Sigma Should Make an L-Mount APS-C Camera (And Probably Will)
Sigma has not released a new camera since 2021 and doesn’t currently have an APS-C camera, otherwise known as a crop sensor, in its lineup. In fact, it hasn’t made one since the sd Quattro in 2016. That should change, and I believe it’s about to.
As part of its promotion for the new 10-18mm f/2.8 DC DN lens, Sigma published a few photos of possible use cases for the compact lens and while sitting together looking over our social media feeds, Jordan Drake (our YouTube director) and I couldn’t help but notice that Sigma didn’t show the lens on any currently available camera. No, instead the company chose to mount it on a strange, gray block.
A block that just happens to follow the general design aesthetic of the company’s most recent cameras, the fp L, but devoid of any distinguishing features.
This is an unusual move for Sigma. In the past, it has either not shown a camera at all in similar promotions or has shown a lens attached to a known camera like a Sigma fp or a Sony Alpha-series. Are we grasping at straws? Maybe. But a new Sigma APS-C camera would make sense.
For starters, Sigma now has a lovely line of mirrorless APS-C lenses that cover a pretty fantastic range. For primes, it has a 16mm f/1.4, a 23mm f/1.4, a 30mm f/1.4, and a 56mm f/1.4. For zooms, it added the new 10-18mm f/2.8 to its existing 18-50mm f/2.8, giving users an effective 10mm to 50mm (equivalent to a full-frame camera range of 15-75mm) with a constant f/2.8 aperture across two lenses.
But perhaps more important is that L-mount has not seen an APS-C camera in quite some time. The last one was the Leica CL from 2017; it remains the only L-mount APS-C camera that Leica lists on its website. But don’t be fooled, it’s not available brand-new anymore and was discontinued a while back.
The L-mount, which now boasts eight brands behind it, has no APS-C stills-focused camera at all. I also want to mention that all those aforementioned APS-C Sigma lenses are available to purchase right now in L-mount. That, to me, is additionally telling. Even though it’s probably not that costly to make lenses in multiple mounts, it isn’t free. Either Sigma thinks there’s an existing market for APS-C lenses in L-Mount — I don’t know what that market is — or it thinks there will be a market. I’m inclined to think the latter.
Seriously, why does this exist?
I don’t know if Sigma is actually building a new APS-C camera to fill this gap, but the thought that it might is compelling. Yes, Sigma has a bit of an odd history in cameras — I argue it has never made a “normal” camera in the entire history of the company — but there is a spot it could fill if it played its cards right.
I not only think Sigma should, I think it will.
This story is part of PetaPixel’s weekly newsletter Clipped Highlights.
What is Clipped Highlights?
Clipped Highlights is a free, curated, weekly newsletter that will be sent out every Wednesday morning and will focus on a few of the most important stories of the previous week and explain why they deserve your attention. This newsletter is different from our daily news brief in that it provides unique insights that can only be found in Clipped Highlights.
In addition to unique takes on the biggest stories in photography, art, and technology, Clipped Highlights will also serve to feature at least one photo series or art project that we think is worth your time to check out. So often in the technology and imaging space we focus on the how and not the what. We think that it’s just as important, if not more so, to look at the art created by photographers around the world as it is to celebrate the new technologies that makes that artwork possible.
If this kind of content sounds like something you’re interested in, we encourage you to subscribe to the free Clipped Highlights newsletter today. You can read this week’s edition right here, no subscription necessary, to make sure it’s something you want in your inbox.
We’ll also make sure to share each edition of Clipped Highlights here on PetaPixel so if you aren’t a fan of email, you won’t be forced to miss out on the weekly newsletter.
Image credits: Sigma
