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| sent on 22 Maggio 2026
Pros: Design and construction: aluminum monobloc, solid, compact, with a "Beautiful Foolishness" aesthetic that encourages you to always carry it with you.
Ergonomics better than expected: semi-rough rear and front thumb rest give a surprisingly decent grip for the format.
Image quality: balanced files, convincing colors (WB Auto + standard/neutral profile), realistic greens, good workability with minimal PP.
High sensitivity: much more usable in low light than the Foveon, with manageable night shifts and interiors.
AF, fairly performing.
Interface: Essential software, short menus, few distractions.
Cons: Autonomy: it is energy-intensive, requires at least a second BP-81 and a minimum of management (sleep/auto-off, no waste).
"Dense" weight: not very light body; the monoblock can be felt, and with heavy Sigma lenses in front it can become challenging.
Ergonomics not for everyone: absence of real front grip; With large and long lenses it is not the ideal camera for hours of continuous shooting.
Closed battery system: use only the BP-81, no cross-compatibility with Panasonic/Leica as in the BP-51 world.
Minimal but not refined software: essential yes, but far from the more mature mirrorless menus in refinement and completeness.
Comparison with the Foveon: those who are in love with it know that the Foveon remains unbeatable in some "slow and reasoned" situations.
Opinion: After a few "real" releases I can say that the BF is exactly what the name promises: a beautiful foolishness. A camera that does not aim to be rational or universal, but to make you want to go out and photograph. The live BF looks more like a design object than a camera. It is an aluminum monoblock, thin and very clean, with a flat top and very few controls. The idea of the body made from a single block is fascinating and gives a feeling of remarkable solidity / stability; It is not an empty "box", but a small metal brick that appears dense in the hand. It is not very light, forget the 250 g pocket compact, the marketing idea that would like this Sigma to compete with the iPhone seems absurd to me. It is still compact, especially in thickness, and this makes it very portable in a backpack or crossbody. The ergonomics are better than it looks. Looking at it in the photo it seems almost anti-ergonomic, in reality in use the situation is less extreme. The grip is still decent thanks to the small right thumb rest on the back (a real integrated thumb rest) and the semi-rough texture on the right half of the front, which offers a minimum of friction to the hand. With these two things, plus a wrist strap or neck strap, I ride it quietly. It is not a "work" camera designed to mount heavy zooms and stay in the hand all day, but for street, city-scape and use "as an urban flâneur" I find it pleasant. I'm using it with the Panasonic Lumix S 18-40mm BF, which makes a lot more sense to me than with a Sigma heavy zoom. The 18-40 is compact, light, and gives you a real range for the way I photograph (street in a broad sense, cityscape, some ambient portraits). With an important Sigma lens in front of me, I imagine that the overall weight grows a lot and the balance loses its minimalist elegance. Having also an SD Quattro, the comparison with the Foveon was inevitable, but I must admit that comparing the two cameras does not make much sense. The Foveon remains unique for micro-detail, three-dimensionality and the way it draws certain lights, the BF itself offers balanced files, very usable already in JPEG, kept at high ISO. For real use, BF+Lumix produces files for me that I really like and on which I expect minimal PP. The autofocus of the BF, although not a sporty mirrorless top, is fairly performing, it hooks, it makes its mistakes, but overall it allows you to focus on the scene instead of fighting with fire. A painful chapter, as per tradition for Sigma, is the drums. The BF is energy-intensive by nature (screen always protagonist, full frame, no SD slot and all on internal memory). In summary, the BF is not the right camera for everyone, and probably does not even try to be. It's a minimalist full-frame, a bit crazy, which makes sense if you care more about the shooting experience than having all the possible functions, accept a modest autonomy in exchange for portability and tactile pleasure, you want clean, balanced files, with convincing colors already out-of-camera. Even for those coming from Sigma Foveon, in my opinion the BF is a valuable machine, less extreme character, but a modern, manageable and versatile rendering, which requires little post-production. In summary, if you are looking for a rational full frame, with infinite autonomy, traditional ergonomics and menus full of options, the BF is not for you. If, on the other hand, you are curious about the idea of an aluminum "tile" that combines radical design, portability, good image quality and a certain dose of beautiful foolishness, coupled with a light street lens (for me the Lumix 18-40 is a pleasant surprise), then it is a machine that can give a lot of satisfaction. |
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