It appears that Sigma has been taking a look at the work Tamron is doing with its more affordable Sony E mount primes.
One thing is for sure; photographers who use Sony cameras are becoming spoiled rotten when it comes to the number of third party lenses that are available on the platform. Tamron has been releasing some cheaper options for the Sony faithful, and now it appears that Sigma wants a piece of that pie too. If new reports are to believed, we may see up to seven new smaller, lighter Sony E mount f1.8 primes in the near future. Let’s talk about this after the break.
For quite a while it seemed that Sigma was creating the largest lenses possible (have you seen the Sigma 40mm f1.4?), and while that is fine, these big, heavy, fast (and expensive) lenses are not everyone’s cup of tea. That’s right, some of us actually prefer smaller, lighter lenses that one, won’t give us a hernia, and two won’t make our wallets run away and hide, and it finally seems that Sigma has figured this out.
A recent report over on Sony Alpha Rumors (via Asobinet) shares some new patents that Sigma has filed for seven Sony E primes that should be much smaller, lighter, more manageable, and much more cost-effective. Hallelujah! The possible lenses include the following:
- 16mm F2
- 18mm F1.8
- 18mm F2.8
- 20mm F1.8
- 24mm F1.8
- 28mm F1.8
- 35mm F1.8
As of right now, there is no information on when (if ever) these lenses may go into production or see the light of day, but it is nice to know that Sigma has realized that there is a need for smaller lenses that are still decently fast on the Sony platform. As mentioned above, it’s more likely that Sigma has taken note of what Tamron is doing with their smaller Sony E mount primes (like the Tamron 24mm f2.8) and have realized that initial feedback from consumers and photographers alike has been positive.
These possible new Sony E mount primes will surely be firm favorites with everyone except those who demand crazy amounts of bokeh and who determine that f1.8 simply isn’t fast enough for what they do, but for hobbyists, semi-pro photographers and the like, these (hopefully) wallet-friendly lenses will be great, not to mention they will complement the smaller, lighter cameras that Sony puts out. What do you think of these potential new Sony E mount primes from Sigma? Let us know in the comment section below.