Sigma in 2024: The Year Sigma Cemented Itself Among the Photographic Elite

It has been a fantastic year for Sigma. While the company did not launch any new cameras, Sigma released six superb new lenses.

Where’s That Full-frame Foveon?

Before lauding Sigma’s 2024 lens lineup, we must address the elephant in the room. Sigma is not just a lens company, it is also a camera company. It can be easy to forget that, though, since Sigma’s last camera, the Sigma fp L, released in 2021, two years after the Sigma fp.

That’s a long time to go without releasing a new camera. In the intervening time, Sigma has been hard at work on a long-awaited full-frame Foveon image sensor. This project, which began back in 2016, has experienced a lot of turmoil. Sigma’s CEO Kazuto Yamaki told PetaPixel earlier this year that the full-frame Foveon camera remains in development, but is still at least “a few years away.”

Sigma will take a tiny hit for its lack of new cameras in 2024 (and 2023 and 2022, for that matter), but make no mistake, Sigma is still crushing it. The company is PetaPixel‘s Photo Company of the Year for 2024, after all.

Lenses Galore

Sigma wasted no time this year launching incredible new lenses. The company kicked off 2024 with a bang with the Sigma 15mm f/1.4 DG DN Art and 500mm f/5.6 DG DN Sports, each announced in February.

The 15mm f/1.4 DG DN Art, the world’s first diagonal fisheye lens for full-frame cameras with an f/1.4 aperture, made a strong impression.

Sporting an expansive 180-degree field of view perfect for capturing wide, sweeping vistas, the lens is an achievement in optical engineering. With 21 elements, including some exotic ones, arranged across 15 groups, Sigma’s optical engineers overlooked nothing. The lens is specifically designed to control sagittal coma flare, an essential consideration for astrophotographers. This is a tricky optical aberration to correct, and Sigma’s ability to do so is a testament to its talented team. The lens is available for E- and L-mount cameras.

As for the 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS Sports, it is a shockingly compact and lightweight 500mm telephoto prime lens with excellent optical performance. The lens made a strong push to be PetaPixel‘s Best Prime Lens of the year, finishing second behind the Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM II.

Sure, a max aperture of f/5.6 is not super fast. Still, the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 lens is very sharp, easy to handhold, and built to meet the demands of professional photographers. Available for E-mount and L-mount, it is a fantastic lens that fills a void in each system.

Just a month later, Sigma announced the 50mm f/1.2 Art lens for full-frame E- and L-mount mirrorless cameras. The lens is so good PetaPixel went so far as to say that the prime proves Sigma has mastered the art of lens making.

The lens is super-fast, remarkably compact and lightweight despite its f/1.2 aperture, and its optical performance is superb. The impressive lens finished third in PetaPixel annual awards, but could have easily won in a less busy year.

The good times keep rolling. In May, Sigma announced an updated version of its 24-70mm f/2.8 standard zoom, the 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art II. Lighter than its 2019 predecessor, the new version delivers faster autofocus, improved usability, and better image quality, all for an incredible $1,199 price. It is one of the best values in all of photography, and a genuinely excellent lens.

As much as any of Sigma’s new lenses this year, the 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art II shows photographers are not compromising when they opt for a Sigma lens, even when the lens is significantly more affordable than the “first-party” competition.

Sigma’s fifth lens of the year is the 28-45mm f/1.8 DG DN Art, the world’s first f/1.8 zoom lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras. While the company’s earlier lenses this year were mostly fresh takes on existing ideas, the 28-45mm f/1.8 is altogether new and unique. And shocker, it’s also great.

As PetaPixel‘s Jordan Drake can attest, it’s a great lens for video. But it’s no slouch for photography, either. Speaking of the lens’ cinematic qualities, Sigma is developing a cine version of the lens, which will be its first autofocus cinema lens.

Sigma’s final new lens of 2024 is the 28-105mm f/2.8 DG DN Art. It is a versatile lens that promises the utility of a 24-105mm-type lens and the fast f/2.8 aperture of a 24-70mm f/2.8.

By giving up just a little bit on the wide end, the 28-105mm f/2.8 is surprisingly compact and lightweight while delivering excellent performance across the board.

Grading Sigma in 2024

The Sigma 28-105mm f/2.8 DG DN Art took the silver in PetaPixel‘s Best Zoom Lens category, while the 28-45mm f/1.8 above earned the bronze. For those keeping score at home, Sigma won four of the six lens awards in 2024. That level of dominance is staggering, and a big reason why Sigma is PetaPixel‘s Photo Company of the Year.

For reference, the only Sigma lens that wasn’t in the running for an award was the 15mm f/1.4 DG DN Art, and there was undoubtedly contentious discussion about it not being nominated. The 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN II Art, the only other non-winning Sigma lens, didn’t miss medaling by much.

Beyond launching six all-new lenses in 2024, Sigma also announced that some of its older lenses are coming to Canon RF mount, including the 10-18mm f/2.8 DC DN and a quartet of prime lenses. While these won’t move the needle much for some photographers since they are APS-C lenses, they are vitally important for the Canon EOS R ecosystem, which is sorely lacking high-quality APS-C lenses.

In early April, Chris Niccolls said he would happily use only Sigma lenses, and that was before the company launched the 28-45mm, upgraded 24-70mm f/2.8, and 28-105mm lenses.

Sigma has had a strong reputation for a long time, but 2024 may be the year people look back on as the one that cemented the company as not just praiseworthy, but class-leading as a lens manufacturer. Sigma had an outstanding year, one of the best we’ve ever seen a company have. It is not easy to make a great lens, let alone six of them.

Here’s hoping the Foveon camera people have been clamoring for is just as good as the company’s glass. Although, even if it’s only half as good, that’d still be a hell of a camera.

Grade: A

Image credits: Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.