CP+ Interview With Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki

[YuengLinger]

So would anybody have faith in the somewhat older 180mm f/2.8 APO macro? Or did it just miss the revolution?

 

[ahsanford]

So would anybody have faith in the somewhat older 180mm f/2.8 APO macro? Or did it just miss the revolution?

Some people adore Sigma's pre/non-Global Vision glass, but it seems to be a hit or miss phenomenon. Some are apparently great, while others' paint falls off. In other cases, the lenses are perfectly sharp but lack the general quality/feel/AF of the Canon variant -- which some folks are totally fine with.

2011/2012 is right when the GV stuff spun up if memory serves and this 180mm was not that old -- a 2012 lens -- that for some reason got the older-style body design. I've never shot it but I've heard positive comments from some users on this forum. LensTip absolutely gushed over it.

(Or were you referring to an older lens than that? Was there another 180 f/2.8 APO lens before this IS version?)

- A

 

[AJ]

Sigma would get absolutely murdered head-to-head on body specs with Canon

It already does, even without the EF mount.

 

[chrysoberyl]

So would anybody have faith in the somewhat older 180mm f/2.8 APO macro? Or did it just miss the revolution?

Some people adore Sigma's pre/non-Global Vision glass, but it seems to be a hit or miss phenomenon. Some are apparently great, while others' paint falls off. In other cases, the lenses are perfectly sharp but lack the general quality/feel/AF of the Canon variant -- which some folks are totally fine with.

2011/2012 is right when the GV stuff spun up if memory serves and this 180mm was not that old -- a 2012 lens -- that for some reason got the older-style body design. I've never shot it but I've heard positive comments from some users on this forum. LensTip absolutely gushed over it.

(Or were you referring to an older lens than that? Was there another 180 f/2.8 APO lens before this IS version?)

- A

There was not an older version. I have the only version and like its sharpness - sharper than my Canon 100 L. Both hoods are really loose, though. I use it mostly manually focused.

Even so, upgrading it would be a good idea.

 

[fussy III]

So would anybody have faith in the somewhat older 180mm f/2.8 APO macro? Or did it just miss the revolution?

Some people adore Sigma's pre/non-Global Vision glass, but it seems to be a hit or miss phenomenon. Some are apparently great, while others' paint falls off. In other cases, the lenses are perfectly sharp but lack the general quality/feel/AF of the Canon variant -- which some folks are totally fine with.

2011/2012 is right when the GV stuff spun up if memory serves and this 180mm was not that old -- a 2012 lens -- that for some reason got the older-style body design. I've never shot it but I've heard positive comments from some users on this forum. LensTip absolutely gushed over it.

(Or were you referring to an older lens than that? Was there another 180 f/2.8 APO lens before this IS version?)

- A

Yes, there was: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/712025/0
http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Sigma-180mm-F2.8-APO-Macro_lens188.html
I bought mine roughly in spring 1997 when production must just have stopped as it was being sold at a bargain price. It was never produced with the newer AF-Chip that would soon be obligatory for SIGMA lenses in order to continue working with bodies like the EOS 33 or EOS 3. The lens continued to work great on my EOS-1N though and along wiht the EF 300/2.8 L USM it was the sharpst lens I had for my Canon. AF was always sluggish but it needed the new chip not only for Af but also for the aperture to work. Maximum magnification was only 1:2 but it was crisper than my later Sigma 180/3.5 EX at f 3.5 but even more so when stopped down to f18. It somehow retained a lot of contrast all the way to f22 which is why I sometimes still think about testing the Nikon version on digital full frame adapted to Canon (the Nikon version has an aperture ring).

 

[danski0224]

It is very impressive how many lenses Sigma managed to release in 5 years. They are imho just missing Art macro and 70-200 Sport and they will have complete replacement of old lenses with new ones.

Given the new Sigma sdQ and sdQ H cameras, which require Global Vision lenses for the best AF performance, more lens updates to Global Vision standards are just about guaranteed.

 

[ahsanford]

It is very impressive how many lenses Sigma managed to release in 5 years. They are imho just missing Art macro and 70-200 Sport and they will have complete replacement of old lenses with new ones.

