Sigma’s first venture into the ultra-compact 28-200mm ‘superzoom’ market hit the shelves in March 1996 and shared the plaudits with the Tamron of similar ilk over the next few months, generally coming out just ahead. Named the UC for Ulta-Compact, its size was one of its major selling points, being some 10mm shorter than its predecessor. The lens was designed to accept a matched Apochromatic close-up lens (AML) which reduced the minimum focus distance from 1.5m to 0.56m and gave an impressive reproduction ratio of 1:2.