- Location
- Seattle
- Name
- Andrew
First of all, this is just me rambling as an outsider to the Sigma ecosystem(? maybe plural, ecosystems?), but I've always really liked Sigma for their daring, outside the box attitude, and the way they in-house everything. We need more companies who aren't beholden to shareholders and can look to innovate instead of drive quarterly profits. This is how a company should work.
Even so, Sigma's daring attitude hasn't exactly led to the best design decisions some of the time. The SD Quattro and Quattro H cameras are super interesting, super well-priced and well-built. However, the mount decision is kind of terrible. Not only does the SA mount waste a ton of space due to being a DSLR mount, but it seems to me like the exceptionally long flange distance limits the number of adapters that can be used. Has anyone found anything other than the M42 adapter? I'm really sad that you can't adapt M-mount glass (I briefly had the idea of grabbing cheap manual 7artisans lenses and shooting them on a Quattro H, which sounds awesome! But you can't), or other smaller, high-quality lens systems. Sigma's glass is expensive and super limited in the areas I'd like to shoot. Yeah, you can get an 18-35mm f1.8, which would be perfect (except for size) but I can't spend that much on glass for a camera system that is so niche.
The new fp looks like it will be another interesting camera, but it's clearly built more for video than stills. Give it five years, and there might be some excellent Foveon cameras in the L mount. Maybe that's what I need to wait for to actually be able to embrace Sigma technology. It's just hard to see cameras that come so close to something I'd want to own (slower operating but exceptionally high image quality) that have super weird and limiting design decisions.
So I guess what I'm saying is, Sigma should have picked a more versatile lens mount from the beginning for their Foveon mirrorless system cameras, but the future looks a little better as the result of the L-mount alliance? I hope so. What would you guys like to see from Sigma on this front?
Even so, Sigma's daring attitude hasn't exactly led to the best design decisions some of the time. The SD Quattro and Quattro H cameras are super interesting, super well-priced and well-built. However, the mount decision is kind of terrible. Not only does the SA mount waste a ton of space due to being a DSLR mount, but it seems to me like the exceptionally long flange distance limits the number of adapters that can be used. Has anyone found anything other than the M42 adapter? I'm really sad that you can't adapt M-mount glass (I briefly had the idea of grabbing cheap manual 7artisans lenses and shooting them on a Quattro H, which sounds awesome! But you can't), or other smaller, high-quality lens systems. Sigma's glass is expensive and super limited in the areas I'd like to shoot. Yeah, you can get an 18-35mm f1.8, which would be perfect (except for size) but I can't spend that much on glass for a camera system that is so niche.
The new fp looks like it will be another interesting camera, but it's clearly built more for video than stills. Give it five years, and there might be some excellent Foveon cameras in the L mount. Maybe that's what I need to wait for to actually be able to embrace Sigma technology. It's just hard to see cameras that come so close to something I'd want to own (slower operating but exceptionally high image quality) that have super weird and limiting design decisions.
So I guess what I'm saying is, Sigma should have picked a more versatile lens mount from the beginning for their Foveon mirrorless system cameras, but the future looks a little better as the result of the L-mount alliance? I hope so. What would you guys like to see from Sigma on this front?