Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has been interviewed at Imaging Resource. And he finally hints that the making lenses for E-mount system is possible because “there aren’t so many lenses” in the system and “we get lots of requests” to make lenses for E-mount. He also said that taking current Sigma FF lenses and make them E-mount “would be very helpful“.
Still, Kazuto Yamaki also recently stated that “E-mount diameter is small and makes it difficult to design high quality Full Frame lenses” (Full SAR article here). So let’s ee if Sigma will take the final step and really make those FE lenses…
found via MirrorlessRumors.
171 Responses
Any addition to the native lens lineup for E-Mount is great!
“Sigma (finally!) acknowledges it makes sensor to make lenses for the Sony FE system”
What sensor ????
“Sigma (finally!) acknowledges it makes sensor to make lenses for the Sony FE system.”
Sense and not Sensor!
Sorry! Title was saved in a wrong way on wordpress.
Due bisch aa Hammerwerfer, due.
Du bist ein…
That title doesn’t make any sensor…
Would they make any wide “angels” for the FF NEX? 🙂
Sorry! That article was victim of the faulty cache system last week. It messed up the text 🙁
Oh wow, what a way to shoot itself in the foot.
Now I would be worried about buying Sigma lenses for FE since it seems that they don’t know how to design high performing lenses for it.
To me it screams amateurism, specially when comparing the superb FE lenses the 55 and the 1635.
Hm, yea FE needs it. Its not hard as long as you dont want them to be too small, since design needs to be pretty much SLR like (at least as far as wide-angles go).
But obviously having so small mount diameter is a problem.. :/
Sigma could do very well out of this… With ibis, they don’t have to worry about including oss to be competitive. This should help keep costs down for them and there’s a big gap at the affordable end of the spectrum waiting to be filled…
Depends on which camera is going to be the most popular, my guess right now is the A7R for landscape and A7S for .. you know.. special people hah. But this is total guesswork, then again we are on a rumour site so why not spread some completely unsustained guessed rumours.
That’s pretty much the name of the game! Personally I’m happy with the a7 (36mp is more than I need and 12mp is dangerously close to the good old no cropping film days)
Yep and can’t love it more then I do right now, almost feel like I’m back to good old fashioned photography with the A7S instead of just shooting raw material to be turned into images later with Photoshop.
FE lenses are getting larger and larger. The 16-35, 24-70 and even the new 35 prime is huge. I’d be very happy with both the 35 1,4 and 50 1,4 Siggys being offered in FE-mount so I don’t have to use that damn adapter!
You think such Sigma lenses would be smaller?
No of course not, that’s the point and I don’t care.
Primes, especially 35/1.4, can be made smaller for E-mount.
except that the A7R doesn’t handle oblique angles well at all so everything still has to be designed like an SLR. Look at the Sony/Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 compared to the new M-mount 35mm f/1.4. Even considering AF the difference is crazy.
the Sigma 50 1.4 is 820 grams without adapter, think about it again…
i hope its a dedicated lens not some remounted version
It must be dedicated as the flange distance is to short and the AF system is different.
No, Joe means redesigned smaller lenses for the e-mount, not just the same variety of Canikon mount lenses with an e-mount instead, like Rokinon often does. I’m afraid that will likely be the case with Sigma too at the beginning, before they start to actually design mirrorless full frame lenses from scratch.
The biggest thing is having a stepper motor instead of an unltra-sonic motor to work with the native AF system.
Otherwise, remounted versions will do fine. It’s not like a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 will get any smaller anyway.
why not just get A mount and LEA4 then? The whole point would be to make a lens that is smaller; not just a remount lens
Because LA-EA4 is a stop-gap solution, better to use a proper SLT camera. However, Sony is gradually discontinuing the SLT product line and moving to mirrorless. Well if they want to replace DSLR with mirrrorless, they need to offer larger bodies and lenses. The main change for Sigma would be not ‘making the lens smaller’, but changing the motor from ultrasonic to stepper motor, so that an FE camera can use its native AF system.
I’d love to see more sigma lenses on the e-mount system. The few that are available are great but I want more!
I love the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART and 35 ART lenses, but they are big. I wonder how they are going to make those amazing lenses for FE mount. Anyways please do make awesome glass for us FE mount users!
