An interview with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki was posted to YouTube where he promised that Sigma is working on a new unique telephoto lens for the Sony E-mount. Here is a summary of the 30-minute interview below:
- Kazuto Yamaki met frequently with the architect to work on Sigma’s new building
- All the furniture came from Arper of Italy because of the tie-in with Ichiro Iwasaki who helped to design all of Sigma’s cameras and lenses
- The building has a Scandinavian feel, but that is in line with modern Japanese design
- Sigma had a factory in the center of Tokyo that was later moved to the outskirts of Tokyo and as Tokyo grew there wasn’t space for them so they moved to Aizu
- The cleanest water tends to be in the mountains and it is necessary for premium optical manufacturing
- Made in Japan is important to Kazuto Yamaki because they like to achieve for two reasons. The first is the top quality they can and in Aizu some of the employees are third generation which helps achieve the top quality. The second is that Sigma is still privately owned so even though profit is important they feel they have to take care of their employees. So sigma is about the balance between profits and the employees.
- The company was founded in 1961 but moved to Aizu in 1967 when Kazuto Yamaki was born.
- Kazuto Yamaki’s family home was on top of the Sigma factory so he grew up in the factory so his life was always with Sigma.
- When Kazuto Yamaki was 7 or so they had about 100 employees and his father wanted him to take over the business and told him always to study hard to help take care of the employees and be the best CEO he could be.
- Kazuto Yamaki’s father always wished that Sigma would be an innovative company
- Sigma has been working hard under Kazuto Yamaki’s leadership for 12 years because he wants to make the best products that he can be proud of. His long-term goal is to make Sigma the most loved and respected brand in the industry.
- Picking your camera based on the lenses you want can be very logical because Sigma believes lenses are an important asset that can be used for a long time.
- Sigma regularly has product branding meetings to figure out what should be made that Kazuto Yamaki attends.
- Normally Kazuto Yamaki gives a lot of ideas based on his discussions with people in the world, but sometimes he comes up with ideas of his own.
- Sigma engineers are passionate about photography so they also ask Kazuto Yamaki to design lenses.
- Kazuto Yamaki thinks the most innovative thing they made under his leadership is the first 35mm f1.4 Art lens, 75mm f/1.4, and probably the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom lens.
- AI may change photography significantly but it is hard to tell
- Each photographer has his own style so it is hard for AI to replace
- Kazuto Yamaki tries to take his photography seriously as much as possible, especially when he goes abroad.
- Kazuto Yamaki likes the design and one of his goals is to make the most beautiful products he can
- One of the products that excites Kazuto Yamaki the most is a telephoto lens that has never existed before and will make wildlife and sports photographers happy.
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