I have waited a while to see how reviews and opinions form on it.
My personal opinion is that Sigma BF is just a luxury camera without the Leica price. Yus, 2.000 $ is still a lot of money but not for a quality FF sensor and most of th cost is from the manufacturing of that unibody. Those things are extremely expensive and time consuming to make.
After PetaPixel interview with the CEO of Sigma it's clear that it is a camera HE wanted to be made for a very specific audience (and himself).
The camera is made for people who don't want or need to learn the ins and outs of all the photography workings and want a good looking camera. It's impossible not to compare it to Leica and Sigma is trying really hard to show the world that they can make a Leica type of product and quality.
The UI is designed is such a way that while it is simplified it is restricted in one way of using the camera and that's quite a lot like Leica's rangefinder being so different in how you make images compared to the rest of camera designs.
Sigma has a well know history of making "very different" kinds of camera, be it for good or for worse depending how you find them for yourselves. I don't think the BF is going to be a financial success but it will be a reputation success with a very small group of people.
Well summed up in my view! I found Christopher Frost's video kind of illuminating:
When he didn't immediately remember how something was done, he found it within seconds. The UI is definitely well thought-out.
I kind of agree that there's no ideal lens for this camera yet - but on the other hand, thanks to Sigma themselves and Panasonic, there are quite a few comparatively compact and optically convincing options available, not least the Panasonic 18-40mm zoom, but mainly the I-type primes as well as some of Panasonic's smaller lenses. I've lusted for the small I-type primes forever, but still don't have a body to put them on, so there's that (it's the only real reason I'm thinking about getting into L mount, to be honest). While the BF certainly doesn't appear to be the right camera for me, it's most definitely something one could build an afficionado's minimalist kit around, e.g. the Sigma 17mm f/4, 24mm f/3.5, 45mm f/2.8, and 90mm f/2.8 - lovely compact lenses, optically really nice, too. Together with the BF, it all fits into a small bag with tons of walkaround potential. And while it's not a lot more useful than, say, a Panasonic S9 with 18-40mm, it's orders of magnitude more satisfying to behold and use (if you're into slow, thoughtful photography - I am, at times). Only my .02, of course ...
All that said and dreamt about, to be honest, I think this camera's too niche even for me. But that may not be my last word on it.
M.
