Preorder Information for the New Sigma Lenses

[Canon Rumors]

As well all know, Sigma announced a bevy of wonderful new Art and Contemporary series lenses this past week. The bad news is, pricing and preorders have not become available.</p>
<p>We’re told that pricing will not be released until the end of March, which means there will be no preorders until this time. However, we did have information from an authorized retailer that pricing was to be released this past week, so we’re not sure if anything has been truly finalized as of yet. If the end of March is the case, we’re hoping shipping will follow almost immediately.</p>
<p><strong>Announced Sigma lenses:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art</li>
<li>Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG HSM OS Art</li>
<li>Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art</li>
<li>Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG HSM OS Contemporary</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Preorder surprises from Canon Rumors and select retailers</strong></p>
<p>We will also have a couple of surprises in store for people that are on this list. We cannot announce what they might be until pricing has been announced.</p>
<p>You can enter your email below to be notified as soon as preorders to become available for the all of the new Sigma lenses.</p>
</span>

 

[ahsanford]

Best guesses:

Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art --> $1,199 (could be more, that's a lot of glass)
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG HSM OS Art --> $1,299 (Tamron pricing seems about right vs. f/2.8L II)
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art --> $999*
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG HSM OS Contemporary --> $999 (same speed 150-600 C is $999 or so)

*By far this is the hardest one to peg. 135mm f/2 lenses run anywhere from fully manual ones for $549 to > $2k for the Zeiss Milvus, and the (famous, yet famously old) L lens in this segment is only $999.

The over argument on $999 for that 135 is that Sigma will all but certainly outperform the 135L resolution-wise, there is clearly pent up demand for a new 135 lens with AF, and it's a shade faster to justify its existence vs. today's great 70-200 f/2.8 lenses.

The under argument on $999 is that it lacks IS (though all 135s do for Canon today), weather sealing is a question mark and large aperture glass AF performance will always be a wait-and-see sort of risk with Sigma.

Curious to see everyone's guesses. (And I love ever-so-cocky Sigma -- running riot optically right now -- keeping up this 'announce the lenses but prices will be a later reveal' sort of game.)

- A

 

[3kramd5]

Best guesses:

Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art --> $1,199 (could be more, that's a lot of glass)

That would be a nice surprise!

 

[Jopa]

That sounds like a pre-order of a pre-order
But seriously, it would be fun to see predictions... Whoever guesses the best - wins all 4
I think $1k for the 135 is too cheap. It'll be $100 more than the 85, i.e. $1299.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I suspect that there is too much volatility in exchange rates to set prices far in advance of actual availability, if the Yen gets stronger against world currencies, prices will need to somewhat match.

 

[Chaitanya]

I have till end of monsoons(mid-sept) before I need 100-400mm lens. Till then the price would have setteled down and reviews will be out so I can make a decision whether to get that lens or to get a 400mm 5.6 L from used market.

 

[-1]

Best guesses:

Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art --> $1,199 (could be more, that's a lot of glass)
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG HSM OS Art --> $1,299 (Tamron pricing seems about right vs. f/2.8L II)
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art --> $999*
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG HSM OS Contemporary --> $999 (same speed 150-600 C is $999 or so)

*By far this is the hardest one to peg. 135mm f/2 lenses run anywhere from fully manual ones for $549 to > $2k for the Zeiss Milvus, and the (famous, yet famously old) L lens in this segment is only $999.

The over argument on $999 for that 135 is that Sigma will all but certainly outperform the 135L resolution-wise, there is clearly pent up demand for a new 135 lens with AF, and it's a shade faster to justify its existence vs. today's great 70-200 f/2.8 lenses.

The under argument on $999 is that it lacks IS (though all 135s do for Canon today), weather sealing is a question mark and large aperture glass AF performance will always be a wait-and-see sort of risk with Sigma.

Curious to see everyone's guesses. (And I love ever-so-cocky Sigma -- running riot optically right now -- keeping up this 'announce the lenses but prices will be a later reveal' sort of game.)

Dunno... The 100-400 should be substantially cheaper than the 150-600 since it's an obvious entry level long zoom, much lighter than the 150-600 and don't even have a lens2tripod collar! USD750-ish, or a bit less???

 

[AcaPixus]

Hopefully no bonus to the graphics artist for the "lens reflections"!!

 

[Busted Knuckles]

I suspect that there is too much volatility in exchange rates to set prices far in advance of actual availability, if the Yen gets stronger against world currencies, prices will need to somewhat match.