I just wrote that Sony has two issues to sort out – AF and lenses…
And now Sigma can help with the latter! I’d love to see Sigma FE 24-70 and 70-200 f/2.8 for a reasonable price (unlike Sony, who’re using their position of the only producer of FF mirrorless to sell overpriced narrow-aperture lenses and offer lousy SLT adapters).
I wish Tamron would jump in as well, but that’s less likely since Sony is a shareholder in Tamron.
I hope Mr. Yamaki is wrong about the size of the mount… since Sony is making a full transition from A-Mount to E-Mount (reducing the manufacturing costs with no real advantages for the end user so far), it would be sad to learn that the new mount also prevents from producing high quality lenses.
A wider mount would make things easier, but the current diameter doesn’t prevent the design of high quality lenses.
All KY said in the original interview was that the narrow mount made it more difficult and they’d have to research it carefully.
First the price of the 70-200mm F4 is in the same ballpark as the Canon and Nikon lenses, so not realy overpriced. But it would be great when we saw some cheaper, but still good) lenses from Sigm. I would like to see some 70-300 or 70-400mm lenses instead of expensvie and large F2.8 lenses. Everybody is different, and we have to see what Sigma will do.
About the E-mount, the size of the mount did not stop Sony/Zeiss to create one of the best 55mm f1.8 lenses around, The 70-200 is not bad either and the 35 f2.8 is a good lens too. So it is possible to create the best lenses for the E-mount.
55 f/1.8 does seem really really amazing. Maybe he meant some specific lenses?
Not sure what you mean by “overpriced”, as they aren’t much more expensive. In any case, mirror less are in general more expensive, you just don’t have another FF system to compare to. So, Sony is actually using its position to make slightly more expensive lenses and cheaper bodies.
I just wish they would release some of the lenses that people want in Sony A-mount. Like the 24-105 f4 and their new Sport lens.
Since this mount is being phased off by Sony, it stopped making sense for Sigma to support it.
I thought so too. But they are launching 3 lenses for the A mount so obviously Sony feels there is some life left in the mount for now. Else they wouldn’t bother developing new lenses for the system and they would have stuck to a body or two from time to time.
They aren’t launching anything new, just updating existing lenses with the SSM II motor and latest coatings. The last new lens for A-Mount was 50mm ZA.
I don’t disagree with you BUT relaunching an existing lens with faster AF and coatings does cost money. Sony wouldn’t pump money into a dead system.
Olympus only launched a few DSLR bodies for their dead 4/3 system. They didn’t update any of their older lenses.
It’s not quite dead, Sony needs to keep it on life support for another 2-3 years to give themselves time to release FE lenses and figure out the AF
Well if that is official I would like the link to the original announcement from Sony.
they won’t admit it, they know about Elop effect.
…great, they don’t admit it but you know it is true because of elop. So glad we got that cleared up.
High Quality 70 300 f4 5.6 should be their top priority. It should focus as fast as the FE 70 200 f4 G.
Admin
Your comment that convertin current lenses would be helpfull is highly misseading
He then goes on to explain why E mount lenses need very small light focusing elements and need to be completely redesighned for E mount due to the limitations of the currently available motors.
That being said I would very very much like to see an E mount 150-600
Such lenses will probably be made last… there’re still a lot of whiners complaining about FE lenses not being compact enough, although it has been long clear that FE has nothing to do with compactness.
And there’s one whiner (me) who complain about the lack of FE lenses.
Horses for courses. Where a lens can be compact, it’s in the spirit of the mount to keep it compact (55/1.8 and 35/2.8). Equally we have to be realistic about more specialist lenses and accept that something like the 35/1.4 and 16-35 will be larger…
Personally I’m happy to now have a very lightweight travel kit (a7, with the 35 and 55) and will settle for a more bulky macro setup when the 90/2.8 is released.
But where does he mention about size of focusing elements in the lens design?
I only see two points:
1. SSM AF motors won’t work efficiently.
2. Firmware will have to be optimised for such applications.
Nowhere did he mention the necessity for a complete redesign due to focusing elements being too heavy.
Voices in Barry’s head again!
You are a totall a$$hole
Grow up.
Read the full interview about stepper motors , the need for extremely light moving focus elements, and that the lenses need to be totally redesighned to be optimized for mirrorless.
All the talk about E-mount diameter being too small is kind of odd as it is the same physical size as Nikon’s. I mounted Canon FD 85mm with E-mount adapter to a Nikon D800 and it worked as a macro lens – yes, even the bayonet fits, albeit lens is rotated and not aligned with the top.
