Sigma BF is a beautifully crafted camera that is taking a lot of risks. This camera is lacking some very crucial features like a memory card slot, viewfinder or even a link to attach your neck strap. Instead you’re met with a very minimalistic hardware and software which prioritizes form over function. But it does it in a very effective way.
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00:00You really don't see a lot of cameras that look like this one.
00:05The Sigma BF is a bold and brave take on what a modern camera could look like.
00:11The cold and aggressively minimalistic design with sharp edges even looks uncomfortable
00:16to hold.
00:17There's a very small number of buttons here, there's only one dial, there's no viewfinder,
00:22there's no flip screen, there's no tilt screen, there's no external storage, there's also
00:27no hot shoe, there's not even a link for an additional strap so you can put on a neck
00:32strap.
00:33And if any of those things are already making you nervous, then this might not be a camera
00:37for you.
00:38But after a few weeks of extensive use, I can tell you that you'd be surprised how the
00:44lack of these features actually transforms your day-to-day use for the better.
00:48This design is risky, and it is courageous, and it totally works.
01:00So let's get this out of the way.
01:02Who is it for?
01:03Well, it is a $2000 camera, but a type of camera you won't use on jobs with clients
01:10or bring to sporting events or things like that.
01:14Sigma calls this an everyday camera.
01:16It is the sort of camera you pair with your favorite lens and you bring it everywhere.
01:22It is your Leica Q, your Nikon ZF or your X100.
01:26It is ideal for street photography or snapping photos of things that you find interesting.
01:31I don't see myself using this camera in a studio or as a video camera.
01:36It is a high-end point and shoot that gets incredibly good results without overthinking
01:41it.
01:42Ergonomically, yes, this is not a very comfortable camera to hold, but also not to the point
01:47where it would actually bother me.
01:49At no point during my review was I, I don't know, in pain.
01:53One-handed operation is extremely hard, and the lack of a second strap link is a bit infuriating.
02:01And since we're already talking about the bad stuff, let's just keep going.
02:05Battery life.
02:06It is just not that good.
02:08Most days I'd have to charge the camera once or twice.
02:11The battery indicator is also shown in percentages, and it cannot be turned off, and it just sort
02:16of adds to battery anxiety.
02:19Shortly after leaving the house and going on walks, I'd see that percentage drop and
02:22it really made me wish that I had an extra battery on me.
02:26I also wish there was an in-body stabilization here, but this would make an already heavy-ish
02:31camera possibly a bit too heavy.
02:34And there is no mechanical shutter.
02:36It's electronic only shutter here.
02:39Aside from just sounding silly and fake, it can easily ruin some of your photos under
02:46fluorescent lights too.
02:48Everything else, the screen, the viewfinder, the hot shoe, the lack of external storage,
02:54the weatherproofing I can easily live without.
02:57And since there's only a handful of buttons and not a lot of ways to customize them, Sigma
03:02had to nail the overall experience of taking photos.
03:06And they did.
03:07Sigma found incredibly clever solutions here, and one of those is the main dial.
03:15The main dial serves as a replacement for all those missing buttons.
03:19In tandem with the little sub-monitor above it, it works extremely well.
03:25So you press left and right to cycle through options, and then spin the dial to change
03:29them.
03:30Anything from white balance, shutter, ISO.
03:32I do wish you could customize which options to skip, cause some I don't even use.
03:36I kept shooting in aperture mode, so I really don't need shutter or ISO, but that dial just
03:42made this camera incredibly fun to use.
03:45I feel like I was experimenting with aspect ratios and different looks far more often
03:49than I would with any other camera.
03:51It made me rediscover my love for 21 by 9 aspect ratio and square photos.
03:56The dial also made me experiment with different straight out of the camera film simulations.
04:04On the BF there are 13 of them.
04:06My favorite ones are warm gold, teal and orange, and rich.
04:10I mostly kept using the warm gold one, which won me over with its warm tones, muted reds
04:15and just desaturated colors throughout.
04:19But there's something here for everyone.
04:20The rich simulation gives you slightly darker reds and more teal blues, and teal and orange
04:26and brings me back to, I don't know, 2018.
04:29The black and white simulation also has a variety of filters that you traditionally
04:33use in black and white photography and so on.
04:36But sadly, there is no way to create your own custom film simulations right now.
04:41Unsure if there ever will be.
04:43One other neat feature of this dial is that when you're pressing the shutter button halfway
04:48through, it turns into exposure compensation dial.
04:56That way you can easily do some quick exposure changes.
05:00Super clever and genuinely useful.
05:06And you might have seen that not all buttons are actually buttons, and there are some neat
05:09little tricks that you can do.
05:11So if you're resting your finger on the playback button, it'll show your last photo taken until
05:17you lift your finger up again.
05:20It's a neat little way that this camera reminds you of its modern features.
05:25Even the menu UI is modern, it is streamlined and easy to follow.