Having been the guy charged with eliminating foreign exchange risk for a multinational....

We buy/sell positions in currencies all the time - based on sales and purchase (raw materials) expectations over time, some of the purchases or multi-year horizons, some are a few days.

Having said this, the product managers set the price to maximize operating profit. Any competent exchange rate manager would have exchange risk down to less than 1%. The goal isn't to make/lose money in the currency transaction per se, it is to reduce such volatility in the P&L. Every so often the ex manager gets it wrong and is long/short on a rate and either the P&L takes a hit, or the product manager has some flexibility to lower price - generally the company is slightly biased to use favorable events to expand market share and move product. So in the moment, it is how much money the product managers think they can separate from you.

So prices might vary a bit between countries, not so much for exchange rates, but if the product managers think a couple percent difference price might move more units - or upped a few percent the same units would move regardless - somewhat a local economy issue. With ebay and very rapid grey markets, this has been tamped down a bit - in the olden days one might lower the price in a depressed market - now that just means they would buy in the market and arbitrage on Ebay.

In the end, it is only about the money and how smart, highly trained biz types try to collect as much as they can for their side - which isn't yours.

Back to the photo stuff - I think Sigma had done a marvelous job in creating a very valuable lens product line. If one is happy w/ a crop sensor IQ (getting more so every day) take a moment to stage out the focal lengths and f stops of their crop zoom offerings, and mix in a couple of their FF lenses. WOW is my reaction.

I am hoping that Canon (and less so Nikon) up their games likewise. It would be an interesting branding thing if Sigma went with a lens color for their art series - Canon has the big white w/ red ring for example. Soon, you could have the snob appeal of having a sigma 85 etc that people could see because it was some special color layout.

Happy clicks

 

[infared]

The 135mm and the 14mm look the most exciting to me! Can't wait to get more info.

 

[jebrady03]

There is a TON of glass in the 135. It's .8" larger in diameter than the Canon 135. The volume that adds is substantial. I think a lot of potential buyers getting spec-aroused will bail out when they get a glimpse of it in person. Thus, I'm guessing $1200

 

[BeenThere]

Interesting that we have not seen sample images yet from any of the lenses. Maybe they are not yet finished with the designs?

 

[andrei1989]

http://photorumors.com/2017/02/25/2017-sigma-price-increase-in-europe-list-of-discontinued-sigma-lenses/

maybe that's why we haven't seen any pricing info yet...

 

[ahsanford]

http://photorumors.com/2017/02/25/2017-sigma-price-increase-in-europe-list-of-discontinued-sigma-lenses/

maybe that's why we haven't seen any pricing info yet...

Sure, there are currency drivers that affect price, but delaying the pricing until a second announcement...

• ...allows Sigma to fire everyone up that the products are coming and it lets them peg the interest levels in the market. In some cases, they might shift their planned pricing a small amount based on feedback from the B&H's, Adoramas, Amazon's, etc. of the world.
  
  
• ...gets a second relatively free word-of-mouth advert out there. Everywhere in the photo-news-sphere (PP, DPR, etc.) will post a second story about the pricing.

I could be wrong, but I feel certain that's what's going on here:

1) Announce the product
2) Short delay / let the market wonder about pricing / peg interest to confirm or correct the planned pricing
3) Announce the pricing / get a free second news cycle on the new product
4) Sell

- A

 

[hendrik-sg]

I suspect that there is too much volatility in exchange rates to set prices far in advance of actual availability, if the Yen gets stronger against world currencies, prices will need to somewhat match.

Having been the guy charged with eliminating foreign exchange risk for a multinational....

We buy/sell positions in currencies all the time - based on sales and purchase (raw materials) expectations over time, some of the purchases or multi-year horizons, some are a few days.

Having said this, the product managers set the price to maximize operating profit. Any competent exchange rate manager would have exchange risk down to less than 1%. The goal isn't to make/lose money in the currency transaction per se, it is to reduce such volatility in the P&L. Every so often the ex manager gets it wrong and is long/short on a rate and either the P&L takes a hit, or the product manager has some flexibility to lower price - generally the company is slightly biased to use favorable events to expand market share and move product. So in the moment, it is how much money the product managers think they can separate from you.

So prices might vary a bit between countries, not so much for exchange rates, but if the product managers think a couple percent difference price might move more units - or upped a few percent the same units would move regardless - somewhat a local economy issue. With ebay and very rapid grey markets, this has been tamped down a bit - in the olden days one might lower the price in a depressed market - now that just means they would buy in the market and arbitrage on Ebay.

