Follow Sigma announcement LIVE!
Sigma is just about to take to the stage with a 'New Products Presentation' – watch and follow along with us LIVE
See our full news report on the Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens launch, and read our full Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art review
Less than 10 minutes to go, and I've been looking at the comments on the YouTube page for the presentation, and everyone is pitching in with what they hope Mr Yamaki will launch this time…
• Someone is asking for a Sigma 70-200mm f/4. That's certainly been a popular, portable telephoto lens in Canon's line-up (and also done by Nikon and Panasonic).
Okay, the beautiful Sigma corporate video that we have seen before is playing... so we must be getting close to the show starting.
We are off.
Sigma 14mm F1.4 DG DN is the big news - and will be available for Sony E and Panasonic/Leica/Sigma L-mount.
Yamaki talks about Sigma's heritage in wide-angle lens innovation - including the Art 20mm f/1.4 and 14mm f/1.8 Art lenses.
So this will be the sixth f/1.4 DG DN Art lens for mirrorless full-frame cameras
The new lens is the same size and weight as the existing 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM lens
Here are the dimensions and weight of the lens, compared with the f/1.8 version…
The optical construction (see in diagram below) includes one SLD (special low-dispersion), three FLD (fluorite low-dispersion), and four aspherical elements…
The 14mm f/1.4 will be really popular for astrophotographers (and landscape photographers). The wide maximum aperture gives you much better scope for shooting the Milky Way in your panoramic shots, for instance - allowing you to use a slower ISO than with the f/1.8 lens.
Ghosting can be a particular problem with extreme wide lenses, we are told, as the sun is more likely to be in shot. So the designers paid particularly attention to this issue.
There is a rear filter compartment, and and MFL switch. And there is a new actuator to ensure that focus breathing is not an issue. And there is a detachable tripod collar bundled with the lens - which will be very welcome.
There is a newly designed lens cap too!
This includes slots for spare gel filters - which sounds like a great idea, as these acetate sheets are hard to keep to hand when shooting in the field.
The new Sigma 14mm F1.4 DG DN will cost $1599 or £1399 and will be on sale June 23 - so not long to wait!
That's a wrap - so just the one lens today. But a groundbreaking one - and particularly so for Sony full-frame mirrorless and L-mount camera users.
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