Sigma BF perfectly executes on its intention to be a beautiful piece of equipment. I would not recommend this camera to 99% of people, but there is a certain person that I would highly recommend this camera to.

Design

This camera is purely a flex of minimalistic design. It should be the textbook example of form over function. Only the essentials exist on this camera. That means just a few buttons, a screen, battery, charging port, and a lens mount. Missing from the design are a hot shoe, any custom buttons, and much more that would be found on a normal camera. Personally, I love the design of the camera and completely agree with the people that say this is a camera that Apple would design. I love Apple products and I love this camera.

Body

At first glance, it appears that the camera is an unergonomic box. However, there has been an effort to make this camera as ergonomic as possible while keeping it’s form. There is a corner indentation to allow the hand to rest slightly better in the bottom right. To the top right of the camera buttons, there is a metal ramp that acts as a small thumb rest. I don’t think these changes make a big difference in handling the camera but it’s nice to see that there was more thought put into this camera then just being a sharp box. It is uncomfortable to hold this camera for an extended period of time, but when it comes to short term handling, the materials of the camera feel very good and durable.

Buttons

The buttons are confusing and unique. The main buttons on the camera actually operate very similar to an Apple trackpad. When the camera is off, they have no response. But as soon as the camera is powered on they have multiple functionality. They can be clicked like a normal track pad or lightly pressed to bring up a quick option. I think this would annoy me if it was on any other camera. However, I think this style of button fits the design and gives more options since this camera has limited buttons. I wish the power button was labeled a little differently because it is in a weird location and was confusing to turn the camera on at first (it’s the bottom button with a small dot icon).

Screen

The screen has no tilt or movement at all. The sharpness of the screen seems to be on par with many other brands that I use. However, the brightness of the screen can definitely be an issue in bright daylight. This would not be my camera choice on a sunny day. In addition to the main screen, there is a mini screen. This screen shows a quick update on the selected setting in the camera and is pretty handy when changing settings. Once again, I think this kind of screen would annoy me on any other camera, but it fits in with this camera and makes the experience unique.

Lenses

The lenses for the system are actually quite abundant and great. The camera contains an L-mount which means it technically has a ton of options that can be placed on the camera. I wouldn’t recommend placing some of those bigger L-mount lenses because there are a dedicated line of lenses for this camera. Sigma designed lenses in silver that perfectly match the camera. They are all prime lenses but come in different focal lengths and aperture speeds to allow for a balance of size and performance.

Image Quality

The camera comes with a 24.6 megapixel sensor which is a sufficient amount. It’s slightly hard to achieve images in certain conditions because of the lack of IBIS and electronic shutter. If you keep in mind these limitations then there is no issue. I took some of my favorite images this year with the Sigma BF and they are listed below. This camera also can record video, but I never tested this and I never will.

Battery Life
The battery life on the camera is not great. The design of the battery is very unique and I didn’t realize this but if you flip the switch on the bottom it ejects the battery out without any fail safe. I launched a battery straight into Lake Louise because of this. Luckily I had one spare and the USB-C port is always exposed so you can easily charge it whenever. If you have used a Hasselblad X2D series camera or Leica M11 series camera, then I wish the battery eject was similar to that which requires a second action to take the battery out after pulling the initial switch.

Accessories

This camera is unfortunately not modular. I wished that it would be similar to older Sigma camera bodies that allowed for unique accessories and rigging but that’s not the case. This camera is made to be standalone beautiful with the only accessory being a grip that can be attached to the bottom mounting point. This camera doesn’t even have a hot shoe so no accessories like a flash, microphone, or light can be attached. I think it would be a great idea for Sigma to focus on a maximalist camera to pair in conjunction with the BF. It would be very nice to have a Sigma BF styled camera with the ability to rig out with a ton of accessories like a viewfinder, grip, and more. Probably won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought.

Autofocus

One of the biggest surprises that came with this camera was its autofocus. The camera has hybrid phase and contrast detection autofocus which actually works very well and allows for the camera to lock on to a subject quickly. I didn’t miss focus on any of the shots while using this camera and I used it during blue hour and night photography. I don’t think this this camera can beat out my Sony for autofocus but it most likely beats out the Hasselblad and possibly even my Fujifilm.

Final Thoughts

The Sigma BF is a really really beautiful camera. However, it’s not a tool that I could recommend for professional photography or video. It’s not an ergonomic, weather-sealed, or super compact camera so that makes it difficult to use as a fun daily camera. The person I would recommend this camera to is a camera enthusiast with a ton of other cameras that already cover their basic needs of professional work and fun. This camera excels at being a conversational piece while still having functionality to perform. I’d keep this camera tucked in my bag when going out and only pull it out when taking a quick snap or showing to another photographer.

Review Video

Here is a review that I did on YouTube about most of the topics covered in this blog.

Example Photos

Below are a set of photos taken on my roadtrip across the United States with the Sigma BF. File sizes are significantly decreased for web performance. If you would like access to higher resolution files, send me a message.