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is a Japanese
company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
, manufacturing
cameras A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...
,
lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own
Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princ ...
factory in
Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...
, Fukushima,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Although Sigma produces several camera models, the company is best known for producing high-quality lenses and other accessories that are compatible with the cameras produced by other companies. The company was founded in 1961 by Michihiro Yamaki, who was Sigma's CEO until his death at age 78 in 2012. Sigma products work with cameras from
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
,
Nikon (, ; ) is a Japanese optics and photographic equipment manufacturer. Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and equipment related to S ...
,
Fujifilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...
,
Pentax was a Japanese camera and optical equipment manufacturer. Currently, it exists as the Pentax Life Care Business Division of Hoya's medical endoscope business, as well as the digital camera brand of Ricoh Imaging, a subsidiary of Ricoh. Penta ...
,
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
,
Olympus Olympus or Olympos () may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Lesbos * Mount Olympus (Euboea) ...
and
Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...
, as well as their own cameras. Sigma has also made lenses under the Quantaray name, which have been sold exclusively by
Ritz Camera Ritz Camera & Image (formerly Ritz Camera Centers) is a photographic retail and photofinishing specialty store, headquartered in Edison, New Jersey. The company owns and used to operate a chain throughout the United States under the names Wolf Ca ...
. Similarly, Sigma lenses were sold exclusively by the former
Wolf Camera The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey ...
, but following the merger of Wolf and Ritz, both brands could be purchased. Sigma's digital SLRs, the SD9, SD10, SD14 and SD15, plus the latest SD1 are unusual in their use of the Foveon X3 image sensor. The company's mirrorless cameras, the Sigma SD Quattro and SD Quattro H, use the Foveon Quattro sensor, an updated version of the Foveon X3. All use the SA
lens mount A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the System camera, body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder ...
. The Sigma DP series of high-end compact P&S cameras also use the Foveon Quattro sensor, which gives them a much larger sensor than other cameras of this type. In September 2018 Sigma became one of the founding members of the L-Mount Alliance; it announced that it will cease to develop SA-mount cameras and instead use the
Leica L-Mount The Leica L-Mount is a bayonet mount developed by Leica Camera AG for interchangeable-lens autofocus digital cameras. The L-Mount has an inner diameter of 51.6 mm and a flange depth of 20.0 mm. The L-mount exists in two versions, an APS-C versi ...
. A new full-frame mirrorless camera, Sigma FP, was launched in 2019 along with a range of L-Mount lenses and adapters. Sigma is the world's largest independent lens manufacturer and is a family-owned business.


Cameras

Sigma has made a number of film SLR cameras, including the SA-300, SA-5, SA-7 and SA-9. Up until the Sigma FP, all Sigma SLR, DSLR, and mirrorless cameras used the Sigma SA mount, which is mechanically similar to the
Pentax K mount The Pentax K-mount, sometimes referred to as the "PK-mount", is a Bayonet mount, bayonet lens mount standard for mounting interchangeable photographic lenses to 135 film, 35 mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras. It was created by Pentax in 1 ...
and electrically an adaptation of the
Canon EF lens mount The EF lens mount is the standard lens mount on the Canon EOS family of SLR film and digital cameras. EF stands for "Electro-Focus": automatic focusing on EF lenses is handled by a dedicated electric motor built into the lens. Mechanically, it i ...
lens control system. Sigma has been one of the first companies to experiment with putting the
Foveon X3 sensor The Foveon X3 sensor is a digital camera image sensor designed by Foveon, Inc., (now part of Sigma Corporation) and manufactured by Dongbu Electronics. It uses an array of photosites that consist of three vertically stacked photodiodes. Each ...
in consumer digital cameras. During
photokina 2010 Photokina is a trade fair held in Europe for the photographic and imaging industries. It is the world's largest such trade fair. The first Photokina was held in Cologne, Germany, in 1950, and since 1966 it has been held biennially in Septembe ...
, Sigma announced a new flagship DSLR camera, the SD1, featuring a 46MP Foveon X3 sensor. In recent years their DSLR range has been discontinued in favor of mirrorless designs. Sigma also produced the DP series of high-end compact
digital camera A digital camera, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in Digital data storage, digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Dig ...
s. The Foveon
APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field d ...
sized sensors were similar to those used in the DSLR line. The most-recent line made use of the Quattro sensor, a variant of the Foveon design that had higher resolution top layers and lower resolution lower layers combined into a final image, claimed to be equivalent to a 39 megapixel color filter array image. The four compact cameras were differentiated by their fixed prime lens, with the ultra wide DP0, the
wide WIDE or Wide may refer to: * Wide (cricket), a type of illegal delivery to a batter *Wide and narrow data Wide and narrow (sometimes un-stacked and stacked, or wide and tall) are terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data ...
DP1, the normal DP2 and the
telephoto A telephoto lens, also known as telelens, is a specific type of a long-focus lens used in photography and cinematography, in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens ...
DP3. In February 2016, Sigma announced two new mirrorless cameras—the SD Quattro and SD Quattro H. Both cameras used the full-depth Sigma SA mount, allowing the use of existing SA-mount lenses, and also used Foveon Quattro sensors. The SD Quattro uses an APS-C sensor with 19.6 MP in the top layer, while the SD Quattro H used an
APS-H Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field ...
(1.35x crop) sensor with 25.5 MP in the top layer. The company claimed that the Foveon Quattro technology produced a level of detail equivalent to that of a Bayer sensor with twice the pixel count. In July 2019, Sigma announced the Sigma fp, a small form-factor, 24.6MP full-frame mirrorless camera. At the time of launch it was the world's smallest. This was followed by the FP-L in 2021 with a 61mp sensor. Both cameras were able to shoot up to 14-bit RAW video.


