You know, in European soccer, when a manager goes on a 5 year killing streak like this (hell, even a two year streak), a bigger/better/wealthier team buys that manager and asks him to run their team. I recognize he's likely tied to Sigma equity to some perilous degree, but could you imagine that man running Canon?

I recognize Sigma is not a one-man company and there surely must be some hall-of-fame technical/design folks there making those lenses happen, but even the thought of Canon even catching a whiff of some of Sigma's mad 'why not?' innovating would be pretty exciting to see.

And on the same idea, Nikon is under a massive restructuring right now. Imagine if they went after him.

- A
 
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Joellll said:
AJ said:
slclick said:
zim said:
Is that a 6DmkII he's holding ;D
Nice advert for Canon ;)

Dollars to doughnuts he sells more EF mounts than SA. So sure.

I'm sure he does too.

Why does Sigma bother with an SA mount? Why don't they produce bodies with Canon EF and Nikon FX compatible mounts? I'm sure they can retro-engineer them.

If they did, I might be tempted to try one of their bodies.
In one of an earlier interview, Yamaki says that "It was the dream of Yamaki’s father—Sigma’s founder—to become a camera manufacturer."

https://petapixel.com/2016/10/12/sigma-still-make-cameras-sigma-ceo-blames-zombie-father/
Sure, but why not with an EF mount? You'd have a Sigma body on which you could mount, for example, a Canon 24-105 or equally well an EF mount Sigma 85/1.4. That same Sigma lens could then also be used on a Canon body.
I'm sure they must have thought of it. Probably a patent issue or something like that.
 
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AJ said:
slclick said:
zim said:
Is that a 6DmkII he's holding ;D
Nice advert for Canon ;)

Dollars to doughnuts he sells more EF mounts than SA. So sure.

I'm sure he does too.

Why does Sigma bother with an SA mount? Why don't they produce bodies with Canon EF and Nikon FX compatible mounts? I'm sure they can retro-engineer them.

If they did, I might be tempted to try one of their bodies.

Oh the ML body I would buy in a heartbeat is the Sigma sd Quattro H if it had an EF mount.
 
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ahsanford said:
Interesting comment here:

Of the lenses in the Global Vision line, which were the most complex to bring to market?

Our 12-24mm zoom. Because that lenses uses a very large aspherical element, and at the time, no other company was producing an element of this kind, and there were no machines capable of producing it. So we designed a custom machine to make that element. But as a result of developing that technology, we were able to create this new 14mm F1.8.


I love how the only thing holding them back from doing it was to just do it. How many times has Sigma just barreled through a tribal perception like "you can't make an f/1.8 (crop) or f/2 (FF) zoom" or "14mm lenses can't be faster than f/2.8" because they had the audacity to say why not?

I recognize that physics is a cruel mistress and these lenses are heavy as hell, but their attitude towards pushing boundaries remains a delight to watch.

- A

Doesn't the Canon 11-24 also have large aspheric elements or is the Sigma bigger? I thought Canon had claimed something similar when the 11-24 came out, and the 11-24L did get to the market before Sigma's 12-24...
 
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AJ said:
Sure, but why not with an EF mount? You'd have a Sigma body on which you could mount, for example, a Canon 24-105 or equally well an EF mount Sigma 85/1.4. That same Sigma lens could then also be used on a Canon body.
I'm sure they must have thought of it. Probably a patent issue or something like that.

Unlikely patent related in principle (if you can reverse the lenses' mounts you surely could do the same on the camera body's mount), but Canon has mountains of IP that might make so many camera features problematic that Sigma would be stuck making a rather foreign looking design. But they 100% could do it.

Why wouldn't they? A host of reasons:

  • I think folks need to trust their body's AF more than their lens' AF. If Sigma made the rig you are referring to, Sigma's EF glass would presumably work perfectly, but now they'd have the 'make the Art glass work with all EF bodies' problem in reverse -- that could include 20-30 year old EF glass. Folks with large stables of EF glass would undoubtedly have a lens or two that doesn't perform well.

  • What lens pullthrough would Sigma enjoy get if they offered (effectively) an open ecosystem camera? Nothing would stop people from slapping their Canon, Tamron, Zeiss, etc. glass on it. So the profitability of such a rig would be lessened.

  • Sigma would get absolutely murdered head-to-head on body specs with Canon -- partially due to Canon's feature excellence (DPAF, anti-flicker, high ISO processing, etc.), partially due to not having the same body design history as they enjoy with lenses, but also due to Foveon sensors not looking sexy on a spec sheet. Foveon rigs of the past had only pedestrian ISO levels and their FPS was unimpressive. Then there's that hard part about Foveon output requiring special processing on your computer and such (but I believe it's not as bad as it used to be -- they also capture JPG on board these days). Overall, though, the upsides of those sensors are only appreciated by a niche class of pixel peepers, and that's not enough to overpower an underwhelming spec sheet.

- A
 
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Random Orbits said:
Doesn't the Canon 11-24 also have large aspheric elements or is the Sigma bigger? I thought Canon had claimed something similar when the 11-24 came out, and the 11-24L did get to the market before Sigma's 12-24...

For basic size, the TDP listed diameter of each:

11-24L: 4.28"

12-24 Art: 4.02"

But that may not speak to hood/housing thicknesses and the front elements might not be terribly different.

But I am not well read enough on which elements are aspherical. I defer to the lens design aficionados here.

- A
 
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