To Understand Sigma’s Success Is to Understand CEO Kazuto Yamaki

In a one-on-one interview, I learned why Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki is so passionate and driven for the success of his family business.

Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki is impeccably dressed, often smiling, and thoughtful. His story, though, is extraordinary. Kazuto Yamaki’s approach and leadership are wholly unique in the corporate space. Recently, I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Yamaki-san and learning from him where he gets this drive, his philosophy as CEO, and his vision for Sigma’s future.

Delightfully Down-to-Earth

Working with brands as a journalist is often cut and dry. We usually receive information about the latest products and write about the significant bits. However, every once in a while we get to go to events, some of which are huge conventions like CP+, NAB, WPPI, and Imaging USA, while others are smaller and more intimate soirees.

Recently, I was invited to visit Sigma’s Pop-Up Space in New York City. The event celebrates Sigma’s rebrand, as well as the launch of the BF camera and 300-600mm f/4 lens. As a nature photographer, I was most excited about trying out that super-telephoto lens with an f/4 aperture.

I didn’t expect to receive an email that week from Sigma inviting me to interview CEO Kazuto Yamaki one-on-one.

This is the kind of thing that doesn’t happen. I can tell you how delightfully unusual it was. As I walked down Spring Street in New York City’s NoLita (north of Little Italy) neighborhood towards the pop-up space, I immediately noticed a well-dressed figure in the distance. I recognized him immediately from watching interviews online, particularly the recent one by our own PetaPixel‘s Chris Niccolls.

Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki was standing on the crowded corner across the street, with BF camera in his eye, like any other street photographer. He stood there taking pictures as the cacophony of New Yorkers passed by him in waves.

Sigma NYC Pop-Up Space

The Pop-Up Space, freshly painted and decorated with Sigma’s new branding, was brightly lit with huge windows. With one more look back towards Yamaki-san, I entered the building to introduce myself to the staff.

Sigma Public Relations Manager Jack Howard was there. We had corresponded for years due to me reviewing Sigma gear, but it was my first time meeting Jack in person. Knowing it was the scheduled time for my interview with Kazuto Yamaki, he looked around for him, then exclaimed, “Oh, he’s still outside taking pictures.” I grinned and replied, “Let’s let him keep doing that, and you can show me the gear first.”

Outside the big windows, I could still see Yamaki-san enjoying photographing the city with the golden hour light casting down the busy street.

Jack let me borrow a 300-600mm to use on my Sony a7R IV, which I took just around the corner to a small community park to see how it performed. It was sharp and well-balanced, and hopefully, I will get the chance to try it on a real wildlife adventure. The f/4 on a 600mm is quite tempting for a wildlife photographer such as myself.

Next, I tried out the BF camera, a streamlined device whose name means Beautiful Foolishness from the Japanese book “The Book of Tea” by Okakura Tenshin, referencing the simple pleasures of life and the Japanese tea ceremony. All of the display BF cameras were tethered. However, the president of Sigma Corporation of America, Mark Amir-Hamzeh, handed me his personal camera to try outside in the nice light. I carefully tested it to get a hands-on feel for the new sleek device.

The BF camera uses internal memory rather than memory cards, so I didn’t get to keep the resulting photos. It still gave me a feel for how easy to use and fun the camera is, though. Walking around the city with it seemed like the perfect way to use it.

As the light began to wane, it was time for my interview, and Jack formally introduced me to Yamaki-san. We sat on the cushions by the big front windows, discussing the latest gear, the rebrand, and Yamaki-san’s plan for Sigma moving forward.

Origins

To understand Sigma and to understand Kazuto Yamaki is one and the same.

Sigma was founded by Kazuto Yamaki’s father, Michihiro Yamaki, in 1961. When Kazuto Yamaki was born on March 22, 1968, Sigma’s head office was in a suburb of Tokyo. The Yamaki family home was literally located on top of the office building, with the factory on the ground floor. So, as Kazuto Yamaki explains, “I knew the company from zero age. My life was always with Sigma and with the employees of Sigma.”

From a young age, Kazuto Yamaki’s father, Michihiro, instilled in him the importance of their responsibility in leading Sigma, a family-owned company that is still private and independent to this day.

Back in June 2024, Yamaki-san gave more details about the company’s start in a talk with Sigma Ambassador and Local 600 Director of Photography, Graham Sheldon.

“My father worked in a very small optics company after he graduated university. But this company bankrupted because the owner of the company disappeared one day with company money, with his girlfriend, his mistress. So, my father had to close down the office, but the small company had big suppliers. So, the owner of the suppliers asked my father to continue the business. That’s why he decided to start the company.”

“The name Sigma means a summation. So, it means a summation of people with power, people with knowledge, people with experience; but I guess he named the company Sigma because he wanted to appreciate that teamwork, the people’s power, that’s why he decided to name it summation. And since the beginning, Sigma has been making photo equipment — lenses and cameras, and also flashes.”