E-mount is just shallow but not too narrow.
Cool! You posted this on a website?
Shallow is bad enough, until smarter sensors come out. it is the consequence of bad design…
The throat diameter is not a problem especially when the lens is extended.
And you can get even a four thirds lens to cover full frame at macro distances.
An E-mount 10-20 would be nice, a cheaper alternative to the Sony 10-18 $700+ model.
He’s already said this… obviously they have to be working on designs in the background, they’d be stupid not to be. All they’re doing is driving interest until they have a product to launch.
Same as SAR admin is by posting the same things in different ways.
So, all that talk about the mount being the reason they won’t make lenses for the system were BS. As expected.
Not sure who they really thought they were fooling there. As plans go, trashing a mount you want to eventually sell lenses for isn’t a particularly great one…
Now that Canon is rumored to enter the mirrorless FF market soon …
2020 soon?
At Canon Watch they say 2015:
http://www.canonwatch.com/canon-going-serious-mirrorless-2015-full-frame-milc-coming/
Kazuto Yamaki should be sacked, always a day late and a dollar short.
Sacked by whom? Sigma is not publicly traded and has no shareholders.
Give me the Art series and i will be happy
That’s what I said to the guy in the shop yesterday. you know, I moved to A7S for the size and weight, but to have the Art series on there would be cool.
Size and weight is what Art series have in abundance.
No kidding! Tried the 50 with my metabones (usually has a Nikon 55 F1.2 on it, nice and light!) instantly had a Canon flashback, that thing is heavy! when I get over my manual focus craze I’ll probably go for the 55 Zeiss though, might as wel go for FE AF, got more then enough manual lenses already and to be honest I love the colours in the old nikkor glas.
Is it “Difficult” or impossible? Because it seems impossible as not a single fast lens exists. If it’s impossible than Sony’s FF is dead in the water. But if you can use an adapter and use fast Alpha lenses as intended, then . . . doesn’t it seem possible? Is that extra length/area that the adapter provides MAKE it possible? Why not build that extra space into a lens? Or is it just “Difficult” to make fast FF lenses that are ALSO small form factor? Because screw the requirement small form factor and give me a fast prime FF mirrorless lens. I recognize I’m totally ignorant on lens design, but what’s the REAL technological hurdle here? Is it a hurdle or a wall? Because if it’s a wall, I’m not going to get my hopes up. I’m sure even us Alpha mount fanboys admit that mirrorless is the future. Prisms and SLT aren’t going to be in cameras 100 years from now. And can’t they do FF mirroless Alpha mount? Or is that the same problem again? Do feel free to educate me!
I agree that you’re totally ignorant on lens design and presumably many other things. If you need to be educated there are many outlets for learning, it’s an endeavor you must pursue on your own.
Or he could ask here where some people could try to explain.
Getting information from a blog just makes you as dumb as the bloggers, there are better sources. If this gentleman is too lazy to spend the time learning from textbooks or books in general, he will always be ignorant of the true facts and spend his time repeating misinformation from bloggers. Like Nerdo, HM, duott, Matt Grum etc.
It was a question, you gonna explain it in detail, or just agree that I don’t know? Did you read the question or just say, “He’s dumb! He just said he doesn’t know something! I’ll write and say he’s dumb too!”
As a general rule: people who are posting nasty drivel like that are usually talking to themselves. They can’t handle people accepting their weakness out in the open. It is probably the same guy who posts under all sorts of troll names. Perhaps it is time to turn of guest posting, perhaps not.
As a rule, if you want to appear smart, you should avoid know-it-all talk like “pursue an endeavour”. You should also learn the most basic social skills.
>Because it seems impossible as not a single fast lens exists.
FE 35mm f/1.4 has been announced already.
“Not a single fast lens exists”!?
s f/0.95 fast enough for you?
http://www.zyopticslens.com/mitakon50pro.html
I’ve seen that one. “Mitakon” -eH?
It is tack-sharp.
It looks kick ass awesome, and price isn’t bad.
Sharpness is probably the least important property in a lens.
Your photo must be bokehlicious.
There is already a F0.95 FE lens by Mitakon, so it probably is a question of where to focus your resources as a lens company.
