Sigma Press Conference on February 27, but the Full-Frame Foveon Is on Hold for Now
While more well-known for their lenses (especially their renowned Global Vision series, encompassing Art, Sport, and Contemporary models), Sigma Corporation also has a strong history of innovation in the camera space as well.
The announcement that many people have been waiting for, ever since the L Mount Alliance was first made official back at Photokina 2018, may finally be upon us. Sigma noted at the time of the initial alliance announcement that a full-frame Foveon sensor camera was on the way, but it was expected in 2019. But instead, they released the Sigma fp, and pushed the Foveon camera back to 2020.
And while the events for this February 27 don’t explicitly say anything, a press release confirms that will not be a full-frame Foveon camera even in 2020.
“At Photokina in September 2018, SIGMA announced the development of an L-mount mirrorless camera equipped with a full-frame Foveon sensor.
Then, at CP+2019, we shared our plan to release the camera in 2020 and have worked diligently on the development to meet our commitment.
As a result of careful and rigorous testing based on the latest development information, however, it has become clear that the launch of such a camera would be infeasible within this year. Still, at this point, we cannot say for certain when the full-frame Foveon X3 sensor will be put into mass production.
In light of current development progress, we are not in a position to offer any specific release plan at present. We have therefore decided that we should start over the project with a clean slate, putting the production plan for this new camera back to the drawing board and going back to the development of sensor technologies.
Since the earlier announcements, your excitement with the launch of a “full-frame Foveon” has been a tremendous source of inspiration and encouragement for us. Everyone involved in the project has pulled out all the stops to make it a reality. I would like to express my deepest apologies for failing to meet your expectations and having to share this disappointing news.
I would like to emphasize that Foveon sensors are in a class of their own and that they are part of the identity of SIGMA cameras that embodies our ideals and philosophies. We are determined to continue dedicating ourselves to technology development to bring better image sensors to life.
I would like to once again express my sincerest gratitude to our valued customers for the strong support you have offered to us. On behalf of all SIGMA employees, I commit myself to you that we continue striving to live up to your expectations and prove that we are worthy of your trust.
I truly appreciate your patience and understanding.”
More info on Sigma’s website.