Sigma will develop new Art series lenses for the L mount: an interview with Sigma head of planning Yasuhiro Ohsone

As a camera manufacturer, but above all an optics manufacturer, Sigma has a strategic partnership with Panasonic and Leica around the L mount. Les Num Portal&eacute riques has an interview with Yasuhiro Ohsone, head of Sigma’s Product Planning & Development division, where he talks about the company’s main activities.

Yasuhiro Ohsone at the Sigma booth during the 2018 Photokina &copy R. Labracherie Les Num&eacute riques .

Les Num&eacute With the announcements of Canon and Nikon and finally the announcement of the alliance around the L mount, we can say that the mirrorless camera market, whether 24×36 or APS-C, is getting really interesting for optics manufacturers such as Sigma. For example you have a lot of lenses for the Sony mount. Mirrorless cameras are known to have short working lengths, how will this affect future designs?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: One of the main advantages of short range, is that you can reduce the size of your optics, whether you’re designing a wide-angle lens, or say a zoom. For example, the latest model24mmf/1.Sony’s 4 is quite compact and especially lightweight less than500g . It’s an excellent design. Working length together affects lens design. With mirrorless cameras we get more “flexibility”, for example we can design higher luminosity optics.

Les Num&eacute So, a short focal length would have a positive impact, but what about the diameter of the mount? Each company has a different strategy here: Sony offers a fairly small diameter, while Nikon offers a very large mount, and you with the L mount are in between.

Yasuhiro Ohsone: Diameter is also important. If you take Nikon, I think the Z mount, is too big to offer compact optics for their APS-C sensor. And it’s likely that unlike Canon, Nikon has no other mount planned for these cameras. This will lead to the fact that the lenses for them will inevitably be impressively sized.

(At these words Yasuhiro Ohsone takes his notebook and starts to draw

In this situation, you have to find the right balance between the size of the mount, the size of the camera body and, in particular, the grip grip. When I look at different camera bodies, I notice that Sony offers a very small body with a relatively large mount and a large grip, so you have little room to put your fingers. I believe that lenses should be designed with a small gap in mind. Fujifilm’s optics are wider initially, but the grip is less bulky, so the camera is more comfortable to hold.

Difference in body design and optics according to Yasuhiro Ohsone &copy R. Labracherie Les Num&eacute riques .

Les Num&eacute What will Sigma do to quickly create a line of optics for the L mount? Will you adapt your current range or create a new series of lenses?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: We can quickly offer EOS EF and SA Sigma adapters for the L mount. As a first step, it will be easier for us to adapt the existing optics. We have 11 lens models for the 24×36 format, as well as 3 models for the APS-C format, for a total of 14 light and compact models in our Art series that can be used with the L system.

Of course, we plan to make our own optics based on those lenses for that system. If we release our full frame Foveon camera, we will have to develop classic optics for it. Just know that we won’t have much trouble working on “mirrorless” optics that will be offered not only for the L mount, but also for the Z mount and RF.

Les Num&eacute riques: the Fujifilm X mount is taking more and more of the market. Do you have any plans to develop lenses for cameras of this brand?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: Yes that would be a good idea. In fact, I would suggest releasing lenses for the X mount and EOS-M. You know, Canon is number 2 in Japan with their APS-C hybrid after Sony. It’s an important market. But Canon’s decision to release a second mirrorless camera makes it difficult. On the one hand, APS-C allows them to offer compact lenses for their cameras. But it’s still a tough choice. In this respect, the L mount will make it much easier to work with both ASP-C and 24×36 sensors.

Yasuhiro Ohsone in front of the booth where the L – mount alliance is represented. Photokina 2018 &copy R. Labracherie Les Num&eacute riques .

Les Num&eacute At Potokina this year everything revolves around the 24×36 format. But, what do you think about the future of the APS-C format??

Yasuhiro Ohsone: The APS-C isn’t dead. For me it’s even the most balanced format between body size, quality and price. I would like to release many different lenses for APS-C cameras. I like Sony NEX 7 very much. Sure, it’s an obsolete camera by today’s standards with slow autofocus, but it’s beautifully put together and looks great with our 16, 30 and56mmf/1.4 lenses. They are very harmonious.

Les Num&eacute You have an excellent range of f/1.4 lenses. That aperture is now something of a standard, a photography classic. Do you think this standard will change with the further development of optics, at f/1, for example?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: That’s an interesting question. I think the aperture plays no small role, but also creates problems, especially for autofocus. Panasonic uses DFD contrast detection technology, but other manufacturers have phase detection systems that might have a harder time with shallow depth of field. But that’s just my opinion. Optically it’s possible, but it’s still a challenge today.

Les Num&eacute riques: Today we are seeing a reduction in the weight and size of lenses, thanks to Fresnel lenses. You are working on this type of element?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: Of course it’s promising too, but we still have problems getting the bokeh we want. For now, it remains problematic and we are not ready to use this technology.

Les Num&eacute Les Numques: I’d like to know a little bit about the Foveon sensor. You will announce the 24×36 camera in the coming months. So far you’ve only had the APS-C APS-H formats. Why the full frame is only announced now? And can we hope for SD and DP models with this type of sensor?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: We are working steadily on our new Foveon technology. We used to have difficulty switching to larger sensors. Now it’s possible. Of course we will produce the SD model. As for DP, it’s hard for me to answer this question. I don’t know yet. We’re also working on a smaller motherboard for our camera bodies. At the moment they take up a lot of space. That’s a real challenge for us.

Les Num&eacute What’s the hardest part about building a new full frame sensor? Autofocus? Processing Speed?

Yasuhiro Ohsone: For me this is primarily an opportunity to reduce waste during production and cut costs!