The rear element is so close to the sensor you need high quality stuff to project the image on the full frame chip without vignetting or weird color shifts. To make it work, especially when you want to break the F4.0 barrier with zoom lenses. I’m guessing Sony probably wants to keep the size and weight down so it can present mirror-less as a lightweight heavyweight system, but that is just a guess.
Mr Yamaki’s point related to the autofocus system of mirrorless lenses which requires stepping motors that are not able at this stage to move heavy glass elements. That does not apply to manual focus but I think it validates your guess on the F4.0 lens barrier.
Yes, it is possible to build high quality fast lenses that fit on E-mount. Small high quality and fast might be tougher, but the Zeiss Loxia line looks interesting, although not super fast. Since you can take a 85mm f/1.4 or 50mm f/1.2 DSRL lens stick it on a adaptor and they work fine on E-mount building a native mount lenses is certainly possible. At a minimum use a built-in extension tube, at the max redesign everything to take advantage of the the short registration distance and optimize the auto-focus for live-view.
Define “fast lens”. Even Sony/Zeiss have a F1.4 (35) announced, is that not fast enough?
And it’s not like f1.8 is slow…
There’s 40/0.85 aps-c lens and 50/0.95 ff lens for E-mount… fast enough?
By difficult he meant expensive. He made the previous statement not fully believing in the Sony mirrorless system fearing Sigma wouldn’t make get their investment back. Seems recent Sony sales numbers have changed his tune.
Leica m diameter is maybe smaller and they make awesome lenses since many many decades! Adding autofocus is so impossible??
Never mind, they don’t work well on Sony. Try it, you will see what I mean.
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/tag/sony-a7-leica/ not so bad as I see except ultra wide angles lens
Already lost my respect for Sigma. They flip flop on a daily basis.
They make some beautiful lenses but consistency is still a very big issue.
Friend tried 3 copies of their Sigma 35mm f1.4 A lens and all consistently back focussed at near infinity distances while using AF. None of his other lenses do that so the issue has to be with the Sigma lens.
I had similar problems with mine. I even tried their dock software, but the calibration process is a real pain (dock, tweak, mount on camera, test, rinse and repeat…). Mirrorless should avoid all those issues though.
You can try and see things from another perspective. Take the 55mm Otus. It costs an arm and a leg. Beautiful results, but for 1/4th of the price you can get the Sigma 50mm Art with comparable performance. The way i see it, AF is a bonus. The bokeh is fantastic, microcontrast is beautiful. With the 35mm Art the same but with an even more pleasant tonal rendition.This on the EF mount. With contrast detection AF i have no problems with front or backfocusing, it is contrast detection AF after all. The same with the contrast based AF on a A7R via metabones. Other than the atrocious AF speed, which is an oxymoron now that you think about it, focus precision is not an issue. It would be great if Sony weren’t as anally retentive as Canikon regarding their AF, but this is wishful thinking.
Same could be said about Sony.
Basically, I think the problem isn’t designing a fast sharp lens for FE, but making a lens to fit the only FF mirrorless mount currently in existence.
Remember, Sigma makes the same lenses for a multitude of mounts and designing a lens for FE would make it too heavy for APS-C ML and not usable on DSLR, still the biggest market. Is the market big enough for them to compete with native Sony lenses(when Sony actually decides to make them)? They apparently don’t think so.
Or at least they didn’t think so… If they’re no longer ruling it out, my guess is they’ve decided that either the market is big enough now, or they’re betting on another player getting involved.
This change of heart could be clever marketing or actual flood of reguest from potential future FE mount users / current users. I for one definately want to see Sigma art lenses on FE body if I get one.
sigma if you are serious and if you are reading this, 3 words:
Fast like f/1.8, affordable primes. We need 5 of the main focal lenghts. They can even be MF, no problem.
Sony says it’s all one big happy system. So Sigma already makes lenses for E-Mount.
Everybody happy now?
The issues relevent to mirrorless are not just Sony issues.
Rumors keep getting more serious about high end mirrorless ff from Canon and Olympus early in 2015.
Nikon cannot be too far behind either.
Yep, Elpha excitement only lasts until competition from real camera companies.
Enjoy it while you can Sony!
Should have stayed with original compact vision rather than trick toy pro.
The more competition the better for the consumer. Brand loyalism really makes no sense now that you can sell everything off on Ebay in a few days.
yes but at a serious amount less for eBay fees !
You may enjoy buying and selling toys, but I need a proven (ie non-crap) system for my photos. So far, Sony has been tonkling on the keyboard, while Canon and Nikon keep rocking.
