Big test: Sigma BF
Posted on Nov 7, 2025 by Pro Moviemaker
Is minimalism enough?
With a carved aluminium shell and stripped-back controls, Sigma’s BF is beautiful but fails as a usable video machine
Words Adam Duckworth
It’s pretty easy to fall in love with the appearance of a camera that goes against the norm. The Sigma BF is definitely not an all-function-and-sod-the-looks machine, and equally it doesn’t fall into the retro styling trap that so many others do. Instead, it’s a modern, brutally minimalist design featuring an understated unibody carved from a solid block of aluminium, which takes seven hours.
Design over functionality
It uses L-Mount lenses – perfect for Sigma’s latest Contemporary series of primes and, like these optics, it comes in silver or black. The BF has pressure-sensitive haptic buttons and a single control dial with no eyelets for camera straps. It might cost £1969/$2199 for the body only, but it’s designed to be a fresh and simple camera that is intuitive and a joy to use.
For still photographers who want to feel special when they use their camera, it has its undeniable charms. Sadly, that does not translate to video use as the BF makes very little sense, rendering it a compromised choice for hybrid content creators.
It has no viewfinder or card slot, a fixed screen, no way of attaching an EVF, just four buttons and one USB-C port. There’s no mechanical shutter or image stabilisation when shooting stills and battery life isn’t great. You can buy a far more capable camera for far less money. But that’s missing the point. It’s a thing of beauty to look at and can take lovely images.
Image quality and colour modes
Fortunately, Sigma hasn’t skimped on some important aspects such as image quality. Inside is a 24.6-megapixel BSI full-frame sensor, as well as phase detection autofocus with subject detection modes that work very well. Images are recorded to 230GB of internal memory, which can store thousands of Raw files or more than 2.5 hours of video at the highest 6K setting. Transfer them via the USB-C port, which offers fast data transfer and charging. But of course it’s not as a convenient as a big, fat CFexpress card.
With so few physical controls, the user interface is vital and also has a refined, streamlined look. The main shooting settings are displayed on the live view screen, with secondary settings in the optional menu and more detailed settings in the system menu. The default live view screen shows the basic info like shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, aperture and colour mode. But all of that can be hidden to allow a clean view of the subject.
It sounds good, but the buttons and menu system take some getting used to. It’s definitely style over real-world speed and usability but you’d expect this from such an anti-retro camera.
With the colour mode being so prominent on the home screen, Sigma obviously thinks that users will regularly be changing between the 13 different looks, which are Standard, Rich, Calm, Powder Blue, Warm Gold, Teal and Orange, FOV Classic Blue, FOV Classic Yellow, Forest Green, Sunset Red, Cinema, 709 Look and Monochrome. These do give some decent straight-out-of-camera options. However, if you prefer shooting standard colour and doing the processing post-capture, you can.
You’ll get great images – sharp and detailed with low noise, wonderful colours and lots of headroom for you to play with in the edit. The camera produces lovely-looking files both in stills and video.
Video capabilities
The BF does support 6K video in up to 30fps and goes up to 120fps in HD, with recording up to an hour on one charge. There is L-Log recording to maximise dynamic range. But there’s certainly no Raw internal recording or even external recording of any sort. There’s no choice of Long GOP or All-Intra, or bit rates. No shutter angle option, just shutter speed. And without an articulating screen, using the BF for video is a right pain. It’s difficult to see in bright light and you have to get your eye down to camera level. But if that’s a low shot, you’ll find yourself on your knees.
The camera has a built-in mic for scratch audio, but no 3.5mm input for an external mic or headphones for monitoring. You can use a USB-C mic or headphones, but not both at the same time of course. Video footage is stunning, but it’s too hard to make it a viable moviemaking machine.
But if you understand that fact, recognise the camera’s true reason for being and stick to stills or the odd bit of video for fun, you may have found a new tool that brings you visual pleasure in all ways.
Specifications
- Price: £1969/$2199
- Sensor: 35.9×23.9mm full-frame BSI CMOS, 24.6 megapixels
- Stills formats: JPEG, Raw in 1:1, 2:1, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, 21:9, 14-bit
- Video formats: H.264/265, 6K at 29.97fps, FHD to 120fps
- Storage: Internal 230GB
- ISO range: 100-102,400
- Shutter: Electronic, 30secs-1/25,600sec
- Exposure modes: PASM
- Lens mount: L
- Screen: 3.15in fixed touchscreen, 2.1 million dots
- Connectivity: USB-C
- Battery: BP-81, 260 shots
- Focusing: C-AF, S-AF, manual
- Stabilisation: In video only
- Dimensions (wxhxd): 130.1×72.8×36.8mm/5.1×2.9×1.4in
- Weight: 446g/0.98lb body only
The verdict
The Sigma BF doesn’t make a lot of sense when compared to what its rivals can do. But if you value creative constraint and aesthetic boldness, it may be for you. You could think of it as a modern Leica-style experience at half the cost. It excels in stills, with elegant control, rich image quality and design that inspires. But for video use or as a hybrid stills-and-video tool, it’s far from the best.
How it rates
Features: 6
It omits a massive list of must-haves like an EVF, a memory card or even strap lugs
Performance: 7
Lovely colours and very low noise. AF not great for tracking
Handling: 5
A nightmare for video with few dedicated buttons and a fixed screen, plus no EVF
Value for money: 7
At the price there are lots more capable cameras but not as cool
Overall rating: 6/10
A stylish and small camera with great images but not ideal for video purposes
- Pros: Super-stylish, great image quality, decent-size memory, solid body
- Cons: Fixed touchscreen, no EVF, quirky handling, poor video options
This review was first published in the November/December 2025 issue of Pro Moviemaker
