Sigma Corporation of America announces the passing of Michihiro Yamaki

Imaging manufacturer’s pioneering CEO, founder led company for more than 50 years

RONKONKOMA, NY, Jan. 27, 2012 – With great sadness, Sigma Corporation of America today announced the passing of Sigma Corporation’s founder and CEO Michihiro Yamaki. He died of liver cancer in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 18 at the age of 78.

“We are deeply saddened by this loss,” said Mark Amir-Hamzeh, president of Sigma Corporation of America. “Mr. Yamaki was an industry visionary, and his leadership and enthusiasm has been the driving force behind our company’s innovation for more than 50 years. We’re sending our deepest condolences to the Yamaki family, and our entire Sigma family around the world, during this very difficult time.”

Continue Reading »

Sigma SD1

If [...] you have a lot of money to spend then take a look at the Sigma SD1. The pictures are very good after all and ultimately that’s what’s important.

We’ve added another Sigma SD-1 [QuickPrice Check] review to our Reviews Matrix.

PhotographyBLOG has published their review of the Sigma SD1 with 15x3MP resolution (on a 23.5 x 15.7 mm Foveon X3 sensor), 11-point AF system with all twin cross-type sensors, Shutter Speed range of 1/8000th – 30 sec plus Bulb, Continuous Shooting 5fps, Optical viewfinder with 98% frame coverage, ISO range from 100-6400, 3.0-inch LCD Monitor (460k-dot). The Sigma SD1 features its own SA bayonet mount, is weather-resistant and has a solid magnesium-alloy body.

Read the Sigma SD1 Review @ PhotographyBLOG.

Continue Reading »

Sigma MACRO 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM

Sigma takes its exceptional 105mm macro lens to the next level with the addition of optical stabilization

TORONTO, ON., July 25, 2011 – Gentec International is pleased to announce the new Sigma MACRO 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM lens, a large aperture, medium telephoto lens offering advanced performance and featuring Sigma’s proprietary optical stabilizer (OS) system for handheld close-up photography. The new OS system adds greater versatility to this classic lens, which is ideally suited to portraiture and copy work, as well as extreme close-ups.

Focusing down to 1:1 magnification ratio at its closest working distance of 31.2 centimetres, this compact lens produces sharp, life size images of tiny subjects and details that often go unseen. A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) lens and one high refractive index SLD lens provide excellent correction for all types of aberration and distortion. A floating focusing system moves two different lens groups in the optical path to different positions, which compensates for astigmatic aberration and spherical aberration, and provides extremely high optical performance from infinity to 1:1 macro. The Super Multi-Layer Coating reduces flare and ghosting, providing high-contrast images.

Continue Reading »

Sigma SD1

I’ll simply conclude by saying that if the SD1 had been priced at about $2,000 I likely would have bought one. I find its image quality appealing, and though the last thing that I need is another camera and set of lenses, I find it capable of producing a look in prints that I really like. But unrealistically priced as it is, no sale.

We’ve added another Sigma SD-1 [QuickPrice Check] review to our Reviews Matrix.

Luminous Landscape has published their review of the Sigma SD1 with 15x3MP resolution (on a 23.5 x 15.7 mm Foveon X3 sensor), 11-point AF system with all twin cross-type sensors, Shutter Speed range of 1/8000th – 30 sec plus Bulb, Continuous Shooting 5fps, Optical viewfinder with 98% frame coverage, ISO range from 100-6400, 3.0-inch LCD Monitor (460k-dot). The Sigma SD1 features its own SA bayonet mount, is weather-resistant and has a solid magnesium-alloy body.

Read the Sigma SD1 review @ Luminous Landscape.

Continue Reading »

May 25, 2011

Nikon Corporation filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Japan

Nikon Corporation (KIMURA Makoto, President, Tokyo, hereafter referred to as “Nikon”) filed a patent infringement suit against Sigma Corporation (hereafter referred to as “Sigma”) to Tokyo District Court on May 25, 2011. Nikon’s lawsuit seeks an injunction against Sigma’s manufacture and sale of infringing interchangeable lenses with vibration reduction for single lens reflex cameras, along with damages for past infringement.

Nikon has invested considerable resources in the form of research and development over a period of many years. Such investments have created intellectual property that are important business assets of Nikon and have enabled Nikon to continuously provide the products and services that satisfy its customers requirements.

Although Nikon attempted to resolve Sigma’s patent infringement through negotiation, a non-adversarial resolution could not be reached. Consequently, Nikon concluded that filing a lawsuit was the only way it could protect its intellectual property.

Read it at: Nikon.

source theonlinephotographer

Sigma SD1

We’ve added another Sigma SD1 preview to our Reviews Matrix.

DPReview has published their hands-on preview of the Sigma SD1 with 15x3MP resolution (on a 23.5 x 15.7 mm Foveon X3 sensor), 11-point AF system with all twin cross-type sensors, Shutter Speed range of 1/8000th – 30 sec plus Bulb, Continuous Shooting 5fps, Optical viewfinder with 98% frame coverage, ISO range from 100-6400, 3.0-inch LCD Monitor (460k-dot). The Sigma SD1 features its own SA bayonet mount, is weather-resistant and has a solid magnesium-alloy body.

You can read the Sigma SD1 preview at: DPReview.

Continue Reading »

PRESS RELEASE

May 20, 2011

Sigma Corporation of America to ship SD1 camera in early June

46-megapixel DSLR creates new market for medium-format photographers

Ronkonkoma, NY, May 20, 2011 – Sigma Corporation of America, a leading researcher, developer, manufacturer and service provider of some of the world’s most impressive lines of lenses, cameras and flashes, is pleased to announce that its flagship DSLR, the Sigma SD1, will be available for purchase for the MSRP of $9,700 in early June.

Continue Reading »

From FStoppers

The pocket wizard allows you to control and fire your remote flash from a distance, up to 200 ft. Used with High Speed Sync (FP mode), this allows you to use a fast shutter speed on your camera in broad daylight and therefore open up the aperture for shallow depth of field — and beautiful out of focus background bokeh. The remore flash units fill in shadows on your subject for a perfect exposure.

In this video, the photographers took a different tack. Since they could not get their hands on a Sigma 200-500mm F2.8 lens but got the 800mm F5.6 lens instead, they relied on the long focal length to blur the background nicely. With such a long lens, the subject had to be quite a distance away but the pocket wizard units fired off the remote flash units perfectly, for the beautiful results you can see on the video.

Read the article at: FStoppers.