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Sigma’s 60-megapixel full-frame Foveon sensor camera might never appear

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Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has posted an update on the progress of their long-awaited full-frame Foveon camera, first announced during the initial L mount alliance announcement at Photokina in September 2018. It had an initial release date of 2019, which was then pushed back to 2020 in March 2019. In February 2020 it was announced that it was on hold indefinitely, but that they’re working on it.

Later that same year, Sigma confirmed that they’re still working on it, but they still have no idea when it would be ready for prime time, which was then confirmed again in February 2021 with a “maybe 2022” release turning into “at least 2022”. Now, the new update suggests that a full-frame Foveon camera may never come at all if they can’t find a company to manufacture the sensor to their satisfaction.

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How to make Foveon sensor-like images with a traditional Bayer sensor array camera

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You can achieve Foveon-like images with deep colors and crisp individual pixels with your conventional (Bayer) camera. However, this comes at the price of losing 75% of your megapixels and having to work experimentally and outside the comfort zone of your camera manufacturer’s color science.

Owners of Foveon and 3-chip video cameras swear by their camera’s color reproduction, and for good reason. Other, conventional digital camera sensors can’t see true colors, but only record monochrome red, blue, and green pixels. In other words, a 24-megapixel camera with a conventional (Bayer) sensor doesn’t really record 24 million color pixels, but 6 million monochrome red, 6 million monochrome blue and 12 million monochrome green pixels.

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Sigma looking to make RF and Z mount lenses – Full Frame Foveon may not come until 2023

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DPReview recently had a chance to have a video call and a bit of a chat with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki. In the interview, a number of topics are touched on, including Mr Yamaki’s vision for the future of the company, compatibility with mirrorless camera systems other than L and E mount, and various other things.

One thing briefly spoken about was what’s happening with the long-awaited full-frame Foveon mirrorless camera, initially announced in 2018 and put on indefinite hold in 2020. In March last year, Sigma aiming for a Summer 2021 release, but now a launch might be as late as 2023… But they’re working on it.

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Sigma’s full-frame Foveon still far from ready, but “we’re still working on it” says Sigma

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It’s been a long, strange trip for Sigma’s Foveon X3 sensor since the L mount alliance was announced in 2018. During that announcement, Sigma said they were working on a new full-frame Foveon L mount camera to come in 2019. Then in March 2019, its release got pushed to 2020. But in February 2020, Sigma announced that they were starting over from scratch.

Now, in February 2021, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has posted a video to YouTube retelling last year’s story and the decision to terminate the contract with the original chip manufacture with whom they were collaborating. But today’s announcement reaffirms the company’s commitment to releasing a full-frame Foveon L mount camera… Eventually.

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Sigma still has no idea when they’ll release a full-frame Foveon camera

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Recently, rumours broke that Panasonic was considering an APS-C L mount camera. At the time it was also reported that Sigma apparently isn’t happy with the progress of L mount, urging Panasonic to focus more on the system. Jokingly, I suggested that Sigma should listen to their own advice and give us that full-frame Foveon we’ve been promised for two years.

Well, in a recently published interview with Dave Etchells at Imaging Resource, Sigma said they have no idea when they’ll actually be able to release a full-frame Foveon. At least, that was the story in March when Dave went to visit them, but followup questions six months later don’t indicate that anything’s changed for the better.

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You can remove the IR cut filter on Sigma Foveon cameras – it’s fun!

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While Sigma is known as a lens company, most people don’t know they also make cameras.  That was until the Sigma released the “fp“.   The world’s smallest full-frame camera that can shoot 4k DNG raw hit the market.

Sigma has been making cameras for many years though. Not only they use a unique Foveon sensor, but most of their cameras also feature a user-removable IR-cut filter.

Now, shooting Infrared isn’t new – People have been doing it for years!  While most cameras can’t shoot infrared there are companies who will remove/modify the IR-cut filter from your camera.

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Sigma aiming to launch full-frame L Mount Foveon camera in Summer 2021 (but it might be 2022)

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Sigma’s full-frame Foveon camera is starting to feel a little like the Duke Nukem Forever of the photography world. Sigma shooters have been wanting one for years, and when the L Mount Alliance was announced at Photokina 2018, the world was told to expect one in 2019. 2019 came and went with the promise of a 2020 release.

Just last month, we were told that full-frame Foveon would not be coming in 2020. Now, though, according to an interview by French photography website, Phototrend, with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki, Sigma’s aim is to release it in Summer 2021. Although, they report that it may still be delayed until 2022.

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Nope, never mind, full-frame Foveon release on hold indefinitely, says Sigma, but they’re working on it

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Well, this is a bit of an anti-climax. Sigma UK recently added an event to their Facebook page for their CP+ announcements, with a couple of clues suggesting that we might be about to finally hear an announcement about the long-awaited full-frame Foveon. Today, though, Sigma Global has announced that a full-frame Foveon camera is essentially on hold indefinitely.

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Sigma’s full-frame Foveon L mount camera may be announced on February 27th

The announcement that many people have been waiting for, ever since the L Mount Alliance was first made official back at Photokina 2018, may finally be upon us. Sigma noted at the time of the initial alliance announcement that a full-frame Foveon sensor camera was on the way, but it was expected in 2019. But instead, they released the Sigma fp, and pushed the Foveon camera back to 2020.

Now, though, Sigma Imaging UK has posted up a “Sigma News from CP Plus 2020“ event on their Facebook page, which suggests that a big announcement is on the way. Sure, we might hear about some lenses, but it also suggests that the full-frame Foveon L mount camera may be on its way before the end of the month.

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Sigma CEO: we will make smaller lenses, but bigger cameras

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Over at Saloon De La Photo in Paris, Sigma held a quick Q&A session with Mr. Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma. There is a wonky angle capture of this talk, if you want to see the entire thing (starts about  40 minutes into the video). It is a long session, with many interesting questions, but photographer Paul Monaghan took a few key notes from this session and allowed us to share them.

The first take is that the new up-coming full-frame Foveon will not be in the FP format:

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