Beauty in Simplicity or A Fool’s Errand

When I first saw the Sigma BF at a pop-up store in NYC, I was instantly blown away by the minimalist design and spartan controls. I wondered how a camera that emphasized form to this extent would perform in the real world. Sigma claims that the BF is an exercise in “beautiful foolishness.” We tested this camera to see if it is a work of beauty or a fool’s errand.

The Big Picture: Sigma BF Review Conclusions

The Sigma BF is an Absolute­ly stunning camera design, especially if you’re into modern minimalism. Gone are extraneous pieces like dials, buttons, and viewfinders. Yes, you read that right- all the function-focused bits of the camera have been removed in favor of clean lines and replaced with a comparatively huge TFT display. The Sigma BF puts photographers first – while you may not be able to customize your camera like others fully, the Sigma B F removes many of the choices/options photographers face when going out to make photographs. Still, the features that this camera gets right are overshadowed by what it doesn’t, namely, sub-par battery life, poor ergonomics, and no way to transfer photos to a mobile device (you must plug in a USB-C connector). These shortcomings bring down its rating all around, sure, but it could be a fun camera as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

Are you interested in exploring this bit of “Beautiful Foolishness”? You can pick one up via Amazon for around $2000 body-only.

Pros

• Beautifully designed – modern, minimalist look, that feels like a palette cleanser when every other manufacturer opts for “retro” designs.
• L Mount makes for lots of lens options, ranging from affordable to highly specialized.
• Compact-ish body, makes it far more discreet than most full-frame cameras
• Photography-first ethos – the menus are intended to keep the photographer focused on the scene instead of controls.

Cons

• Poor battery life; rated for 2 hours of continuous shooting, less if taking video.
• Only a 24-megapixel CMOS sensor; I would’ve preferred a Foveon sensor.
• No IBIS
• No viewfinder
• Poor ergonomics

Gear Used

We tested the loaner Sigma BF unit with a Sigma 45mm f2.8 Contemporary Lens and multiple lenses we own. We used the LUMIX S 28-200mm f4-7.1, Leica APO Summicron 28mm f2, Brightin Star 28mm f2.8, and Lomography x Zenit 50mm f1.5 New Jupiter 3.

Innovation

The most significant innovation in the Sigma B F is in the manu­facturing process by taking a single block of aluminum, Sigma created a unibody camera that is both eye-catching and solidly built. You’re not mistaken if this sounds familiar, like the Leica T, TL, and TL2 of several years back. Sigma still claims this innovation; it is the first time this manufacturing process has been done on a full-frame camera.

While this process is significant, it’s essentially a manufacturer’s flex, showing off what’s possible in future designs and the materials they can work with. For the photographer, the most significant innovation in the Sigma BF is Sigma’s intent to simplify the workflow by removing as many of the physical “distractions” (i.e., controls) of modern cameras. This review primarily focuses on how well Sigma accomplished that goal.

Hardware

The Sigma BF is the antithesis of modern cameras’ current retro design trend. Instead of looking to the past – with emphasis on tactile hardware, lots of knobs, buttons, and dials – the Sigma BF instead uses a clean, minimalist design. You may have even heard this camera described as a “camera that Apple would design.” And while some buzzwords like “unibody” design are thrown around to justify the comparison, the truth is that by virtue of the L-mount on this camera, this would not be an Apple-like camera (they would either create a proprietary mount or have a fixed lens camera). That said, the Sigma BF is an exercise in pushing the limits of minimalist design in a device that has historically tried to cram as many physical design elements as possible into a limited space.

You’ll immediately notice that the front of the camera has one physical touchpoint—a button to release the lens from the mount. The “cheese grater” textured façade helps provide something to grip in an otherwise flat design. There’s a slight curve to make holding the aluminum slab a little easier, but it’s far from what I’d call a proper handgrip.

The rear of the camera is definitely the business end of this device – you’re met with a very large, 3-inch TFT LED touch display, a power button (that isn’t explicitly labeled as such), a preview button, a system settings button, a circular D-pad with an action button at the center, and a tiny jog dial to cycle through settings/options. According to Sigma, the array of controls was pared down to only have the most necessary controls for the most common actions (i.e., changing shutter speed, ISO, color settings, and little else).

The top plate of the camera houses the shutter button and two microphones. You’ll also immediately notice that there isn’t a hot shoe or any shoe, for that matter. This helps keep the camera’s sleek look, but if you like working with strobes or, at the very least, want to be able to stick a constant light via a shoe mount, you’ll be disappointed.

The sides and bottom are equally sparse. The bottom has ¼-20 thread for a tripod or other compatible accessories, and a switch to release the battery. On the right side of the battery (when looking at it from the rear) is a tiny eyelet that can be used for a handgrip – there’s only one, so it’s a handgrip or you have to find another option that uses the ¼-20. Lastly, the left side has your one i/o port – a USB-C port.

Speaking of the USB-C port, there’s no mention of external media because there isn’t any. The Sigma BF uses an internal 230GB drive (though not specified, we’re assuming it’s an SSD since there was no noticeable hard drive hum) for storage. I’m still on the fence about this – no external media means not forgetting your card at home, but at the same time, I’ve experienced hard drive failures.

