[rawr]

Sigma do another guided tour of their Aizu lens factory, this time for some German and Polish visitors, including Lenstip. They seem to run these tours very regularly.

Impressive scale of operations. 80,000 lenses produced there a month. Somewhere in the factory a few K-mount lenses are still being produced, hopefully.

A trip to Sigma lens factory in Aizu 2019

[BugsDogsAndSunsets]

Sigma do another guided tour of their Aizu lens factory, this time for some German and Polish visitors, including Lenstip. They seem to run these tours very regularly.

Impressive scale of operations. 80,000 lenses produced there a month. Somewhere in the factory a few K-mount lenses are still being produced, hopefully.

A trip to Sigma lens factory in Aizu 2019

I remember reading that the physical aperture lever increased cost of development - any speculation that kaf4 might make it more attractive for Sigma to keep developing Pentax glass?

[stevebrot]

I remember reading that the physical aperture lever increased cost of development -

Quite likely, though they made room for Nikon...


Steve

[rawr]

any speculation that kaf4 might make it more attractive for Sigma to keep developing Pentax glass?

No one outside of Sigma would really be able to say. But Sigma make lenses for over 6 lens mounts, with more on the horizon, so I doubt there would be any significant cost or engineering problem with them doing KAF4 or even any old K. It's just a matter of whether they believe it's worth the effort. If a Saudi sheikh gave them a few million $ to do a new batch of K-mount 500 f4's or 85 f1.4's, they'd probably be able to make and deliver them in a week.

[selfnoise]

Sigma recently said they aren't going to make X-mount lenses for the Fuji system due to a lack of demand/marketshare, so I think future K-mount lenses are pretty unlikely.

[rawr]

due to a lack of demand/marketshare

I've heard this before. But the 'lack of demand' argument it is not entirely convincing when you see Sigma go out and happily make a whole new line of expensive, low volume cinema lenses, in PL mount, of which they might sell only 20 each per year.
Cine Lenses | SIGMA GLOBAL VISION

And I bet Fuji sells a whole lot more bodies than Pentax, yet Sigma still aren't interested.

What Sigma does with their lens production may not just be about demand alone, but corporate strategy and positioning, history, licensing costs, tight patents, obscure corporate feuds, legal restrictions, or other factors that the public aren't aware of. Privately held family owned companies can often be idiosyncratic.

[Digitalis]

impressive scale of operations. 80,000 lenses produced there a month.

2% of those will be for K mount.

[clackers]

2% of those will be for K mount.

Well, my guess is 0% are … that when we buy a Sigma K mount lens it's been on a shelf somewhere for years!

[pentax360]

Thanks a lot for posting, I always like factory tours.

[rawr]

my guess is 0% are … that when we buy a Sigma K mount lens it's been on a shelf somewhere for years!

Well, Sigma currently have 6 newish K-mount lenses, and 2 older ones, active in their catalogue. The 6 'C' and 'A' lenses are pretty new, so whatever the date the last one was introduced may give a timeline for when Sigma lost interest in Pentax.

The 18-200 C was released late 2014, as was the 30mm f1.4, but maybe 2015? That was the date of the release of the K-mount 18-300 C, and the last Sigma lens firmware update via their USB dock for Pentax.



But Sigma, once again, are a bit weird with their mount support. They have randomly dropped Nikon items from their catalogue too - lenses, flashes etc - even though they have traditionally supported Nikon very well. But now their priorities seem: Canon, Sony E-mount, and the new L lens alliance. Sigma have even announced that they will be effectively downgrading future support for their own SA mount as they swing their resources behind L-mount.

[clackers]

Well, Sigma currently have 6 newish K-mount lenses, and 2 older ones, active in their catalogue. The 6 'C' and 'A' lenses are pretty new, so whatever the date the last one was introduced may give a timeline for when Sigma lost interest in Pentax.

I agree. I think there's no production at all from them these days, and they merely mark something as 'Discontinued' when the last inventory in their warehouses goes.

That could take years. In an interview the Sigma CEO said they gambled the company on the 35mm Sigma Art.

Well, very few Pentaxians have ever bought it despite its high quality and low price (I'm one of them).

It might be said that Pentax owners were already well served by other glass, but the lesson for the Sigma company was clear. There's not many of us, we think differently, so it's hard for a third party to make a dollar out of us. Perhaps that's true of Fuji owners, too.

[rawr]

I think there's no production at all from them these days, and they merely mark something as 'Discontinued' when the last inventory in their warehouses goes.

I think you are right. They may be able to produce some small batches of those existing K-mounts if asked by distributors, but no new Sigma lens models are likely to arrive in K-mount. Sad!

[cmohr]

Yes, it is certainty a shame. I've always liked the Sigma Glass, it's a shame that now, with KAF4 mount, that we can't get a few more Sigma Lenses in K-mount. No Screwdrives or linkages needed, just contacts wired to Pentax K-mount instead of Nikon/Canon.

I've said it before, Would be great if Sigma offered a custom order service, I remember they did once offer "Mount" exchanges for your lenses, ie, swap Nikon to Canon ect ect, .

[BugsDogsAndSunsets]

I agree. I think there's no production at all from them these days, and they merely mark something as 'Discontinued' when the last inventory in their warehouses goes.

That could take years. In an interview the Sigma CEO said they gambled the company on the 35mm Sigma Art.

Well, very few Pentaxians have ever bought it despite its high quality and low price (I'm one of them).

It might be said that Pentax owners were already well served by other glass, but the lesson for the Sigma company was clear. There's not many of us, we think differently, so it's hard for a third party to make a dollar out of us. Perhaps that's true of Fuji owners, too.

I just bought one, though it was used from lensrentals. Hopefully they'll buy another in turn. I imagine that the capability is still there, it just needs demand to build. Perhaps the new Ltd. video is a sign that Ricoh might start actually advertising.

[clackers]

I just bought one, though it was used from lensrentals. Hopefully they'll buy another in turn. I imagine that the capability is still there, it just needs demand to build. Perhaps the new Ltd. video is a sign that Ricoh might start actually advertising.

Sigma are a relatively small company, BDAS, the lens market has crashed in recent years, and they have to pick their battles. If they don't support Fuji, and cease supporting their own Sigma camera mount, they won't do Pentax!