History of the Sigma Lens
Since its founding in 1961, Japan's Sigma Corporation has been a pioneer in aftermarket lenses and accessories for photographers. Set up as a major competitor to the giants of Canon and Nikon, Sigma produces lenses that are compatible with other companies' cameras, but are generally less expensive than those companies' lenses, making Sigma photographic solutions a mainstay in the photographic marketplace.
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History
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Sigma Research Center was founded in 1961 in Setagaya-ku, Japan, to produce camera accessories for major camera brands as well as for the company's own line of camera equipment. By 1968, Sigma Research Center had gone public on the Japanese stock market and by late 1970 the Sigma Research Center became Sigma Corporation.
Since 1973, the company has produced all of its products at its own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan. The company continued to expand and in 1979 founded Sigma Germany to bring Sigma products to Europe. Since then, Sigma has founded subsidiaries in France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Hong Kong.
Significance
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As Sigma Corporation literature details, Sigma is the Greek letter equivalent of our modern S. This character is a sign in mathematics meaning the total sum of an equation. Following this model, Sigma has created quality products that work on a number of other manufacturers' cameras including Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Konica Minolta, Olympus, and several others.
Often times a Sigma lens will be bundled with a more expensive camera body to lower the overall price of the complete product. Many manufacturers claim that Sigma's quality control is lacking, which affects the quality of the optics. In truth a lot of Sigma products are identical to the actual manufacturer's body and lens kit, lacking only a few proprietary features. However, as Sigma continues to experiment, the company has been able to make auto-focus lenses for most modern mounts so that there are few things that a Sigma lens cannot accomplish.
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Potential
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In recent years Sigma has developed its own line of digital SLRs and digital point-and-shoot cameras using the Foveon X3 Sensor. With their digital Point-and-Shoot cameras utilizing the same image sensor as their SLRs, the company manufacturers an excellent day-to-day product compared to some of its competitors. With a more competitive digital market, Sigma still manages to produce low-cost versions of major manufacturer lenses that are on par if not better than many competitor products. The company continues to be innovative and maintain its line of almost 50 different high quality lens products for the everyday photographer.
Size
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In addition to expanding its global presence, Sigma Corporation has acquired multiple optics and image processor companies over time and integrated the production to reduce product costs. Although the company's size has scaled down in recent years, its global footprint and lower product cost has enabled the company to remain competitive in the saturated optics market.
Misconceptions
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Photographers typically form brand loyalty to original equipment manufacturers like Canon or Nikon, and some claim that Sigma Corporation simply does not produce the quality of those companies. Still, its lenses continually garnish excellent reviews from photography magazines (like the UK's Royal Photographic Society Journal) and blogs worldwide. With the release of its DP2 Digital Camera, Sigma has stepped into the camera market and is attempting to outpace its competitors and prove that the company still has a place in the world of photography.
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