Software

Sigma produces multiple software packages for use with their cameras and lenses. * SIGMA Photo Pro - Software for
post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...
of their camera's .X3F
raw image format A camera raw image file contains unprocessed or minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, a motion picture film scanner, or other image scanner. Raw files are so named because they are not yet processed, ...
. It is available both for
Mac OS Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system ...
and
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
. * SIGMA Optimization Pro - Software for updating lens firmware and performing calibration and customization. * SIGMA Capture Pro - Software allowing remote control and image capture from select Sigma cameras.


Lenses

Sigma makes
autofocus An autofocus (AF) optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus on an automatically or manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system h ...
lenses for the Sigma SA, Canon EF,
Nikon F The Nikon F camera, introduced in April 1959, was Nikon Corporation, Nikon's first Single-lens reflex camera, SLR camera. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although many of the concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it ...
, Fujifilm X,
Minolta was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated ...
/
Sony α Sony α (the lower case to Greek language, Greek letter Alpha (letter), alpha, often transliterated as ''Sony Alpha'') is a brand of digital camera. This line has been active since 2006, building upon the Konica Minolta camera technologies, who ...
, Pentax K and
Four Thirds The Four Thirds System is a standard created by Olympus and Eastman Kodak for digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) design and development. Four Thirds refers to both the size of the image sensor (4/3") as well as the aspect ratio (4:3). T ...
lens mount A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the System camera, body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder ...
s. Each lens may not be available in all mounts, and may lack certain features (such as HSM) on certain mounts. In August 2013, Sigma announced that starting the following month, it would offer a mount conversion service for its newest "Global Vision" lenses—those with either an "A" (Art), "C" (Contemporary), or "S" (Sport) as part of their model name. For a cost that varies with lens and market—from $80 to $250 in the U.S., not including shipping costs—owners can send their lenses to their local Sigma company, which in turn sends them to Japan for mount replacement, including calibration and optimization for the new camera system. Lenses designed for DSLRs can be converted to Canon EF, Nikon F, Pentax K, Sigma SA, or Sony A mounts; those designed for MILCs can be converted to Micro Four Thirds or Sony E-mount.