Then, in a December 2024 interview with Tim Berry of Sigma UK, Kazuto Yamaki opened up about what it was like growing up living above the Sigma factory and his father’s work ethic.

“When I was seven or eight years old, probably the number of employees was 100 or something.” He said, “My father always told me to study hard and become a proper president of the company and take over the business.”

“He explained that his father described how having one hundred employees is so much more than a hundred people. Those hundred are taking care of their family members so a proper president is not just taking care of those employees, but all of their family members as well.

“He was always patting my shoulder and said that you have a responsibility of 400 people and you have to study hard and work hard to become an excellent CEO. That’s what I remember.

“So, my father was a really poor photographer, but he loved photography. And he always told me to take over the business because photography is a wonderful business, because people take photos when they are happy. So, the photo business is about happy business. So, he always asked me to take over the business — it’s really nice business — and I’ve tried to take over his philosophy.”

Like his father, Kazuto Yamaki also described himself as a “poor photographer” who loves photography. In true Japanese fashion, he is humble. However, his thoughtfulness, direction, and vision are far from poor.

Duality

There is a duality for Yamaki-san between being the CEO of an international company and being a photographer running a family business who loves what he does. In speaking with him one-on-one, I noticed that there are moments when Yamaki-san speaks business, and you can see the serious side, an accomplished businessman in “on” mode, and then the contrast, when he lights up and you see his personality and warmth.

For those unable to attend a Sigma event, to see that duality and his personality for oneself, are his interviews online. In a 2022 sit-down with Johnnie of CineD, Yamaki-san shared that he doesn’t have an office at their new headquarters, instead he prefers to be amongst the workers to learn and collaborate. When asked if he had an office, he lit up.

“No, no, no, no, no,” he replied, laughing. “That’s actually the lowest priority, or I never thought of it. Because I’m very happy to share the space with our engineers, or our staff. First of all that’s my pleasure, I really want to work with our staff or engineers. Second, I really need to be educated or learn, I really need to learn from our engineers. Otherwise I can’t, you know, can’t come up with new ideas. I don’t have my own office. I have a desk on the same floor as our engineers work.”

His warmth and care were further displayed when asked about other new aspects of the headquarters, including building a kitchen to provide food for the workers.

“Many of our engineers are young, and some employees may not be good at cooking by himself. So they may purchase the cooked food or maybe bento box at a convenience store which is not good for their health. Of course, it’s very delicious so it’s good to have such kind of stuff sometimes, but not for every day. So preparing the warm, healthy, good food for lunch I think it’s very important for their own life and also for their excellent work.”

In discussing the renovation of their new headquarters, particularly when discussing the extensive multi-story library that was built and houses thousands of photo books, Yamaki-san shared its importance to him and the company.

“Our cameras and lenses are used to take photos or images or footage. So our industry is basically supported by the imaging culture. So without the knowledge about photo culture or imaging culture or film culture or without the respect to that culture, I don’t think we can do an excellent job. So even engineers, they need to know the photo culture for imaging culture and have some kind of respect to the culture. And I think this leads to the respect to the artists like photographers or cinematographers who are dedicated to creating such content.”

Kazuto Yamaki’s Vision

With strong roots both from his father starting Sigma, to his Japanese heritage and honorable principles, Yamaki-san straddles the line between old and new. However his philosophy and values have a down-to-earth approach.

When I asked him about the rebrand and the future of Sigma, Yamaki-san opened up. He shared that after COVID and with the current industry turning towards artificial intelligence, camera and film manufacturers are in a precarious position. Above all, he wants to create the highest quality optical equipment possible while embracing new technology. Therefore, to him, the rebrand was an essential part of taking the next step towards the future while also respecting their identity and roots. He shared with me his vision for the future and how it’s already in motion.

“I see everything that is happening in the industry, especially artificial intelligence and I want to ensure Sigma’s future. That’s why the rebrand is so important. I’m very committed to the future, new ideas, and I listen to the needs of photographers, and filmmakers.”

“For example, with the new 300-600mm lens the coloring of it matching our new branding is just a coincidence. We received feedback from photographers who use these lenses outdoors, wildlife and sports photographers in particular, and heat is a concern, so we designed the lens’ exterior thermal paint to address those concerns.”

The vision is to create the highest quality optics that solve problems and fill gaps in the industry, with respect to the imaging culture and an eye for ever-changing technologies.

I asked Yamaki-san if there was anything that he could share with us regarding what’s next for Sigma.

“With the new BF camera we have gotten such a positive response, excitement, it’s a camera for everyone, with its intentionally sleek, simple design, to just pick up and create. Then the 300-600mm lens, yes it is for anyone too, but especially an active photographer like wildlife or sports, we have both high-end professionals and the everyday creator in mind.”

