The EOSHD Interview - Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma and Takuma Wakamatsu, Sigma Fp Product Manager

[Andrew Reid]

I'd like to welcome Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma and the product manager of the Sigma Fp and Cinema lenses, Takuma Wakamatsu to the pages of EOSHD for this long interview!

I have recently been shooting with anamorphic with my Sigma Fp - the video you can see above is shot with the Rapido Technologies FVD-16A focus module housing a tiny Bolex Moller 8/19 anamorphic. I have more on this soon, as well as how ProRes RAW performs on the Sigma Fp attached to Atomos Ninja V.

Ever since the Sigma embarked on the high quality ART lenses the company's factory has output higher and higher quality products, even industry leading lenses in fact. Now the Sigma Fp marks their entry into filmmaking cameras too with internal 4K RAW recording, external ProRes RAW and even BRAW - as well as being the smallest interchangeable lens full frame camera available on the market.

Read the full interview:

https://www.eoshd.com/news/the-eoshd-interview-kazuto-yamaki-ceo-of-sigma-and-takuma-wakamatsu-sigma-fp-product-manager/

[Andrew Reid]

More to come from this beast!

 

[BTM_Pix]

Tripod eh?

You radical bastard 😉 

[Andrew Reid]

"The forgotten art of sticking it on a tripod" - BTM_Pix

[BTM_Pix]

What format did you shoot in ?

I did a 10 bit vs 8 bit comparison with mine a couple of weeks ago and to paraphrase Alan Partridge the 8 bit was certainly competitive.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Would love to see more compact FF lenses like the 45 f/2.8. Like a 24-105 f4 zoom more compact than the current ones.

[etudiant]

This is an excellent interview, the man clearly is on top of the issues and is dealing with both the technology as well as the business environment.

I thought his answer to the Olympus question was masterful, he ruled out nothing but highlighted his priority is his people.

It would be difficult to find a comparable performance by anyone from Nikon, Sony or Canon, they all all indians, not chiefs.

[cameraeye]

I think the fp is my next camera. Something truly flexible made for artists.

I really want an external prores raw camera too.

I’ve never used an L mount camera, how well does canon glass work on the fp? I know I can google but I prefer talking.

[PannySVHS]

Ah, beautiful video. The art of making the seemingly ordinary visible as something extraordinarily beautiful. The unprentious rhythm, the photographic gestalt. Well, fantastic. Thanks for going the extra mile! Schloss Charlottenburg! Some shots are breathtaking!

[Sid]

Mr. Yamaki is a really cool guy.  It would be great if the Foveon video camera were released even without a high iso.  Andrew, your video looks stunning to my eye.  🙂

[meudig]

Great interview! Very cool of them to participate. Although I am confused by the answer to the question about a cine range of the f/1.4 primes... Mr. Takuma must have been refering to PL-mount?

Sigma is doing great things.

[John Matthews]

I really liked reading this interview and I appreciated that he seemed rather honest and not BS you. He knows the limitations of his camera's sensor and he says it. He doesn't comment when he knows the answer might hurt the company's business... all normal responses from a company head.

I've been so close to getting their point and shoot Merrill series because they're so small with such great color and detail out of that Foveon sensor. Sure, batter life and workflow really killed these cameras, but man oh man the quality of the image is like no other. I really wish they could carry that over to video... wishful thinking maybe.

I really do believe that Sigma could kick some video butt due to their not having higher-end cameras to protect like Canon, Sony, and Panasonic.

[Video Hummus]

I loved the insight into the family business and it’s priorities. I know at the end of the day all corporations are there to make money but it’s refreshing to hear (and see in other interviews with Sigma) Sigma’s commitment to its employees’ wellbeing. I think in the “west” we totally disregarded workers health (physical, mental, spiritual) in the overall productivity of a company. The human factor should be on the spreadsheet too!

That being said. I like the concept of the Sigma fp. I think I’m going to wait for a mk2 of it before I would think about buying one and into the L-mount ecosystem as a whole. I think we will see a growing benefit to the L-Mount alliance as time goes on. Panasonic delivering the more traditional cameras, Sigma delivering on the more “risky” style designs and ideas, and of course Leica lending its name and boutique offerings. Sigma is a very important part of the Alliance imho.

I also think Sigma has a chance with a future Foveon sensor to take a stab at the cinema world with a cinema grade Foveon Cine camera that has that magic look! ISO performance isn’t a issue in the cinema world because they have the budge to control all aspects of the lighting. Would be really interesting!

[Sid]

For the Sigman current and previous Foveon cameras, does anyone have any thoughts about the quality of Quattro vs Merrill ?  Here is the article with the comparison (the Japanese woman's face).

An Ode to the Sigma Foveon Sensor

[newfoundmass]

I appreciated the cagey responses to some of these questions... Me thinks they've got some interesting things cooking!

[Kisaha]

Make Tripods Great Again!

[Tim Sewell]

Gotta say, @Andrew Reid, that is some of the best video of yours that I've seen you post since I've been following this site - it's lovely. That camera/lens combination obviously suits you very well.

[markr041]

On 9/4/2020 at 5:00 PM, cameraeye said:

I think the fp is my next camera. Something truly flexible made for artists.

I really want an external prores raw camera too.

I’ve never used an L mount camera, how well does canon glass work on the fp? I know I can google but I prefer talking.

I shoot with the fp almost exclusively wigh Canon lenses. All work fine (IS, AF), but some perform better than others - faster AF. Performance is similar on Canon bodies, except no AFC in video mode with the Sigma adapter. Ask me about specific Canon lenses, as I have a bunch, and I can tell you about my experience (I shoot only RAW video).

[Caleb Genheimer]

Man, great interview! It’s a major buzzkill that it will never do open gate video recording though. I don’t know how to push this on full-frame cameras, but as of now, only the S1H even utilizes the full sensor height in video, which makes the anamorphic shooter in me cringe to no end. That, and the GFX cams are obviously also a larger imaging area... but then those have even more sensor height they could be using, so.... yeah. A bit depressing.

[Andrew Reid]

I quite like the look of 1.5 Iscorama or Bolex in 16:9 so not a major dealbreaker for me. Heck, I even like the super-wide anamorphic look of 2x from 16:9!! 3.55:1! The more black bars the better!

Only Panasonic really recognise anamorphic shooters at the moment.

Not even Sony have an open gate mode on the A7S III.