Ergonomics is easily the biggest Achilles’ Heel for this camera. Although the Sigma BF is gorgeous, it is somewhat uncomfortable to hold and shoot with for extended periods. I took the Sigma BF to the New York International Auto Show as a still camera while testing. Walking around the show floor started simple enough, but the camera began to feel uncomfortable as the hours rolled on. Depending on the weight of the lens attached to the camera at the time, it would go from feeling like there’s nothing attached to too much weight in the front.

The lack of a proper grip also didn’t help. While the slightly curved bump where your right hand would sit might be sufficient if you’re wearing the camera as a conversation piece, it’s just not nearly enough for a full day of shooting. That’s truly a shame because once you have it in your hands, one of the biggest draws to this camera is that it invites you to use it.

The camera’s controls also allow for something to be desired. If you’re okay with a shooting experience similar to a smartphone, you may disagree with this section, but I found it too slow to keep up with shooting on the street. I typically shoot in full manual mode – dialing in settings because I have trust issues – without visual cues or dedicated buttons, I fumbled through the menu to make what would’ve otherwise been simple changes and ultimately missed my shots.

Focusing

Sigma’s autofocusing system uses Phase-Detect and Contrast Detection AF systems with subject tracking options. The subject tracking can be set to Human and Animal, Animal, or Human only. For this review, subject detection was kept to Human. To their credit, the Sigma BF has good-to-great autofocusing capabilities, especially when paired with the Leica APO Summicron 28mm F2. The camera can find focus quickly, and when it needs extra help, setting up the touch display for touch AF really allows me to change focus points quickly. Even in the mixed lighting at the auto show and quickly moving evening light in Midtown, the Sigma BF could keep up with more hits than misses. It’s not on the same league as pro cameras like the Sony a9 or Nikon Z8, but it works for what it is, a “fun” camera.

In practice, the Sigma BF feels like a luxury watch you never wind. It’s a statement piece, it’s a conversation starter, and yes, it can take pictures, but somehow it feels like that’s more of a secondary feature than its primary purpose.

Ease of Use

Here is the category where the BF shines. By limiting the number of physical buttons and removing the EVF, the photographer who raises this camera to their eye can focus on composition and the moment. This is nearly as simple as using your phone to take photos – a pro for some, a con for others. I’m not nearly as precious about using a smartphone interface for cameras; it may help bring more new photographers, which is always a good thing. The BF excels at the basics of taking a photograph. There’s a lens, a sensor, and a shutter; you compose, check focus, and click.

Beyond the mechanical aspects of taking an image, the BF comes with 13 color profiles, including: Standard, Rich, Calm, Powder Blue, Warm Gold, Teal and Orange, FOV Classic Blue, FOV Classic Yellow, Forest Green, Sunset Red, Cinema, 709 Look (a kind of “LOG” look), Monochrome. I found the Monochrome and Warm Gold options to be the ones I used most often. These are decent enough, but I really would’ve loved to modify them further or even upload a custom profile.

Unfortunately, getting those images out of the camera is a different story. You’re limited to how you share these images without WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity. After two weeks of using the camera, I find it would make a great travel camera, akin to something like the Panasonic S9. Still, it seems like a missed opportunity without the ability to quickly get your images off the BF’s hard drive and into your phone.  This makes finding the ideal target audience for the Sigma BF a tough sell.

Image Quality

Once again, the Sigma BF finds itself at home in the Image Quality department. In my testing, I found that the DNG files had plenty of latitude. Even in shots that were over- or underexposed, I could have perfectly usable files after some editing in Lightroom. I truly appreciate that the camera saves RAW files as DNG files (no proprietary container file extensions here), which cuts down on importing times on your editing software of choice. The images are solid, workable, and even a little clinical, not unlike shooting with a Sony a7 series camera.

In 2025, any camera released in the last five years or so takes good to great images. I don’t think this category should earn the BF any additional points, as great images can be taken on a phone these days. Instead, I’m taking a page from boxing scoring standards here with a zero or minus scoring. The Sigma BF earns its zero here.

Image Samples

he Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.

Edited

Unedited

Who Should Buy This Camera?

As I mentioned, there are some serious caveats when purchasing the Sigma BF. The biggest deal breaker for me is the lack of a hot shoe, as I would like to use some controlled light source. As much as I hate to say it, this camera is all about vibes – if you can vibe with the look and don’t mind the caveats, you will enjoy it. For me, I struggle with the limitations and the price.

In practice, the Sigma BF feels like a luxury watch you never wind. It’s a statement piece, it’s a conversation starter, and yes, it can take pictures, but somehow it feels like that’s more of a secondary feature than its primary purpose. As a collector, the Sigma BF (with the similarly colored Sigma 45mm F2 Contemporary Lens) should be a camera on your radar. It’s even fun to use. As a photographer, I wish it offered just a bit more functionality for the price.

Declaration of Journalistic Intent

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