Sigma BF Review

Sigma mills the BF from a solid aluminium billet over the better part of a working day, then removes almost everything else. There is no viewfinder, no mechanical shutter, no stabilisation, no hot shoe, no headphone socket and no card slot: 230 gigabytes live inside the camera and come out over USB-C. Control is one rear dial, three pressure sensitive buttons that click back at you, and a small panel showing the single setting you are changing.

Used as intended, with a 35mm prime and the screen held at arm's length, it is a joy, and the 24.6 megapixel files are lovely, with colour modes worth shooting jpeg for. Phase detection autofocus finds an eye and holds it for ordinary work. Then reality. Base sensitivity is ISO 320, so there is noise where a rival would have none. No mechanical shutter means banding under some lights and a rolling shutter you will see on a pan.

No stabilisation, in a body with no finder to brace against your face, makes slow shutter speeds guesswork. Video runs to 6K at thirty with L-Log, which sounds generous until you remember there is nothing to mount and nowhere to monitor. At 1,999 dollars this is a 24 megapixel camera charging enthusiast full frame money to do less than a Panasonic Lumix S5 II does for the same. Own one because you love it. Nothing else here argues for it.