Sigma working on a full-frame Foveon sensor

It's also killing its proprietary SA mount.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice

I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.

Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories

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Lori Grunin

Sept. 25, 2018 8:54 a.m. PT

Sigma's APS-C SD Quattro mirrorless camera from 2016.
Sigma

It seems that Sigma's ready to join the full-frame mirrorless party, but it's bringing its own twist: a Foveon sensor.

The company's president confirmed its plans, as well as the decision to drop its proprietary SA mount, in an interview at Photokina 2018. (Here's Photolari's report.) The moves are somewhat unsurprising since Sigma just joined Panasonic and Leica in the L-mount Alliance. Panasonic's using its own sensor for its debut full-frame models, the S1R and S1.

Don't remember the Foveon sensor? It uses a stacked RGB filter array rather than the scattered RGB filters you typically find in cameras. Despite its promise of better color, it never caught on. That was partly because the cameras using it were such oddballs, but also because Sigma defined "resolution" differently than the rest of the market, making it a harder sell.

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