Yes, and lose a ton of $$$ doing it. Switching brands isn’t exactly free, you know. You might sell your used lens in close to “Like New” condition for the same price as a similar lens in a worse condition, that’s being posted as “Great/Good Condition”.
And then you will buy a new lens for much more $ or a used lens, risking in it being a poor performer.
It’s worrisome because they’ve burnt their A mount base. If Canon or Nikon provide a real full frame mirror less alternative, they won’t have that working against them. I’m sure it will be better implemented having learned from Sony’s mistakes.
When desighning lenses optimized for mirrorless the challenge is not to keep the overall lens size compact..as the stereotype suggests…but rather to keep the focusing elements extremely light..as currently available stepper motors..necessary for fast mirrorless af speed…are not powerfull enough to handle anything but the smallest lightest of elements.
I would hope a better motor can be developed that could move the heavier elements in current lenses at the higher speeds necessary for current mirrorless autofocus.
One solution would be to put much bigger heavier stepper motors in..thereby actually making mirrorless lenses biggerand heavier than thier dslr counterparts.
I would gladly accept this sacrifice to have a 150-600 sport lens for the latest greatest sensor that will apparently only go on the new E mount cameras.
Just use the original Minolta first gen Maxxum glass. Best IQ, best compatibility, super compact even with adapters, exif friendly, and great styling match for Elpha. And they rise in value from the moment you purchase them.
Sigma ART 50 is slow AF already, so wouldn’t hurt if mirrorless lenses have slow AF.
…the whole problem wouldn’t exist if Sony adopted Z-shift sensor
On relatively short lenses such as the 50mm you describe, and for that matter most currently available E mount lenses…af and stabilization speed is not that critical.
For long lenses such as the 150-600 these issues are much much much more important.
Tasks like birds in flight are much more demanding on lens functionality than a task like a wedding.
To a lesser extent macro is also a very demanding task.
Now that mirrorless wants to become a serious camera system these issues must be properly addressed…they can no longer be swept under the rug and ignored….we need these type of lenses as well as the easy ones.
I get quite good AF from it on the D810, no problem for events. The 24-70 is certainly faster, but I wouldn’t use it for sports anyway.
I lost all respect for Sigma already… Now they want to come up with warmed up SLR lenses for mirrorless cameras? Does anyone here know what the 50 1.4 “ART” lens weighs “without adapter”? 815 freaking grams!!!
http://www.sigma-global.com/en/lenses/cas/product/art/a_50_14/specifications.html
And the Sony FE 55 1.8 is how much? 280 gram!!
http://www.sony.net/Products/di/en-us/products/lenses/lineup/detail/sel55f18z.html
It’s absolutely retarded to warm up FF DSLR lenses for FF mirrorless cameras. Nobody wants to carry around more than 3 times the weight for half a useless F-stop and crappy bokeh.
Goodnight Sigma
The Art 50 is too heavy, but for the record 1.4 is two thirds of a stop over 1.8
for the record, the Sigma 50mm F1.4 has transmission of T1.7, the FE 55mm F1.8 has a transmission of T1.8. That’s 1/6th stop difference for real world use, not noticeable…
The Sigma has twice the amount of glas to achieve a similar performance of the Zeiss (and both are almost Otus level), that’s what makes it so heavy. Good glas and good lens design costs money, that’s why many people invest in small lenses from Zeiss and Leica that don’t need to correct optical issues with 13 elements in 8 groups. Then they over-corrected the lens so much for sharpness and CA that the bokeh is crap, a typical well known problem. The engineers at Sigma are noobs!
http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sigma-50mm-F14-DG-HSM-A-Canon-on-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-II-versus-Sony-FE-Carl-Zeiss-Sonnar-T-STAR-55mm-F18-on-Sony-A7R___1306_483_1252_917#measuretabs-3
fine if you’re talking t-stops. some people care about f-stop as a factor in bokeh and OOF blur, not just transmission.
the bokeh of the Sigma is so bad, it doesn’t help to blur 5% more…
Disagree. Like it very much. I get lots of very nice images on my D810. Bokeh is always a matter of personal taste, you can’t be right here, it can only be YOUR personal opinion, not that of the others..
haha, spoken like someone who’s never used either lens. The sigma has horrible bokeh so you’d not likely want to use it at f/1.4
It seems like you’re just trying to throw misinformation out there to make a point when you clearly don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
The trouble is, the E mount is very narrow and has a very short flange. Until Sony finds a way to deal with slant rays of light, the system will not work with short, Biogon-like wide angles.
