News from Sigma

I always loved and still appreciate Sigma's ability to create lemses that rae at time ahead of the curve. Even more advanced that the big manufactures' optics that tend to be more conservative.

Sigma Corporation announces pricing, timing for new 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM lens

Very versatile and stabilized standard zoom lens starts shipping in November for street price of $899

NEW YORK, NY — Oct. 25, 2013 — Sigma Corporation of America (www.sigmaphoto.com), a leading researcher, developer, manufacturer and service provider of some of the world's most impressive lines of lenses, cameras and flashes, today from PhotoPlus Expo 2013 announced the pricing and availability of its new 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM Art lens.
This new Art lens was developed as part of the company’s Global Vision and will be on shelves next month, starting with Canon mounts, for the street price of $899. The full frame lens, which will also work with APS-C sensor cameras with an effective increase in focal length, will be available in Nikon and Sigma mounts in December, and Sony mounts will soon follow. All but the Sony mounts will incorporate Sigma’s proprietary Optical Stabilizer (OS) technology to compensate for camera shake. This functionality is omitted from Sony mounts to accommodate for that manufacturer’s in-camera image stabilization system.
The 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM covers the basic shooting range from wide to medium tele with an inner focusing system that eliminates front lens rotation, enhancing the lens stability and allowing the use of circular polarizing filters. Moreover, it was designed to surpass the required quality inspection of every Global Vision lens with Sigma’s own modulation transfer function (MTF) “A1” measuring system to create a new optical standard to align with the high-spec cameras on today’s market.
“This is a top-notch lens in its design and image quality. Our engineering team in Japan continues to wow the industry with the caliber of the new lenses we’re producing and we expect Sigma users to be just as pleased with this new 24-105 F4,” said Mark Amir-Hamzeh, president of Sigma Corporation of America.
The lens offers the largest possible fixed aperture to zoom ratio that will maintain optimal integrity for many kinds of photography, including landscapes, architecture, portraiture and still-life. With a minimum focusing distance of 45cm and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:4.6, this lens is also excellent for close-up photography.
High-performance glass elements, including SLD and FLD, which is equal to fluorite, and glass-molded single- and double-sided aspheric lenses have been included into the optical system to prevent aberration, field curvature, distortions and color aberration. The 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM lens is also able to suppress chromatic aberration very effectively at the telephoto-end, and can achieve superior image quality throughout the zoom range. Unlike lenses with similar specifications, this lens overcomes low peripheral brightness. Although it is designed for full frame cameras, it also works with APS-C sensors, giving an increase to focal length.
The lens’ Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) ensures a silent, high-speed auto focus function and enables full-time manual focusing capability. The 24-105mm is also compatible with Sigma’s USB dock allowing photographers to update its firmware and change focus parameters using Sigma's Optimization Pro software. It is also compatible with Sigma’s recently announced Mount Conversion Service.
Above courtesy of Sigma Corporation.