The world of digital cameras certainly needs a shake-up. I can’t be the only one bored by a constant procession of incrementally improved generic camera designs. Where you have to drill down through the specs to see what’s new, compare it against its rivals, make some reasoned observations about its suitability for this, for that… it is such a BORE. Photographers need inspiration, not battles over bullet points. The question is, whether the Sigma BF is the camera to do it.
It does look amazing – though we might not all agree on what ‘amazing’ actually is. Let’s just say it looks extremely ‘different’. It reminds me of the Hasselblad X1D/X2D and its minimalist brushed aluminium aesthetic (which I love, by the way).
The Sigma BF is likely to polarize opinion like few other cameras. On a practical level, it doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. Photographers focused on features, value and conformity are probably going to hate it, or at least see it as a pointless stylistic exercise that will only appeal to hipsters, not ‘real’ photographers.
So what do you actually get? The Sigma BF is machined from a single block of aluminium, for a start. It also has a physical interface that’s stripped down to the bare bones – but still offers direct access to key photographic settings. There’s no viewfinder, though, and even though Sigma says the 300g body has been designed to balance with a wide range of lenses, that remains to be seen. Sigma is, however, releasing 9 silver lenses to match the silver edition of this camera.
Inside there’s a 24MP full frame sensor with 6K video capture – but there’s no IBIS and there’s not even a memory card slot. Instead, the BF has 230GB internal storage and image and video content is transferred via USB.
I am hoping SO much that I’m commissioned to review this camera because I can’t wait to try it. I’m not expecting any special image quality magic – why should I? – but I am expecting a completely different shooting experience, and after years of reviewing mostly incrementally updated and increasingly indistinguishable cameras, I feel I need it.
Photography isn’t simply a technical exercise. If it was, we wouldn’t have the enduring Leica M-series rangefinders, the beautiful Hasselblad X1D/X2D wouldn’t exist, and the retro craze currently sweeping the market would never have happened. People engage with the tools they use on a much deeper, more emotional level than we think.
The Sigma BF will be available from April 2025 in black or silver and will cost $1,999/£1,699 body only. That’s actually not bad for a full frame L-mount camera made to this standard. You can find out more about the Sigma BF on the Sigma website.