Firmware Friday: Better AF for E-mount Sigma lenses

posted Friday, July 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM EDT

Our Firmware Friday roundup this week is a single-company affair, with only Japan's Sigma Corp. having released any updates in the past seven days. If you're not shooting a Sigma lens on a Sony E-mount body, you can move along now, safe in the knowledge that there's no new firmware for your gear this week. If you use Sigma glass on E-mount, though, then read on!

In all, Sigma has updated nine lenses this week. The full list is as follows:

14mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art
20mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
24mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
50mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
105mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art
135mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art

All nine updates are focus-related, although the specifics do vary for a couple of models. The 40mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens gets a fix for incorrectly showing a magnified view while using autofocus with camera bodies supporting Direct Manual Focus. That's the only change for this model. The remainder of the lenses share their updates, with the exception of the 105mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art for one point. The list of changes is as follows:

Improved AF speed (except 105mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art)
Improved AF accuracy when the Face Detection setting is turned on while using AF.
With the Sony A9 or Sony A6400, corrected the phenomenon whereby the AF stopping position occasionally had a variation when shutter was half pressed repeatedly during auto focusing on the same subject.

To update your lenses, you'll need Sigma's USB dock accessory and its Optimization Pro software. And that's all for this week -- be sure to check back next time for more Firmware Friday news!

**Worried you might've missed a critical update lately? Don't be! Just click here for all recent Firmware Friday articles!**