Sigma Announces Full-Frame Foveon Camera Is Indefinitely Delayed

Sigma Announces Full-Frame Foveon Camera Is Indefinitely Delayed

Sigma was expected to announce a new full-frame mirrorless L mount camera with its unique Foveon sensor later this month, but unfortunately, the company has announced that the camera will now be delayed indefinitely. Nonetheless, they still intend to release the camera eventually, albeit with a complete redesign.

Sigma's Foveon sensor works differently from a traditional Bayer sensor. A Bayer sensor captures the luminance of either red, green, or blue at each photosite, then interpolates the data to create the full image. On the other hand, the Foveon sensor takes advantage of the different penetrating powers of each wavelength by stacking three photodiodes into each site, each sensitive to one of the three primary colors. This means that each photosite measures full color information, and as such, Foveon sensors are generally known for producing impressively sharp images, albeit with poor ISO performance. 

Unfortunately, Sigma has announced that they have delayed the production of the full-frame mirrorless Foveon camera indefinitely. Interestingly, however, the company intends to start again from scratch, redesigning the camera and devoting more research to the sensor technology. I certainly hope to see the camera reach the market eventually, as it is a very interesting device and would be a great alternative to more standard cameras. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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7 Comments

Maybe I’ll pull the trigger on the Quattro H after all.

Probably cause they noticed their new FP is not selling as well as they intented.
Before they release another flop they decided to put some more work in the whole thing.

I honestly don’t know what they were thinking with that camera.

That sucks so much. I was really looking forward to a full frame version of their Quattro cameras.

Foreverveon...

:(

I really hope they keep on trying to develop the foveon sensor. I know it doesn't make sense seeing how far bayer pattern sensors have come and the price of med format coming down but the files from my dpm's are so rich and unique. Due to how slow the past cameras are to use people have likened them to shooting film. Personally I would love to see Sigma go the Fuji route and make cameras that handle like vintage film cameras. Like a compact mamiya 645 style body with a FF foveon sensor in it (with lots of image stabilization to counter that low ISO limitation) would be epic. while we are dreaming a Nikon F mount version would be nice :)