Dpreview interviewed Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma. A couple of takeaways:
New “innovative” lenses will come soon:
“I think people’s demand for lenses is unlimited. Moving forward, we’ll probably release more unique or innovative lenses that don’t exist in the market today, and we will create demand for unique lenses in the future.”
APS-C vs FF:
APS-C still has great benefits. Making good full-frame lenses that perform well from center to corner without vignetting is challenging. But with APS-C, we can make lenses with excellent performance at a decent size and weight. So for those who care about the balance between picture quality and the size and weight of a system, APS-C is still an excellent choice.
We can make a very compact camera body with a full-frame sensor, but making the lenses compact is still challenging.
The future of DSLR:
I’m not one hundred percent sure, but if there’s no new DSLR cameras introduced to the market, I think DSLRs may be replaced in 3-5 years.
About their future Foveon FF camera:
I’ve personally used a Foveon sensor camera. Now I mainly use the fp or fp L, but when I look back on photos I took with our SD or DP cameras with Foveon sensors in the past, I can see the difference in the pictures between the Foveon and Bayer sensors. I’d like to achieve a similar look with a modern Foveon sensor.
I do hope Sigma will be successful in developing a new FF Foveon sensor. We need some new kind of innovation!