We chat to Sigma about their new lenses and future plans

Earlier today, WDC sat down with Kazuto Yamaki, Chief Operating Officer of Sigma Corporation and Graham Armitage, General Manager at Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd to talk over their new launches, future plans and much more.

The big news from Sigma at CES is the launch of their new Compact Systems Camera lenses for Micro FourThirds and Sony NEX mount cameras.

While there’s been a trend of seeing compact pancake prime lenses for Compact System Cameras, the two new Sigma lenses are larger than that. Sigma feels that the larger size is necessary to deliver the best image quality.

The lenses feature a Linear AF motor that moves the lens elements directly without the need for gears or the drive of other mechanical parts. This will deliver quieter and smoother AF we’re told.

At the moment, Sigma only plans Compact System Camera lenses for Micro FourThirds and Sony NEX mounts. They naturally want to extend the CSC range of lenses, but they wouldn’t say which focal lengths we’ll see next.

Also new was the 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS that delivers closer focusing than the previous model and a wider maximum aperture of f/2.8 compared to f/3.5. Sigma also claim improved Bokeh.

There was also news on the new 50-150mm f/2.8 OS that was announced last year. We’re still waiting for this lens to hit dealers shelves and we’re told that the wait won’t be much longer – hopefully March/April.