Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
stitchohana
Well-known
Nice article.
This sum up why it's different from Leica "My dream is not to be a luxury brand as such. I want to produce high-quality products at a reasonable price."
This sum up why it's different from Leica "My dream is not to be a luxury brand as such. I want to produce high-quality products at a reasonable price."
daveleo
what?
Hey thanks. That was good reading.
He seems like a "straight up" kind of guy.
He seems like a "straight up" kind of guy.
raid
Dad Photographer
Companies like Sigma are needed on the market. They balance things out.
Michael Markey
Veteran
Best of luck to them and long may they continue....and yes others should take note.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
In some ways they are the Japanese equivalent of Leica but without the lengthy history of course.
It was interesting that the rather quirky nature of their cameras seems to sit well with them because they know that people value them for what they are ... exceptional image makers and not competition for the mainstream manufacturers.
noimmunity
scratch my niche
The thing that I really like about the upper management of some of the smaller Japanese players in the market is that many of them are really personally very passionate about photography. Sigma and Fuji both come off that way.
The remarks about not being a luxury brand are disingenuous. The way in which one gets to be a luxury brand isn't by producing the best lenses at the lowest cost, but rather by offering an incomparable value-added image. Although image is based on substantive things like technical prowess, it really is much more complex than that, including intangible things like perceived value, history, and association with a certain geocultural niche in the division of labor. A CEO expressing passion for photography could also contribute to a form of value-added branding (not of the luxury type, though). Personally, I'm more of a sucker for that kind.
I am not sure that Sigma really is listening to their existing customer base when it comes to the DP line. In fact, a significant part of the DP customer base is pretty unimpressed with the Quattro development direction, and the things that they really wanted to see improved upon in the DP Merrill line have not been taken up.
The remarks about not being a luxury brand are disingenuous. The way in which one gets to be a luxury brand isn't by producing the best lenses at the lowest cost, but rather by offering an incomparable value-added image. Although image is based on substantive things like technical prowess, it really is much more complex than that, including intangible things like perceived value, history, and association with a certain geocultural niche in the division of labor. A CEO expressing passion for photography could also contribute to a form of value-added branding (not of the luxury type, though). Personally, I'm more of a sucker for that kind.
I am not sure that Sigma really is listening to their existing customer base when it comes to the DP line. In fact, a significant part of the DP customer base is pretty unimpressed with the Quattro development direction, and the things that they really wanted to see improved upon in the DP Merrill line have not been taken up.
Maybe Sigma will make a dig rangefinder? I hope someone does.
Dan Daniel
Well-known
Thanks for the interview link. I found it makes the DP/Foveon cameras a little more comprehensible.
The problem I see with the Foveon chip is that there aren't other companies working in similar areas. I bet by now there are hundreds of off-the-shelf solutions to Bayer image processing. Whether ICs or software, there is probably no need to re-invent the wheel. Fine tune it, generate distinct JPGs, sure, but the basic structure is there.
Foveon is its own world and needs its own infrastructure, it seems, to get it to a commonly-used format like TIF or JPG. Sigma isn't an image processing company at heart. From the interview, the interest in the Foveon seemed as much for in-house use as a camera imaging chip. And the interest in cameras seemed to be almost as an R&D process to get more knowledge of the issues involved in mating cameras and lenses.
Fuji is committed to cameras and the final image, so it has invested in the X-trans chip. Which seems to be a small shift of Bayer tech, not a whole new world.
Just seems as if Sigma's cameras will always be backwater department at Sigma. The hope is that they get the chip to such a high state of 'completion' that they can shift resources over to things like focus and write speed and all the annoyances I find using the camera itself. Or they finally partner with a company that can grab the chip and make a real camera out of it. Pentax?
The problem I see with the Foveon chip is that there aren't other companies working in similar areas. I bet by now there are hundreds of off-the-shelf solutions to Bayer image processing. Whether ICs or software, there is probably no need to re-invent the wheel. Fine tune it, generate distinct JPGs, sure, but the basic structure is there.
Foveon is its own world and needs its own infrastructure, it seems, to get it to a commonly-used format like TIF or JPG. Sigma isn't an image processing company at heart. From the interview, the interest in the Foveon seemed as much for in-house use as a camera imaging chip. And the interest in cameras seemed to be almost as an R&D process to get more knowledge of the issues involved in mating cameras and lenses.
Fuji is committed to cameras and the final image, so it has invested in the X-trans chip. Which seems to be a small shift of Bayer tech, not a whole new world.
Just seems as if Sigma's cameras will always be backwater department at Sigma. The hope is that they get the chip to such a high state of 'completion' that they can shift resources over to things like focus and write speed and all the annoyances I find using the camera itself. Or they finally partner with a company that can grab the chip and make a real camera out of it. Pentax?
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Wash your mouth out ... I ain't buying no Pigma, or a Sentax for that matter!
It was interesting to hear that their equipment for testing lens resolution uses foveon technology.
Dan Daniel
Well-known
Wash your mouth out ... I ain't buying no Pigma, or a Sentax for that matter!
It was interesting to hear that their equipment for testing lens resolution uses foveon technology.
And that they will use an array of four (or reposition one) to cover a full frame. Which I bet means someone is wondering what it would take to make a full-frame sensor. Man, a Pentax 645D-sized Foveon Merrill sensor would be something.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
'Anything' with a full frame or larger foveon sensor would go straight to the top of my shopping list.
Michael Markey
Veteran
Puts fingers in ears and walks away quickly ....