Interview: Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki

[Canon Rumors]

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<p>A great interview with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki was been posted by Mobile 01. The interview is in english. I’ve heard he’s a unique person in the world of photography when compared to his peers, and has lofty goals for Sigma and for the industry.</p>

 

[Brymills]

Does he use that jacket for testing lenses?

 

[Canon Rumors]

Does he use that jacket for testing lenses?

Only to check if a lens is decentered.

 

[Talley]

that 20mm 1.4 is bigger than I thought.

 

[slclick]

You have really got to hand it to Sigma. It's rare that a 3rd Party in ANY field can turn itself around and become a leader or at least a true competitor. Tamron and Tokina should rethink how they run their shops.

 

[vscd]

A lot of capitalistic companies could learn a few thoughts from this small company. It's not everything about growth for each given price...

 

[Nininini]

I'll never buy a Sigma lens again after the amount of AF problems I've had with it. I'm not the only one, the internet is filled with personal accounts of people having AF issues with Sigma lenses. Considering Sigma says they profile themselves as a mid to high-end lens maker, one thing that should be flawless is AF, and it's a nightmare on far too many Sigma and Tamron lenses. I realize this isn't Sigma and Tamron their fault because Canon and Nikon have thousands of patents protecting their business, including how AF works on their cameras, but as a consumer, that's not my problem. I won't waste my money on another Sigma lens with AF issues.

And the ironic thing is, that the chinese OEM he's talking about, tend to have a far more accurate AF system than Sigma lenses, because they aren't afraid to reverse engineer the Canon AF system and aren't afraid of litigation. I don't need a USB dock or microadjust the lens 40 times to get it to focus like every other Sigma lens with AF problems.

 

[sunnyVan]

I appreciate his business philosophy. It does improve my perception of the company even more. Loved the sigma 35 when i had it. Zero AF issue. Bitingly sharp. Too bad the new 20mm doesn't seem to perform well in terms of coma, or else i would've bought it.

 

[Patak]

I am not a huge fan of Sigma products, but I truly appreciate Kazuto's business philosophy. This company is on the path of success with him in charge

 

[HighLowISO]

Great Interview! My first Sigma lens was the 50mm ART and my second sort of by accident (great price) is the 150-600mm C. I don't need any more lenses, but if these hold up Canon will have serious competition because of the quality and price.

 

[Bennymiata]

He seems to be a nice, down to earth guy with some good ideas. Not your typical boss of a large business.

I've got a couple of Sigma lenses and I'm really happy with them and they seem to focus really well too, and I don't even have a dock.

 

[adventureous]

Maybe Canon did try to buy Sigma and this guy means what he says. Going to stay family owned and not wreck the local economy.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

While its going to take a lot to convince me to purchase a Sigma lens again, I appreciate the difficulty in making a wide aperture lens focus accurately on a Canon DSLR. Canon cameras use the lens model number to make AF adjustments as well as other tweaks.

When you have a lens that has no Canon equivalent, it is impossible. Sigma saw this and created the dock as a work-around. The dock is far from perfect, but does solve or reduce a lot of issues.

One game changer is DPAF or possible a new improved type of autofocus that is able to have accurate autofocus with and lens. The difficult to focus Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 lens is said to focus perfectly every time when in live view on the 70D and 7D MK II. That's one reason I'd like to see DPAF or the equivalent on future cameras. Its also likely something that Canon and Nikon fear. If hey eliminate AF issues for the competition, they lose sales.

 

[Luds34]

He seems to be a nice, down to earth guy with some good ideas. Not your typical boss of a large business.

I've got a couple of Sigma lenses and I'm really happy with them and they seem to focus really well too, and I don't even have a dock.

I bought the dock, it was so cheap (60 bucks maybe?) but in the end I haven't used it other then to verify my firmware was current. I was a bit nervous but pleasantly surprised how accurate my 35mm Art was on my 6D. No AFMA necessary and the lens just nails focus. I'll definitely keep Sigma in mind. Their optics are as good as anyone's it would appear. Besides, I can't justify spending near $2k on a prime from Canon.

 

[Luds34]

One game changer is DPAF or possible a new improved type of autofocus that is able to have accurate autofocus with and lens. The difficult to focus Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 lens is said to focus perfectly every time when in live view on the 70D and 7D MK II. That's one reason I'd like to see DPAF or the equivalent on future cameras. Its also likely something that Canon and Nikon fear. If hey eliminate AF issues for the competition, they lose sales.

Absolutely. While DPAF relies on phase detection, it still uses contrast detection to "lock it in". So even if a lens didn't get it completely right or was perfectly aligned with the focus system, it should be "good enough" to get quite close and a slight amount of time spent using the contrast detection would dial it in to perfection.

So in short, if/when Canon moves to Mirrorless, companies like Sigma who's issues with not completely figuring out the "secret sauce" from Canon's AF algorithms may be rendered moot.

 

[sanj]

Love this guy. But what a horrible video production! Awful music as well.

 

[Zv]

Love this guy. But what a horrible video production! Awful music as well.

Yup, that's how they do things here! This is actually not even that bad; You should (or maybe you shouldn't ) see some of the videos made by the company I work for - shockingly poor production. So bad that it actually takes effort to make it that terrible. You could whip out your iPhone and do a better job of it.

 

[jebrady03]

Had a Sigma 35mm Art, focus always all over the place. Sold it and swore off Sigma. Decided to give them a second chance and bought the 50mm Art. Bought the dock this time too. I tuned it after about a month because I noticed inconsistencies. It's worked well for a while, but I realized the other day it's starting to miss... A LOT. I guess it's time to tune it again. That's annoying.

 

[IglooEater]

Sigma's business policies make me really want to buy from them. If only they could resolve af..

 

[ChristopherMarkPerez]

I can sense the man's passion for the photographic arts. He seems very happy to do what he's doing.

I've used Sigma lenses for years. AF problems? I've not experienced them. They were at least as accurate as the L-glass I owned.

My current crop of Sigma optics are the DN Art series for the Sony mirrorless. Nails the focus every time. Sharp sharp sharp from wide open. What's there not to love?

I'm glad Sigma is here and doing business as they are.