Given the new Sigma sdQ and sdQ H cameras, which require Global Vision lenses for the best AF performance, more lens updates to Global Vision standards are just about guaranteed.

Updates to older lenses are all but certainties, yes, but the Quattro rigs have little to do with that.

Anyone have Sigma's pie chart of what mounts their lenses are bolted on to? In absence of any data, I'm going to hazard a guess that less than 20% of their lenses are for the SA mount. Canon/Nikon/Sony must make up the lion's share of their sales.

So, yes, updates to work best with the SA mount's AF will happen, but that's not what is driving Sigma. Getting their glass on everyone else's mirrorless and SLR setups is.

- A

 

[Ah-Keong]

I am impressed by the investment risk he take to get a new machine up to do the 12-24mm and with that new machine, Sigma is able to proceed to this 14mm f/1,8....

Next to come may be 105mm f1,4 and 180mm macro and
if
and
if
the sigma 70-200mm f/2,8 beat the Nikon and Canon and Tamron 70-200mm.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVwhCir72hQ

:

 

[ExodistPhotography]

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/

Yea I had a dream of becoming a sexy male model.. Thats not really working out for me..
Now I just take photos of everyone else..

Mike Roe made a really good video a while back about not chasing your dreams, but instead just doing what your good at and becoming great at that instead. Perhaps Sigma should watch that video.

But you know if the Sigma Quattro H was native Canon mount I would have tried it. I love the looks of it and the ergonomics look appealing.

- Joe

 

[slclick]

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/

Yea I had a dream of becoming a sexy male model.. Thats not really working out for me..
Now I just take photos of everyone else..

Mike Roe made a really good video a while back about not chasing your dreams, but instead just doing what your good at and becoming great at that instead. Perhaps Sigma should watch that video.

But you know if the Sigma Quattro H was native Canon mount I would have tried it. I love the looks of it and the ergonomics look appealing.

- Joe

I think Sigma is doing very well thank you and doesn't need anyone's advice at this juncture. Their new AF motors are 'near Canon' fast and accurate. The optics, well equally good if not better in many instances.

 

[ahsanford]

But you know if the Sigma Quattro H was native Canon mount I would have tried it. I love the looks of it and the ergonomics look appealing.

- Joe

Yep. I like the fact that Sigma just pooped on the notion that a mirrorless rig could never come to market with a flange distance befitting a mirror (the horror!). There are famously two large camps of FF mirrorless mount proponents here at CR, and one of them would love to see a full EF mount. A 'lens tube'-style design like the recent Quattro rigs is one way to do it.

I am weird in that I could see myself owning any (but not all) of these three:

• Full EF mount mirrorless used as a standalone swap/complement to my 5D3 with all of my EF glass
• Thin mount EF mirrorless that I would only use with 1-2 tiny primes as a travel / street / walkaround rig
• A fixed lens FF setup like the RX1R or Leica Q

I see value in each idea, I really do.

- A

 

[goldenhusky]

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

From what I know Sigma is a company his father founded and he is more sentimentally attached to Sigma. I can't imagine he moving out of Sigma. I view him as a person in a business that is close to his heart

 

[privatebydesign]

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

Yeh, imagine if Canon had the balls to come out with a 50mm f1.0, 1200 f5.6, TS-E 17, a zooming fisheye, small and light primes with IS (24/28/35), 200-400 f4 zoom with built in TC, 85 f1.2, an 11-24 rectalineal with unmatched iq, all of which work perfectly on every EOS camera ever made... Or how about a class leading 16-35 with IS for chump change and iq rivaling any lens at the same focal length at any price. Or the EFm 22 for even less money. We are so lucky to have Sigma pushing Canon the way they do :

 

[danski0224]

Yep. I like the fact that Sigma just pooped on the notion that a mirrorless rig could never come to market with a flange distance befitting a mirror (the horror!). There are famously two large camps of FF mirrorless mount proponents here at CR, and one of them would love to see a full EF mount. A 'lens tube'-style design like the recent Quattro rigs is one way to do it.

The Foveon sensors in general do not play well at all with a short register distance, a short register body would have been a disaster.

I wouldn't mind a mirrorless 1DsIV