In the end, it is only about the money and how smart, highly trained biz types try to collect as much as they can for their side - which isn't yours.

Back to the photo stuff - I think Sigma had done a marvelous job in creating a very valuable lens product line. If one is happy w/ a crop sensor IQ (getting more so every day) take a moment to stage out the focal lengths and f stops of their crop zoom offerings, and mix in a couple of their FF lenses. WOW is my reaction.

I am hoping that Canon (and less so Nikon) up their games likewise. It would be an interesting branding thing if Sigma went with a lens color for their art series - Canon has the big white w/ red ring for example. Soon, you could have the snob appeal of having a sigma 85 etc that people could see because it was some special color layout.

Happy clicks

Very good writing, but so few people understand this. In Switzerland shower gel costs 5$. Why? Because the Swiss woman thinks a good shower gel costs 5$, and who wants a bad one. The german woman thinks a good showergel costs 1.5$, so what you think it costs in Germany?

Of course public relations speaker tells, it costs more because salaries are higher in Switzerland and implies selling costs are higher. In fact, it's more expensive here because salaries is higher, they think the can charge more for this reason. What the selling or manufacturing costs of shower gel is unknown to us and has no influence on the selling price. Only has in transparent markets without image value the price depends on costs, if Toyota is buying a shipload of screws for example.

For the foto equipment: A 50mm 1.2 lens is a very simple gauss construction, it is way overpriced. But it is a L lens. a 18-135 kit lens is much more complicated, and subjected to strong competition. It is for sure more expensive to produce and much cheaper sold.

 

[andrei1989]

For the foto equipment: A 50mm 1.2 lens is a very simple gauss construction, it is way overpriced. But it is a L lens. a 18-135 kit lens is much more complicated, and subjected to strong competition. It is for sure more expensive to produce and much cheaper sold.

well...no.
glass is expensive. and the 50L has a lot of glass (big chunks of glass). the 18-135 has more smaller tinier pieces. also, production costs go down with higher numbers of units produced.

 

[ahsanford]

For the foto equipment: A 50mm 1.2 lens is a very simple gauss construction, it is way overpriced. But it is a L lens. a 18-135 kit lens is much more complicated, and subjected to strong competition. It is for sure more expensive to produce and much cheaper sold.

well...no.
glass is expensive. and the 50L has a lot of glass (big chunks of glass). the 18-135 has more smaller tinier pieces. also, production costs go down with higher numbers of units produced.

...and that whole thing about no one else in the world selling a FF autofocusing 50mm f/1.2 lens.

Double gauss lenses are simple in general, but if the 50mm f/1.2L was truly such a simple design the market would offer more than just the Canon version. Also, it may not win any resolution awards ;D but I see the 50L at probably 80% of the wedding and engagement shoots I attend / come across. So we might consider giving Canon some credit here for pulling this off in such a delightfully compact package.

And overpriced is entirely at how you look at it. It only could have retained it's price so brilliantly ($1620 back in 2007, still $1299 today) if it continues to generates demand, which it clearly does. Lens demand is not entirely a referendum on the sharpness-per-dollar the lens offers (were that the case, we'd all be shooting Sigma today). There's more to a lens' appeal than how sharp it is, and lenses that are impressively (50L) or in some cases completely (135L) immune to price drop over time are testaments to that.

- A

 

[AJ]

I could be wrong, but I feel certain that's what's going on here:

1) Announce the product
2) Short delay / let the market wonder about pricing / peg interest to confirm or correct the planned pricing
3) Announce the pricing / get a free second news cycle on the new product
4) Sell

- A

... and hopefully in step 2 there'll be a few early hands-on reviews to get some stoke going

 

[PHOTOPROROCKIES]

I have till end of monsoons(mid-sept) before I need 100-400mm lens. Till then the price would have setteled down and reviews will be out so I can make a decision whether to get that lens or to get a 400mm 5.6 L from used market.

There will most definitely be lots of reviews as for a price drop I highly doubt it. The new Sigma lenses don't go on sale very often and only $20-$80 if anything.

The 100-400mm will be released in May alongside the 135mm. Then the 24-70 and the 14mm will be released in June and July I can't remember the order for those two perfectly though.

 

[andrei1989]

the initial launch price of tamron and sigma lenses drops quite significantly after 2-3-4 months. for example i have the sigma 50-100 1.8 in the amazon wishlist since it was announced and from the 1305€ initial price it has dropped now to a steady 1024€. same with 150-600