by Tim Berry
Sigma UK
The full-frame Sigma BF is, without doubt, one of the most stylish and innovative cameras of the past decade. With its radically minimal design and sleek aluminium body, it looks unlike anything else on the market, winning Best Camera in the coveted Monocle Design Awards 2025.
But it’s not just about looks. The BF feels different too. Its smartphone-inspired ergonomics make it effortless and intuitive to use, while its elegant and streamlined menu system puts the ten most essential settings just a tap away. Sigma hasn’t merely refined existing ideas, it’s asked the question ‘what is a camera for, and exactly how should it work’, and the result is a radically different product to what we’re all used to.
I’ve been using the BF for about five months, and for me, it really shines as an artistic tool. There’s something about it that seems to give the photographer a leg-up toward more expressive, and more creative images. It’s compact and lightweight – perfect for documentary, street, fashion, portraiture, and architectural work – and because it’s so intuitive to use, it’s never in the way of a great photo. Where a typical mirrorless setup can feel cumbersome, the BF is breezy and nimble, which means I reach for it far more often. Surely that’s the most valuable quality a camera can offer: to make you want to use it. To take more chances. To rediscover joy in the art of photography.
I recently took the BF to the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival in France, where I spent an hour capturing portraits around the city’s narrow, bustling streets. I used the 35mm F2 DG C, and, inspired by much of the photography on show around the town, I worked entirely in the camera’s Mono Color Mode.
One of the most compelling qualities of the BF is that it makes it easy to work incognito. Mostly shooting from the hip, all of my images here are candid, and in the time I was shooting no one noticed me taking their portrait. This is ideal if you’re trying to capture natural looking images in a documentary style. The phase and contrast detect AF is extremely fast and accurate, and the facial recognition focusing is superb, which means you don’t need the camera anywhere near your face to achieve sharp focus on your subject.
Documentary and street photography relies heavily on being able to work quickly. When you’re trying to capture a passing moment in time, there’s usually only a brief opportunity to get the shot, and missing it can be very frustrating. This is where the BF really comes into its own. The menu system and button layout are remarkably simple – probably the most pared-back interface of any camera on the market – so accessing key settings couldn’t be easier. On the back of the camera there are four buttons and one dial, and there’s just one button on the top plate.
The menu is divided into three levels. The top level, which is accessed by pressing the centre button, only contains the 10 most commonly used settings, such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO. This is also tied in with how the camera mode is selected, such as aperture priority or manual, negating the need for a mode dial. The less commonly changed settings are stored in the other two menu levels so that they don’t clutter up the top level. It’s brilliantly simple.
Granted, it does take a few days to get the hang of, as you have to forget everything you’ve learned about how cameras usually work, but once you’ve adjusted, it feels like all other cameras on the market have been in the same user interface rut since the 1980s. The BF feels like the future.
But of course, no camera is an island. It can only properly shine when it is paired with the right optics. The BF is L-Mount, and any L-Mount lens can be used natively. This opens up the entirety of Sigma’s mirrorless lens range, which numbers some 45 prime and zoom lenses ranging from 14mm to 600mm. And also Panasonic’s full-frame lenses, Leica’s L-Mount lenses, and a few from several other smaller lens manufacturers. That makes BF users spoilt for choice when it comes to lens availability, unlike some cameras on the market, where users are largely tied in to optics from a single brand. My favourite lenses for the BF are Sigma’s I series range, which comprises nine premium, all-metal primes ranging from 17mm to 90mm. With the introduction of the BF, the I series range has been released in silver and black finishes to match the two editions of the camera.
You can get hands on with the BF at selected UK retailers, or visit the Sigma pop-up store in London from 13-22 September 2025. The store is a3 33 Museum Street, Bloomsbury, a few yards from the British Museum. Find out more at sigmauk.com/popup.
ABOUT
TIM BERRY
Sigma UK
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