Sigma BF hands-on: Minimal to a fault

In February, Sigma announced the Sigma BF. It's a full-frame, interchangeable lens camera with conscionable a shutter release, a dial and 3 buttons. That minimalism speaks to me, and I felt the BF was perchance transformative. Photography is 1 of my favourite hobbies, and I've ever felt modern cameras are excessively complicated. When I received a portion of the Sigma BF to test, I wanted to emotion it. Unfortunately, it mightiness beryllium excessively simple.

It each starts with the design. The Sigma BF is 1 of the industry's fewer unibody cameras. It's carved from a azygous slab of aluminum, a process Sigma says takes 7 hours to complete. The effect is simply a camera dissimilar immoderate I've utilized before, with physique prime that surpasses either of my existent Fujifilm models, the X-E3 and X-S20. Now, I cognize what you're thinking: The BF looks similar an ergonomic nightmare. Surprisingly, it's not excessively bad, acknowledgment to the inclusion of 2 beveled edges wherever your hands conscionable the bottommost of the camera body.

Still, it's missing a fewer features that would person made it much comfy to use, apt owed to the limitations of its unibody design. For one, a due grip would person been nice, particularly erstwhile you're utilizing a dense 50mm lens similar the 1 Sigma sent maine for testing. The BF is besides missing a blistery footwear mount, truthful third-party thumb grips are disconnected the table. Most annoying of all, it lone has a azygous strap eyelet, truthful if you don't privation to usage a cervix strap, you'll request 1 that attaches to the camera's tripod mount. I don't ain 1 of those, truthful I had to transportation astir the $2,000 BF successful my manus the full clip I was utilizing it. You tin ideate however that felt.

The BF offers a precise antithetic shooting acquisition from your emblematic integer camera. As I mentioned, it has lone a shutter release, a azygous dial and 3 buttons (one for powering the camera connected and off, 1 for reviewing your photos and footage and 1 for accessing the overflow menu). There's besides a touchscreen, but you wouldn't cognize it astatine first, due to the fact that different than erstwhile selecting a absorption constituent and toggling immoderate options, you won't beryllium utilizing it overmuch portion shooting.

The BF's 1 dial is the superior mode to interact with the camera. To set your exposure, you archetypal property near oregon close connected the dial to rhythm to a circumstantial setting, and past rotation it to tweak the levels arsenic desired. A 2nd smaller surface supra the dial allows you to set those parameters without interacting with the main display.

Alternatively, you tin property down connected the halfway of the dial to unfastened the BF's "dual layer" paper system. As the sanction suggests, Sigma has organized astir of what you mightiness request crossed 2 levels of menus. For example, accidental you privation to power the camera from matrix to spot metering. That involves pressing down connected the dial, scrolling implicit to 1 of the vulnerability settings, tapping the halfway of the dial again, and past utilizing your thumb to property the touchscreen and alteration spot metering. Accessing astir of the settings you'll request won't beryllium arsenic tedious, but this worst lawsuit script demonstrates wherever the acquisition of shooting with the Sigma BF falls short.

The BF isn't large for capturing fleeting moments. In ditching astir of the carnal controls modern cameras are known for, the Sigma BF makes it hard to alteration aggregate settings simultaneously. I was astir annoyed by the BF whenever I wanted to sprout a fast-moving scene.

On 1 of my photograph walks with the Sigma BF, I saw a begetter riding a motorcycle with his lad successful the spot down him. With my X-E3 oregon astir immoderate different camera, capturing that infinitesimal would person been simple. I could person changed the thrust mode, absorption strategy and shutter velocity independently of 1 another. On the BF, I had to set each mounting consecutively. By the clip I was done, the begetter and lad were agelong gone.

Some of the BF's shortcomings could beryllium addressed if Sigma astatine slightest allowed you to edit the speedy settings surface to amusement less options. I don't request casual entree to alteration things similar the facet ratio, for example. In 2025, each caller camera ships with an overly bloated paper system, and successful that respect the Sigma BF is simply a enactment of caller air. However, allowing the idiosyncratic to marque their ain tweaks would person made for a overmuch amended experience.

And that’s the thing: With the BF, Sigma breaks camera interface conventions that are conventions for bully reason. Let maine springiness you 1 of the much frustrating examples: The camera inexplicably doesn't connection an casual mode to measurement the vulnerability of a scene. There was nary metre to bespeak whether I was astir to under- oregon overexpose a shot, and I couldn't adhd 1 to the main screen.

The lone mode I could spot a histogram, my preferred method for nailing exposure, was to entree the 2nd furniture of the interface from 1 of the seizure settings. This is an particularly confounding determination due to the fact that you tin fractional property the shutter to marque speedy vulnerability compensation adjustments with the power dial, but arsenic soon arsenic you do, the BF jumps retired of immoderate paper you were looking at. If digging done menus isn't your thing, determination are 2 unrecorded presumption overlays you tin alteration to spot if you've clipped your shadows oregon highlights. The archetypal is your accustomed zebra pattern. The second, which Sigma calls False Color, turns astir of the surface grayscale and uses informing colors. Neither felt arsenic precise arsenic a due vulnerability metre oregon histogram.

On paper, the BF is simply a decent camera for video, with enactment for 6K recording, HEVC encoding and L-Log. Unfortunately, the BF's minimalism is simply a weakness present too. To start, framing a changeable is simply a situation since the camera has a fixed screen. Getting usable footage is besides tricky. The BF doesn't connection in-body representation stabilization, and portion determination are a fewer L-mount lenses with built-in stabilization, astir wouldn't beryllium applicable to usage with the BF owed to their size and weight.

If you've gotten this far, you're astir apt wondering if I person thing affirmative to accidental astir the BF. Well, the champion happening astir the camera is that it takes genuinely large photos, which is what makes each its shortcomings each the much frustrating. The 24-megapixel, backside illuminated sensor and Sigma's lenses seizure and render item beautifully without being clinical. The BF besides has large taxable detection autofocus that makes shooting portraits of radical and pets easy.

The Sigma BF has immoderate absorbing ideas astir what a camera tin look similar successful 2025, but those ideas are often marred by mediocre execution. As a archetypal stab astatine a minimalist camera, the BF has capable going for it, and with refinement, I could spot aboriginal versions evolving into thing special. For example, I’d emotion to spot Sigma find a mode to see a flip-out surface successful the BF's unibody frame. Until then, $2,000 is simply a batch to inquire for a camera that could beryllium truthful overmuch more.