Sigma is working on a unique telephoto lens that has "never existed before"

Wide-ranging interview with Sigma CEO finishes with new lens teaser
The upcoming product is a “telephoto lens that has never existed before”
We don’t know what the lens is yet, or when it is coming

“Could you give us a teaser for something that’s coming?” asks Sigma UK executive Tim Berry at the end of a wide-ranging 30-minute interview with Sigma’s CEO, Kazuto Yamaki, shared on Sigma’s YouTube channel (watch below). Kazuto drops a suitably vague but nonetheless exciting teaser – “one of the products that excites me a lot is a telephoto lens that has never existed before”.

We don’t know when the new lens will be officially revealed, but the family-owned lens specialist’s video is enough to get any sports and wildlife photographer excited – Sigma is considered to be the leading third-party lens maker for Sony mirrorless cameras and others, delivering superb quality lenses for around half the price of proprietary optics.

Kazuto’s comment is certainly enough to get my brain ticking about what this new lens could be. In June 2024, Sigma released the world’s first F1.8 zoom lens, and later a do-it-all 28-105mm F2.8 for Sony and Panasonic cameras. It’s no stranger to lens innovation, so what can we reasonably expect a completely new and unique Sigma telephoto lens to be?

SIGMA CEO Kazuto Yamaki teases a new SIGMA lens and talks photography, music and design. – YouTube

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The likely Sigma telephoto contenders

There’s a trend for making smaller and lighter second-generation lenses of existing classics – take Sony’s superb FE 85mm F1.4 GM II, which we awarded lens of the year in the Tech Radar Choice Awards 2024. As useful as a smaller and lighter design may be for what are otherwise cumbersome telephotos lenses, I wouldn’t class that difference alone as something that has never existed before. No, I think we’re talking new numbers, whether it’s a never-before seen focal length or zoom range, or a brighter than-ever maximum aperture for a particular telephoto focal length.

Sigma made the first-ever full-frame F1.8 zoom lens earlier this year, so we might see the next zoom range up from that with F1.8 aperture to work as a pair, such as a 45-90mm F1.8. However, that’s a standard focal length, and Kazuto says the upcoming lens is a telephoto. I think we’re talking a lens even beyond the 70-200mm lens range – although a sizable 70-200mm F2 could be possible – and something 200mm or above, like a 200-400mm F3.5? An aperture that wide is usually found in pricey primes.

If I was to hedge a bet, albeit an optimistic one, I would go for a faster-than-ever telephoto prime, such as 300mm F2, with a built-in 1.4x teleconverter. Now that would be something. Or could Sigma be working on its most telephoto lens ever, an 800mm F6.3?

We don’t know the timeline for when this mystery new lens is going to be unveiled, but I’ll be one of many tuning into Sigma’s live announcement when the date is made clear.

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Sigma is working on a unique telephoto lens that has “never existed before” – here’s what it could be

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