Moving Forward in a Competitive Space

In looking at what’s next for Sigma, the trajectory and framework are laid out. Since he became CEO in 2012, Kazuto Yamaki introduced the global vision line of lenses. These are the lenses with monikers Art, Contemporary, and Sports, each tuned towards a different style. It was a direction that further niched the equipment towards quality optics suited specifically for various genres in the photography space. This contrasts other companies offering more budget minded all-in-one lenses that put price ahead of optical performance.

Now, there are many new things happening with Sigma that seem all at once. However, these new developments appear to be a foundation for Sigma’s latest chapter: the 2022 opening of the new headquarters building in Kanagawa, a long list of new and upgraded lenses, a huge jump re-entering the body space with the BF camera, and then the super telephoto 300-600mm f/4 lens poised to disrupt a corner of the professional wildlife and sports market.

Looking back over the years, many previous super telephoto lenses by Sigma were nicknamed “Bigma” by photographers because they would cover a wide focal range and often, therefore, not have a static aperture. With the 300-600mm f/4, Sigma is making a statement. They have hit the high-end optical market for super telephotos and come in at half the price of other f/4 lenses at the 600mm focal range for Sony E-mount cameras.

The rebrand and latest gear alongside it show both Yamaki’s commitment as CEO but also Sigma as a whole to elevate itself into a higher-end space beyond just another third-party manufacturer of lenses, especially when many other companies overseas are entering the scene to offer more budget options. Rather than seeing them as competition, Yamaki-san shared with me how he sees other lens companies as contemporaries filling a different role than he hopes for Sigma.

In addition to touching on this mindset in our one-on-one, he also explained it in greater detail to Sigma Ambassador Graham Sheldon at the Sigma Open House interview in 2024.

“Actually, I’m very impressed by such emerging brands. I believe they are doing quite well, a good job to provide the right gear for the customers at the right price. So I really respect the environment. But Sigma always, as I said, always works very hard to provide the best quality products for customers. I like that customers trust our products 100%. And we will work very hard to satisfy customers’ demand.”

This is why Sigma keeps their manufacturing facilities under one roof in Aizu, Japan.

“Making lenses is becoming more and more complicated, and becoming really, really difficult, as the pixel count of [digital] camera and film camera are going up. So from a customer’s point of view, it’s easy to tell the difference of the lens performance. So, it’s getting more and more complicated and difficult to make a really high-quality lens.”

“Having one facility and making all the lens parts in one location makes it easy to make consistent, quality products. If we buy cheaper parts from everywhere in the world, it should be very, very difficult. Honestly, I don’t know how we could do it. But, we polish every glass at our factory, we machine all parts at our factory, so we can make very consistent, high-quality camera lenses.”

“So, from the customer side, you can expect very consistent-quality products, even if you grab our lenses randomly, you can expect very consistent quality, and also color — you can expect very consistent color matching from each lens.”

“Our company newsletter has a tagline which says ‘Sigma: The Innovative Company,’ so we always challenge ourselves to become an innovative company. So, for us or for me at least, respect the tradition and try to do something new, to become innovative. It means the same thing.”

A Great Responsibility

After talking with the CEO at the pop-up, I truly felt that he cared about his workers as individuals, the company’s future, and the legacy of his family and running Sigma. I thanked him for the interview and went to mingle around the room. However, as it grew dark outside, the CEO was still in the crowded space, at home, hanging out with Sigma workers and attendees alike, fully engaged in conversation. If you didn’t know who he was, you would never expect it.

As the saying goes, “If you didn’t know you wouldn’t know,” Sigma is an independent family-run business, and behind the helm is a man who grew up living above the factory amongst the workers, wants to take care of those workers as if they are extended family members, and who truly desires to create the best products for his customers.

“I’m the CEO of the company, so I have a great responsibility for the growth of the company, the turnover, the profit. But also, as the owner of the company, I have a responsibility for the people in the company. I have to make sure everybody in the company is happy. Everybody has to feel comfortable in the company, everybody [has to feel] motivated, and respectful of each other, and they can learn from each other. I need to provide such a working environment for all employees. So company culture is really, really important to provide a really nice company working environment. So, I pay very great attention to make a good corporate culture, but to be honest, I really believe I’m very fortunate to have wonderful people in the company; they are so nice, and very cooperative — they are helping each other and teaching each other, and they are the people who create the company culture. And so I appreciate that.”

“My vision for the company’s future is to become the number one optics brand or ‘master of optics.’ In order to become such a premium brand, we need to make such really, really good lenses for that format. So, I would take the challenge.”

Photographers can visit Sigma’s NYC Pop-Up Space until Saturday, March 29. It runs daily from 10 AM to 6 PM, except for the final day, which is from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Across the country, the Sigma Burbank showroom, 148 S Victory Blvd, Burbank, California, is offering first-come, first-serve appointments to try out the Sigma BF, the updated I Series lenses, and the still and Cine product lines. Additionally, Sigma Reps will have several events in camera stores around the United States now through the end of April.

Image credits: Photographs by Kate Garibaldi, Sigma.