Interview with Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma Corporation

Kazuto Yamaki
The new Sigma 135mm f/1.8

DPReview managed to interview Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma Corporation, at CP+ in Japan.

We all are obviously curious to learn about the latest lenses Sigma announced, especially about the 14mm f/1.8, a lens that once more shows the skills of Sigma’s engineers.

Some excerpts from the interview:

You’ve told me previously that you really want Sigma to make more wideangle lenses. Do you think you’re achieving that goal with the 12-24mm and new 14mm?

Yes, but I’m still not satisfied. I think we need to make more wide-angle lenses. A fast 14mm was one of the lenses that our customers were asking for. Most existing 14mm lenses are F2.8, so F1.8 was a challenge.

What have you learned, from making the Art series?

We’ve learned that some customers require exceptional lens performance. We believe that our mission is to make products that other manufacturers don’t have. If we just released similarly-specified lenses to existing models, we wouldn’t be contributing to the industry, or benefiting customers. So our Art series is meant to provide the best performance. Read the interview at DPReview.

You can get notified when the new Sigma lenses are availabe for pre-order.

Don McCullin about the consequence of truth (CPS interview)

don mccullin
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Canon Professional Network posted a short interview with living legend Don McCullin, world-renowned war photographer and pioneer in photojournalism.

Sir McCullin is now over 80 years old, and just recently was knighted by the Queen. It’s only since a few years that he embraced digital photography. Appearently, Canon managed to get Sir McCullin, well known for his critical position towards digital photography, to use and enjoy a [shoplink 2431]EOS 5D Mark III[/shoplink] (we reported here).

The interview is about McCullin’s work, a retrospective on his life and career, and features the presentation of McCullin’s latest book.

“I’m on the edge of the volcano. I’m standing on the precipice looking into the lava…” admits Don McCullin metaphorically, remarking on how he sees this latest chapter of an extraordinary life. A special three-volume retrospective of his work is due to be released soon. It’s taken two years to complete and, for McCullin, represents the very best of his photography. Called ‘Irreconcilable Truths’ the title is a nod to the soul-searching that went into the project as recollections of atrocities resurfaced in his darkroom as he reprinted many hundreds of images. It’s not been an easy journey, reliving some of those memories.

About the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Sir McCullin says:

“I just wished I had these Canons when I was a younger man,” [McCullin] reflects. “My life would have been far easier with a lot less stuff to carry.” He refers to the final section of his book and recent projects from India, Iraq and Syria that feature work taken digitally. “The sharpness cuts you like a knife,” he remarks. “It really is incredible, almost too real.”

Sir McCullin’s latest print work, Irreconcilable Truths, has a limited run of 1000 copies and consists of three books, presented in a hard clamshell case, comprise over 1300 pages of print and more than 700 of McCullin’s most iconic photographs and previously unpublished images.

Read the interview at CPS.

Get notified when the new Sigma lenses are available for pre-order

sigma

The four new lenses Sigma released last week are on many people’s wishlist. For the time being we do not know the price nor when shipping will start. All we know is that Sigma will disclose the prices by the end of March. These new, exciting lenses have been announced:

  • 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art – World’s first F1.8, ultra-wide, full-frame prime lens designed for high resolution cameras; ideal for shooting architecture, astrophotography, documentary and landscapes.
  • 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art – Formidable telephoto prime with high-speed aperture; ideal for shooting weddings, concerts, events and studio/location portraiture.
  • 24-70mm F2.8 DG HSM OS Art – Fast, constant-aperture zoom workhorse upgraded to the exacting standards of the high performance Sigma Art series.
  • 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG HSM OS Contemporary – Highly versatile, lightweight and compact super zoom touting strong IQ and image stabilization.

However, you can get notified as soon as the new Sigma lenses can be pre-ordered. Both B&H Photo and Adorama have such a notification system. Just head over and enter your email to get notified.

Sony announce world’s fastest SD card

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Sony Japan announced their new SF-G SD card series. The SDHC UHS-II cards has a reading speed of 300 MB/s and a writing speed of 299 MB/s. It will start shipping  on April 24. The 128GB card will cost 49,000 YEN (around $400), the 64GB card 25,000 YEN ($220) and the 32GB card 15,000 YEN ($130) [via Sony Alpha Rumors].

Sony press release after the break.

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Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review (top notch professional DSLR)

EOS 5D Mark IV
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Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: [shopcountry 40051]

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV at a glance:

  • 30.4MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 6+ Image Processor
  • 3.2″ 1.62m-Dot Touchscreen LCD Monitor
  • DCI 4K Video at 30 fps; 8.8MP Still Grab
  • 61-Point High Density Reticular AF
  • Native ISO 32000, Expanded to ISO 102400
  • Dual Pixel RAW; AF Area Select Button
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF and Movie Servo AF
  • 7 fps Shooting; CF & SD Card Slots
  • Built-In GPS and Wi-Fi with NFC

Imaging Resource posted their review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.

In the conclusion they write:

In our testing, the Canon 5D Mark IV performed as expected in the image quality department, with an overall superb showing, especially with RAW files. The 30MP images displayed lots of fine detail, but straight-from-camera JPEGs tended to be a little on the soft side, whereas RAW files could easily be developed to show greater detail. As we’ve seen with other Canon cameras, the 5D IV’s hue and overall color accuracy are top-notch, and its high ISO performance is also excellent, as we’d expect from a pro-class, full-frame DSLR. Compared to the earlier 5D Mark III, the Mark IV displays much better dynamic range, which is great to see — a welcome improvement for the landscape photographers out there.

There is much more information in the review.