Earlier this year, as Pye took delivery of an early Canon 1DX MK II with original firmware, we noticed just before he was heading to shoot a weekend long wedding that there was an extremely strange effect occurring on the image when the 1DX was paired with some Sigma ART glass. It look like this:

canon-1dxmkii-sigma-art-lens-35mm-85mm-photography-wedding-gear-slrlounge-kishore-sawh-3

Now, that was troubling for many reasons, and chief among which was that we all love the Sigma ART glass, so that there was this strange happening which rendered the lenses unusable on that camera was a major disappointment, and Pye had to adjust his gear usage accordingly. Thankfully, the problem was addressed and rectified quickly due to our posting, and we have firmware updates to thank for it. But it seems once again Canon and Sigma just aren’t playing nice together.

Sigma has released a Canon 5D Mark IV incompatibility warning, and the problems seems to be much like the one we experienced with the 1DX MK II. Actually, almost if not identical, with the same work around we reported before the official fix.

Sigma’s Statement:

Thank you for purchasing and using our products.
Please find the following notes on the usage of SIGMA interchangeable lenses for EOS, when attached to Canon EOS 5D Mark IV that is released on September 8th.

  • MO (Manual Override) function is unavailable with this camera (Full-time Manual function can be offered).
  • When using a SIGMA interchangeable lens for EOS, setting the corrections to [Disable] is recommended, as “Lens Correction” functions of the camera, such as Peripheral illumination correction, Chromatic aberration correction, Diffraction correction and Distortion correction are not supported.*

* If those functions are activated, the performance of lenses may not be accurate.
* This is not only for EOS 5D Mark IV, but also for other camera bodies with the same function.
We appreciate your continued support for our company and products.

[REWIND: Canon 5D Mark IV Official Review | Gear Talk Episode 13]

Interestingly, however, this note from Sigma suggests that this problem is not only an issue for the 5D Mark IV, but to a varying degree across the entire EOS range.

Will Canon and or Sigma figure out a way to fix these problems via firmware? Probably, but it would likely help if any of you test and find these problems and let the companies know. You can find the Sigma official note here.