You can see it from the current assortment: the lenses are not really smaller than DSLR lenses.
In a nutshell: this ill-designed mount, with the current sensor tech, kills the option of having smaller lenses.
you obviously have no idea:
1. The biogon has been adapted to the E-mount in the Zeiss Loxia 35 F2.0, it’s sharp into the corners without any color issues
2. The lenses for the mirrorless ARE really smaller, especially the shorter focal lengths.
3. the E-mount is not narrow, it just has a short flange that’s what makes it great for adapting all kinds of lenses.
In a nutshell: there is no trouble
Adapted means not equal. The Loxia is indeed bigger than a Biogon or a Leica M. Learn to read and understand, and ask if you are unsure. It’s a useful approach with strangers, who probably know a lot more than yourself.
your knowledge isn’t bad and it was correct 1 year ago. Meanwhile you’ve just been proven wrong…
Again: read and understand. Are you by any chance German and work in software?
why does that even matter where I’m from and what I’m working?
We’re talking about lenses, not the second world war or software. Are you the same guy as TheFapDong who is trying to get personal? Or are you working for Sigma and feel attacked by my opinion about their lenses?
Anybody starting a post to a perfect stranger with “you have no idea” is a Rottenmeier. Don’t need wars to be unpleasant.
You have angry asian male syndrome.
You’re getting personal? I’m just talking about lenses?
You told the other person “you obviously know nothing” and then changed it to “you obviously have to update yourself.” If you’re pissing around online with your dissertations and tirades, expect to get feedback, whether you think it’s personal or not.
I was responding to your comment above that the other post “obviously know nothing,” which you’ve since modulated. Are you just talking about lenses? Or do you just need to be right and prove others wrong all the time? That’s a question for yourself indeed.
and you have dong syndrome.
Have you seen a Voightlander 35 1.4 WITH adapter mounted on a7? Are them wizards? Are in Leica aliens?
Have you tried them yourself? Do they work well on the A7? See, there is always a catch. Bad design it is… Feel free to try yourself though, I’ll be glad to hear from your experience.
Not everyone cares as much as you do about the weight and size.
I actually don’t care what other people care about. You can mount 2 kilos on your camera and be happy if that was your point to get a mirrorless camera.
Actually, nobody cares what you care about.
I care about what he cares about.
Compare the Sigma Art 50mm to the Zeiss Otus 55mm. The Zeiss is 1.03 kg.
And both are of comparable image quality whereas the Zeiss is x4 the price:
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Sigma-50mm-F1.4-DG-HSM-A-Canon-lens-review-Art-for-Art-s-sake/Sigma-50mm-F1.4-DG-HSM-A-Canon-versus-Carl-Zeiss-Otus-1.4-55
dxomark lens tests are bad enough, there is no need to quote their lens tests.
But I want to ….
In real world use I seriously doubt the Sigma is anywhere near as good. Im willing to bet the 55mm 1.8 FE is even better in every aspect.
I real world use, you will never see the difference !
I am more then happy to slap SIgmas glass on my a7’s. Their 70-200 is svelt and almost the size of the sony 70-200 f4, which is nice and sharp but only useable under limited conditions and white. Looks aweful on the cam.
And having access to all those sharp fast primes that compete with or outdo Zeiss? Show me the lenses Sigma and i will show you the money.
If Sony really wants to replace DSLR with mirrorless, they need to release bigger bodies and lenses. Sigma can help with the latter. FE is no longer a “compact system” then, more like a “system with some compact options”. It would never be compact outside of some 35mm-55mm primes anyway. FE 70-200 f/4 is the same size as Minolta 80-200 f/2.8.
If you lost your respect for something, that something might be good.
For Sigma to recoup the engineering costs, they can sell their FF lenses for Canikon.. huge market. If they design a FF e-mount lens, they can’t sell it for any other mount. And, as I understand, need to also change their whole AF motor to accomodate the constant live view..
So why would they do that now.. For mirrorless lenses for APS-C they can sell it on many more mounts, even m43.
Regarding the relatively small diameter of the e-mount (for FF lenses), Sigma also complained about the Nikon mount as similarly difficult, especially to create mega fast (zoom) lenses.. So I don’t see it as an excuse to skip the e-mount.
