Sigma is working on a unique telephoto lens that has “never existed before” – here’s what it could be
- Extensive interview with Sigma CEO ends with new lens teaser
- The upcoming product is a “telephoto lens that has never existed before”
- We don’t know yet what the lens is, or when it will arrive
“Can you give us a sneak peek at something coming up?” asks Sigma UK director Tim Berry at the end of an extensive 30-minute interview with Sigma’s CEO, Kazuto Yamaki, shared on Sigma’s YouTube channel (watch below). Kazuto drops an appropriately vague but nonetheless exciting teaser: “one of the products I’m really excited about is a telephoto lens that has never existed before.”
We don’t know when the new lens will be officially unveiled, but the video from the family-owned lens specialist is enough to get any sports and wildlife photographer excited – Sigma is considered the leading third-party lens manufacturer for Sony mirrorless cameras and others supply lenses of excellent quality for about half the price of proprietary optics.
Kazuto’s comment is certainly enough to get my brain ticking over what this new lens could be. In June 2024, Sigma released the world’s first F1.8 zoom lens, and later an all-rounder 28-105mm F2.8 for Sony and Panasonic cameras. We’re no strangers to lens innovation, so what can we reasonably expect from a completely new and unique Sigma telephoto lens?
The likely Sigma telephoto candidates
There’s a trend to create smaller and lighter second-generation lenses from existing classics – take Sony’s fantastic FE 85mm F1.4 GM II for example, which we named Lens of the Year at the 2024 Tech Radar Choice Awards . As useful as a smaller and lighter design might be for what are otherwise cumbersome telephoto lenses, I wouldn’t classify that difference itself as something that has never existed before. No, I think we’re talking about new numbers, whether it’s a never-before-seen focal length or zoom range, or a brighter-than-ever maximum aperture for a given telephoto focal length.
Sigma made the very first full-frame F1.8 zoom lens earlier this year, so we could see the next zoom range with an F1.8 aperture to work as a pair, such as a 45-90mm F1.8. That’s a standard focal length, though, and Kazuto says the upcoming lens will be a telephoto lens. I think we’re talking about a lens that goes even beyond the 70-200mm lens range – although a significant 70-200mm F2 could be possible – and something 200mm or higher, like a 200-400mm F3 .5? An aperture this wide is usually found in expensive prime lenses.
If I wanted to hedge a bet, even an optimistic one, I’d go with a faster-than-ever telephoto prime, like 300mm F2, with a built-in 1.4x teleconverter. Well 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 mysterious new lens will be revealed, but I’ll be one of many tuning in to Sigma’s live announcement when the date is made clear.