Sigma Kazuto Yamaki Interview: Native vs Translator, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 ART, Faster Than 2.8 Zooms, And More

Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of Sigma, pictured at the 2018 CP+ show in Yokohama, Japan. – DPReview

DPReview Interviewed Mr. Yamaki CEO of Sigma at CP+ 2018 and I have summarized the key points below.

The MC-11 is a translator so it’s like translating Japanese to English things are lost
Sigma’s new lenses speak English so they communicate better
Might release a new USB dock for Sony lenses in the future
Wide zooms can be made equivalent to primes
The 14-24mm f/2.8 is optically equal to the 14mm f/1.8
24-70mm lenses are harder to design
Sigma got good at wide angle zooms because an employee was into mountain climbing.
Sigma would rather design optically excellent lenses than small lenses.
The 14mm, 20mm, and 24mm all could have been smaller if designed for the ground up for Sony
Beyond 35mm designing for E-mount doesn’t save much size.
The Sony 12-24mm uses distortion correction in body to keep it’s size down, but Sigma couldn’t design a lens that small for DSLR that performs that well.
Sigma used to be skeptical about distortion correction in body, but it’s gotten very good.
Sigma plans to release another APS-C lens for Sony around Photokina 2018.
Sigma can covert your Canon EF mount Sigma glass to Sony-E mount for a charge and convert it back again if you wish.
Sigma is working on offering better professional support outside Japan.
Yamaki finds the Sony 12-24 f/4, Sony 16-35mm f/2.8, Canon 35mm f/1.4 II, and Tamron 28-75mm to be impressive lenses.
If The Tamron lives up to the hype it will be a benchmark lens for Sigma.
Sigma would like to explore faster than f/2.8 zooms in the future.
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 ART coming in the not too distanct future