Anyway, personally don’t like the “Sigma-Look” and their focus on sharpness..
I’d suggest we don’t need any more lens options. 35mm format is already beyond maturity. I’m getting tired of better, more optically correct full frame glass at nose bleed prices. Give me Medium Format at a cost that can encourage mass adoption. MF for the masses!
I guess you’ve never used the Sony A7 series…..DESPERATELY in need of lens choices.
I use old rokkor lenses for my A7. I don’t let my Alpha glass touch it. Seems to be plenty of options if you ask me.
the sooner they can get the 35 f 1.4 Art for Sony FE to market the better! a 24mm f1.4 and and 85 f1.4 would be dandy too! Go Sigma
I say their first lens should be wide angle 24mm or 85mm tele. Doesn’t have to be 1.4. Could even be 2.0 or 2.8
I doubt that there would be enough market to ever recoup the development costs for these lenses with a true FE design. Now if they just add the flange distance extension to the existing lenses (like Smayang did), maybe, but they would still ned a different AF motor.
Why would they need a different AF motor, there is nothing in the FE design that prohibs using standard lens AF as far as I know. Hence why you can adapters that will AF non FE glass.
You need a stepper motor to work with OSPDAF, instead of the ultrasonic motor which works with PDAF. If only we could use “standard lens AF” (ultrasonic) on FE, we would be able to use all A-Mount lenses with full functionality with LA-EA3, but that’s not possible.
Interesting… Does it mean all E-mount lenses are basically “SAM”, not “SSM” (speaking the A-mount language 🙂 ?
NO, SAM lens use basic DC motor only, not micro stepper motor.
http://www.sony.co.in/product/resources/en_AP/images/hubpages/dslr/dslr_lens/features/mktg/smooth_auto_focus_motor.jpg
Only those lens design for mirrorless (CDAF/hybrid AF) use stepper motor.
Micro stepper motor let the lens focus faster in mirrorless camera which use CDAF/Hybid AF.
Traditional A-mount lens (SSM/SAM) can focus on mirrorless camera but it will be slower.
It needs a stepper motor, not the standard ultra-sonic or silent wave type motor used for DSLR designs to have adequate AF performance for both still and especially video.
Any word from Tamron yet?
Mr. Yamaki always seems to happy and benficient. I almost don’t even mind he’s leaving me withouth his awesome lenses.
If it’s difficult to design for FF E-mount, then start with a few of the missing APSC E-mount lenses.
Sigma makes plenty of DC lenses for APSC DSLR’s, similar to Canon and Nikon’s own EF-S and DX lenses.
They would be smaller and lighter, and more fitting to the apsc models than the huge FE lenses.
There are far more APSC E-mount bodies out there than FF, plus all of the other brands of APSC mirrorless that could benefit from multiple mount options. Just as Sigma has 4 or 5 versions of every DSLR lens, they could have 3 or 4 of their APSC mirrorless lenses. They already do it to a lesser extent with their current 19, 30, and 60mm mirrorless lenses for E-mount and M43.
Mr. Yamaki, I have a to-do list for you: 35mm Art, 50mm Art, the new 120-300mm and the 150-600 Sport version 🙂
What we need is support for PDAF in Sigma DN lenses.
“E-mount diameter is small and makes it difficult to design high quality Full Frame lenses” So why is Sony so keen to push e mount as their flagship mount system and using it for FF?
Because they’re caught holding an interesting hot potato that they have no idea what to do with because it’s strayed far from it’s original vision and was NEVER designed to be what it’s becoming.
BTW… Rumor has (had) it that Alpha Proper is STILL the flagship A-Mount because that’s “supposedly” evolving into a more exclusive high quality pro line. Not a hard swallow after realizing the flagship fast lenses must be adapted to the toy camera that stole Alpha name heritage to fake respect it didn’t earn for itself.
Sigma waivers because they know the Elpha frenzy will wear off as soon as CaNikon release a more capable competitor that doesn’t require so much adaptation to play in the big leagues.
FE mount is dead!
I understand why Sigma is deciding to consider FE lenses. I just don’t get why they didn’t consult us on SAR first about it.
Give us APS-C options, too. Telephoto options would be nice. One that isn’t overpriced like the 70-200. F/4 is fine. We don’t need any more 35s 50s and 24s. There is too much redundancy already.