Designations

* ASP — Aspherical lens elements * APO —
Apochromat An apochromat, or apochromatic lens (apo), is a photographic or other lens that has better correction of chromatic and spherical aberration than the much more common achromat lenses. The prefix ''apo-'' comes from the Greek preposition ''ἀ ...
ic lens element(s), originally for "Advanced Performance Optics", not necessarily apochromatic * OS — In-lens "Optical Stabilization", analogous to Nikon VR or Canon IS * HSM — "Hyper-Sonic Motor", either in-lens
ultrasonic motor An ultrasonic motor is a type of piezoelectric motor powered by the ultrasonic vibration of a component, the stator, placed against another component, the rotor or slider depending on the scheme of operation (rotation or linear translation). Ultra ...
or micro-motor, analogous to Nikon SWM (AF-S) (ultra-sonic or micro-motor), Canon USM (ultrasonic or micro-motor), Minolta/Konica Minolta/Sony SSM (ultrasonic motor) or Sony SAM (micro-motor), etc. * A — "Art Series", large aperture prime and zoom lenses, high optical performance. USB dock compatible. Part of 2013 lens lineup restructuring. * C — "Contemporary Series", combining optical performance with compactness. USB dock compatible. Part of 2013 lens lineup restructuring. * S — "Sports Series", telephoto and super-telephoto lenses. USB dock compatible. Part of 2013 lens lineup restructuring. * EX — "Excellence", EX-finish, high performance series. * DG — "Digital Grade", coatings optimized for DSLRs, full-frame as well as APS-C, also usable on 35mm film SLRs * DC — "Digital Compact", lenses for DSLRs featuring
APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field d ...
size sensors, only * DL — "Deluxe", indicates lower-end film era lenses * DN — "Digital Neo", lenses for
mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera A mirrorless camera (sometimes referred to as a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC) or digital single-lens mirrorless (DSLM)) is a digital camera which, in contrast to DSLRs, does not use a mirror in order to ensure that the image ...
s. * DF — "Dual Focus", lens features clutch to disengage focus ring when in AF mode * FLD — "'F' Low Dispersion" glass, the highest level low dispersion glass available with extremely high light transmission. This glass has a performance equal to fluorite glass which has a low refractive index and low dispersion compared to current optical glass * HF — "Helical Focusing", front element of lens does not rotate (useful for polarizing filters and petal lens hoods) * RF — "Rear Focusing", lenses employing rear-focusing, no length changes during focussing, no rotating front elements * IF — "Inner Focusing", length of lens does not change during focusing, no rotating front elements * UC — "Ultra-Compact"


Zoom lenses


Wide-angle zooms


Standard zooms


Telephoto zooms

* *


Prime lenses


Wide-angle primes


Standard primes


Macro primes


Telephoto primes


DC lenses for APS-C

* 4.5mm 2.8 EX DC Circular Fisheye HSM * 8–16mm 4.5-5.6 DC HSM * 10mm 2.8 EX DC Fisheye HSM * 30mm 1.4 EX DC HSM * 10–20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM * 10–20mm 4–5.6 EX DC HSM * 17–50mm 2.8 EX DC OS HSM * 17–70mm 2.8–4.5 DC MACRO HSM * 17–70mm 2.8-4.0 DC OS MACRO HSM * 17–70mm 2.8-4.0 DC OS MACRO HSM 'C' * 18–35mm 1.8 DC HSM A * 18–50mm 2.8 EX DC * 18–50mm 2.8 EX DC MACRO * 18–50mm 2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM * 18–50mm 3.5–5.6 DC * 18–125mm 3.5–5.6 DC * 18–125mm 3.8–5.6 DC OS HSM * 18–200mm 3.5–6.3 DC * 18–200mm 3.5–6.3 DC OS (HSM Version for Nikon only) * 18–200mm 3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM II * 18–200mm 3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM C * 18–250mm 3.5–6.3 DC OS HSM * 50-100mm 1.8 DC HSM * 50–150mm 2.8 EX DC HSM * 50–150mm 2.8 EX DC HSM II * 50–150mm 2.8 EX DC OS HSM * 55–200mm 4–5.6 DC


DN lenses for mirrorless cameras

* 56mm f/1.4 DC DN C *16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary * 19mm 2.8 EX DN * 19mm 2.8 DN A * 30mm 1.4 DC DN C * 30mm 2.8 EX DN * 30mm 2.8 DN A * 60mm 2.8 DN A


Lawsuit

In 2011,
Nikon (, ; ) is a Japanese optics and photographic equipment manufacturer. Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and equipment related to S ...
filed a suit against Sigma, alleging it had violated patents relating to Nikon's "Vibration Reduction" image stabilisation technology. In 2015, the suit ended through settlement, with no details disclosed.


See also

*
List of digital camera brands This is a list of digital camera brands. Former and current brands are included in this list. With some of the brands, the name is licensed from another company, or acquired after the bankruptcy of an older photographic equipment company. The a ...
* Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) * List of Sigma lenses with Nikon F-mount and integrated autofocus motor * Third-party lenses for Sony E-mount system


References


External links

* {{Japanese Electronics Industry Photography equipment manufacturers of Japan Electronics companies of Japan Lens manufacturers Companies based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Electronics companies established in 1961 Japanese companies established in 1961 Japanese brands Family-owned companies Privately held companies of Japan