05:29As far as camera's menu system go, this is one of the cleanest ones out there.
05:33Of course, that is helped tremendously by the fact that there simply aren't that many
05:38options or customizations to do with this camera in the first place.
05:42But one of the first things you'll notice when you pick up the BF and turn it on is
05:46how incredibly fast it is.
05:48It turns on instantly, you can switch between modes pretty quickly, the sensor readout is
05:53good, continuous shooting is decent for a full-frame camera, it's 8 frames per second,
06:00and accessing your photo library is just as fast.
06:04There's also another little detail that I love about this camera that really tells you
06:09everything you need to know about it.
06:11So when reviewing photos, pressing down on the d-pad opens them up in a calendar view.
06:18You can cycle through your photos based on days instead of just being an endless stream
06:22of photos.
06:23It's like a little diary.
06:24I might be reading too much into it, but I think it speaks volume about how purposefully
06:30this everyday camera design is throughout.
06:34All those photos can be reviewed on a large, bright and decently sharp 3.3 inch screen,
06:40and all those photos are saved on 230GB of internal SSD.
06:45There's no expandable storage option, as we said, and that got a lot of people angry.
06:49For me, not having external storage becomes a concern in a few ways.
06:54One, you have to be more diligent about backing up your photos, making sure you don't run
06:59out of space.
07:00And two, usually if your SD card gets corrupted, it sucks, but you swap out an SD card and
07:05that's an easy solution.
07:07If your internal storage fails, now that's a different story.
07:12Especially for a product that might not be very repairable, you could be without a camera
07:17for a long time.
07:19I would also understand this decision a little bit better if Sigma had a good smartphone
07:24app for photo transfers, but they just don't.
07:27So no app, no SD cards means you can only transfer photos with a physical cable.
07:33That's not very modern.
07:36But there are some positives to look at here as well.
07:39So one, you don't have to worry about forgetting an SD card, two, 230GB is pretty decent, and
07:47three, built-in storage is what makes this camera feel extremely fast too.
07:52Regardless if you consider this a deal-breaker or not, it's 2025, I think we can all agree
07:58that cameras should just have both internal and expandable storage.
08:07Okay, it is a little bit weird to do a camera review and only now get to talk about image
08:14quality.
08:15Photos are gorgeous.
08:16This camera is equipped with a 24.6MP full-frame back-illuminated sensor.
08:22I had it paired with the 50mm f.2 lens, and that lens works so well with this camera.
08:28The photos are simply sharp and detailed, just like you'd expect from a full-frame camera.
08:33The noise at higher ISO is also handled extremely well, and colors still look lively.
08:38Autofocus is snappy.
08:40I'm usually manually picking focus points with a joystick, but for the sake of testing,
08:45I let the camera kind of decide what to focus on, and it did that extremely well.
08:50I also found autofocus a lot more reliable when taking photos, and not so reliable in
08:56video.
08:57I kept drifting and breathing just far too often.
09:01Maybe software fixes that, and maybe it can get fine-tuned a little bit.
09:04Okay, and when it comes to video, it is fine.
09:08It's 6K up to 30fps, and it has log footage.
09:13You can film in H.264, you can film in H.265, and there's 1080p slow motion up to 120fps,
09:21but there's no 4K60, which just isn't great.
09:25The footage looks good, but overall, video feels a little bit of an afterthought, and
09:30I really don't think that you will use video a lot on this camera.
09:35I think it's here mostly to justify the price a little bit.
09:39It's here if you need it.
09:42Okay, so look at this list of cons.
09:47There's a lot of things here that are missing, and a lot of things that you would hope to
09:52see in a $2000 camera.
09:56If you're looking for a hybrid powerhouse that can do it all, you're not looking in
10:01the right place.
10:02If you're looking for an exciting, new, modern camera that is incredibly fun to use, takes
10:08incredibly good photos, has clever little features, and, let's be real, looks amazing,
10:15the BF is a great choice.
10:18And I do think that this camera will genuinely leave a long-lasting impression in the photography
10:23world.
10:24Not only for its bold design, but its firm dedication to build this whole system and
10:29software and hardware around the mission of simplicity.
10:32But it is very hard to predict if Sigma BF will be a commercial success.
10:37Sigma cameras often are not.
10:40That list of missing features is extremely long, and even though most things on that
10:44list didn't bug me, paired with that price tag, it actually might discourage a lot of
10:49people from ever looking into this camera.
10:52But I strongly recommend that you try it out.
10:55It has a very good chance of winning your heart.
10:58Because it certainly did mine.
11:00I guess this is the best way to film when you don't have a flip screen anymore.
11:06I kind of forgot what that is like.
11:08Thank you so much for watching.
11:09I really enjoyed making this video.
11:12I hope you enjoyed watching it.
11:14There's also a written review on theverge.com, but if you have any specific questions about
11:17the camera, I will be down in the comments.
11:20Let's chat.