Sigma CEO says it couldn't keep up with demand in Q4 2021, might see chip shortage affect production in 2022

You need food, you don't need lenses.
If you need a new or different lens, there are thousands of them available now, used and new.

You may WANT a new, specific lens, right now, and if you cannot obtain it, it's no big deal.

If you think it's a big issue, as I said, you've got other issues to deal with.

Why do you click "like" on your own comments? Isn't that a bit sad? You think your opinion is the only correct one and you click like on your own comments. That's quite telling.

What if you need those lenses to put food on the table?

While I agree that original post is a bit condescending, i have hard time imagining having a dire need for one specific lens that does not have an equivalent with better availability. It may be optically worse, used or for a different mount, but it's not like any of these three are that big of a problem for someone that shoots photos for a living...

a) I haven't liked any of my own posts
b) Is it really that difficult to understand that you can get by taking photos with a similar lens that isn't, as the post above says, exactly the specific brand or specification you want?

For example, if you wanted a sigma 85mm f1.4 Art but you had to use a Sony or a Nikon with the same specifications, is that a big deal?

When photographers are winning awards with cheap zooms and 5 year old bodies, waiting a few weeks or months for your new toy isn't a big deal. It's certainly at the top of the pile of first world problems.

And that was the point of my initial post.

@Johans81: It's marketing, son. Companies always blow their own trumpets....If you shoot multisystem you will know Sigmas are the most readily available...

I think they under-cook it.
They have many class leading products that are affordable, made in Japan build quality and available to multiple mounts/systems.

Imagine this space without Sigma, it would be horrible.

Their lenses are great value for performance

You can probably tell Terry Hastings who has been waiting for 3 sigma lenses for over 9 weeks in UK. Perhaps you know something he doesn't (or likely he will tell you something you don't)

Johan, did you already know Pylorus was your biological father?

I guess the three main optimisations are:
"Just in time" inventory
Purchasing from low-manufacturing-cost distant countries.
Reducing to one supplier for any given component.
(And yes, all these lose the safety-net)

Our supply manager says he is most shocked by the enormous variety of reasons for the shortages. It's specially that point that tells him this will be a long road.

That's what happens when governments are destroying their economies with insane and often illegal measures,

Yeah some people have no idea why their is a chip shortage pretty amusing their comspirscy theorys like the one where canon is Dead and use chip shortage as an excuse for the poor demand. Their is alot of good documentys about the chip shortage but this summed it up pretty good

Photodog, if your wife's government gave its citizens advice that worked instead of recommending loosely fitting cloth masks that do next to nothing and vaccines built for an almost extinct variant, maybe your wife wouldn't be dealing with as difficult a time. My utmost respect goes to her and all medical workers that have had to pick up the pieces of this disastrously dealt with problem.

This. We spent 40 years in pursuit of a chimera of cost control and "standing on your own two feet" and what we actually did was remove safety margin from the system. There is no slack anymore -- no storing, no "float, if you will -- and products are shipped "just in time" and we still manage to have bigger warehouses than ever. All it took was one government in a net exporting country, China, to go medieval on shutdowns and the supply chain across the whole rest of the world gets thrown into chaos. Meanwhile in net importing countries governments lowered taxes on the rich and cut investment for the past 40 years, with the net effect of rewarding capital but disincentivizing labor. Capital has spent it on overpaying CEOs while labor is quitting in record numbers. The result? An economy that's not able to fulfill the rebound increase in pent-up demand from the pandemic -- 18 percent up on 2019 in terms of goods shipped and we're still running short of supplies and services.

I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere.

Very true. Our beach is going away and the ocean is getting closer to the house with each high tide. 2 days ago at high tide our coastal city had 2 feet of salt water running down main street, washing away the top soil and sand. Do they use the same sand for lenses?
Roger J.

Actually, it is tin that is missing in the production process, since it is mainly used for the production of tin foil hats.

semiconductor shortage is real and is a problem for any electronic device manufacturer. Not only consumer electronics.

Its actually not one single problem but several.

From large scale powercuts in China, to shipping containers being on the wrong place at the wrong time. It all adds up making this a long lasting problem. They talk semiconductor shortage, but its actually a component shortage

"They talk semiconductor shortage, but its actually a component shortage"

Normally, our production operations require all components to have a certain pedigree, and procurement will refuse to work with certain suppliers due to past issues that caused production problems but would not bother a development engineer.

A few coworkers have told me that there have been a few cases where deviations/waivers were signed such that production ops could raid development engineering's stashes of connectors to keep the lines going.

Yup, that's right - for many companies, even connectors are becoming problematic. Probably for similar reasons - automotive manufacturers reduced their quantity outlooks, their suppliers gave up fab slots/chose to order less raw material, then when automotive manufacturers wanted stuff again, the whole supply chain got hosed.

and prices go up up up 50% until no one buys buys buys then they have a sale at 25% off. All is good???

I agree Foskito, but some seem to be waiting for them.

Nikon Z9 users are into heavy stuff.

And in our damned if you do, and damned if you don't department..

"Fuji doesn't need 850 grams of prime lenses."

"Fuji made the mistake of not opening their lens mount like Sony."

Well, which is it?

I'm pretty excited at the prospect of native Sigma glass for my Fuji, BTW :-D

I only said Fuji doesn't need those fugly sigma monsters, not that there was a mistake not opening their mount.

There are lots of stellar Fujinon lenses to choose from.

Fuji getting 850g primes? Naw. But the new 300g 18-50/2.8? Heck yes. The only standard-range fast zoom that's even remotely interesting to me, because of it's small size and weight.

That's too bad. Year and half ago I was using 3 Sigma lenses. Now I upgraded to Canon RF and got new lenses from Canon because there is basically no alternative, only one I got from Samyang. So I ended up being still big Sigma fan but using zero of their gear.

Sigma has been doing great stuff with size and weight reduction on their Sony mirrorless lenses. The EF lenses are all great, but huge.

considering size and price of Sigma lenses, i prefer Canon OEM glass.

Currently i am buying hardly-used, mint condition Canon EF L glass dumped by "switch to Sony and early adopters of RF" ... at rock bottom prices. Next on my shopping list: EF 16-35/4 L IS for € 500 and EF 85/1.4 L IS for € 800 ... no supply shortages at all! And no competitively priced Sigma alternatives. :-)

Life is good, even without Sigma lenses (and even better without Sigma cameras), Mr. Yamaki.

Finds no utility in social media yet has thousands and thousands and thousands of posts on this social media site.

@blse59, Well spotted. To make matters worse, posting here is not even my most egregious indulgence in utility-less behavior.

Whether you get a honest answer is another story.

Kazuto Yamaki-san is the most honest and straight forward CEO you'll ever deal with. You ask a question you get an honest answer. He doesn't beat around the bush about what's going on.
Roger J.