Already at the beginning of the year, the Sigma CEO said “if we want to master optics, we need to support Medium Format”
Well, the Sigma CEO has renewed his interest in making lenses for GFX, as you can read below.
Q: Have you guys considered making any optics for the Fuji GF system or like a larger sensor medium format system?
G: Okay, so a question about future roadmaps related to Fuji GFX systems.
K: Yes, I do personally. 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 like to challenge.
Nothing really new and basically just the same statement he made earlier. But readers asked me about again, so I thought it might be good thing to highlight that Sigma has interest in making such lenses.
And sure, I know he’s always emphasized that it’s just his personal opinion that they should make it. But some opinions carry more weight than others, and since he’s the head of Sigma, we can be pretty confident that he’ll strongly advocate for the development of GFX lenses.
Also, remember that the reason Sigma was hesitant to offer X-mount lenses (after Fujifilm lifted their restrictive policy on third-party support) was due to the need for a larger market share in the Fujifilm X system. Sigma isn’t going to invest R&D in making lenses for systems that don’t promise a return on investment. So the fact that Sigma’s CEO is now advocating for G-mount lenses could indicate that the GFX market share has grown large enough to be appealing for Sigma.
You can read the full Q&A and interview at the Sigma Blog here.