Just a week ago, Sigma announced a firmware update for three of its lenses that should be especially useful for owners of Sony’s premium a9 III cameras.
The update applies to the Sigma brand’s 50mm F1.4 DG DN, 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro, and 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN optics.
Much more importantly though, for owners of Sony’s top-shelf a9 III mirrorless camera, the firmware lets these three lenses shoot at up to 120fps if paired with this Sony device.
This specific detail alone makes this particular firmware update very unusual and worth mentioning.
The reason why is that Sony itself has a history of limiting third-party lens makers to a maximum shooting speed of just 15fps its Alpha mirrorless cameras.
For a number of the newer models among these cameras, 15fps is well below their real maximum shooting speed, which has generally been reserved only for use with Sony’s own lenses.
Thus, a third-party firmware update that lets a lens from that brand match the shooting speed of Sony’s fastest mirrorless camera is definitely unique.
Sigma’s 50mm F1.4 DG DN, one of the three lenses now capable of 120fps shooting with the a9 III
Before you get too excited, the update has its limitations. The most crucial is that the three Sigma menses can’t deliver 120fps shooting if your Sony a9 III is running with continuous autofocus.
The newly improved shooting speed only works with AF-S and manual focus. Also, as mentioned, the update only applies to the Sony a9 III and no other Sony Alpha camera.
As to why the increased shooting speed is now possible with these lenses but only with this one camera and without being functional during continuous AF, we don’t know, though I would guess that Sony is still limiting the level of compatibility for now.
On the other hand, it could be that Sigma still needs to develop compatibility further in its lenses for even more features to work.
Whatever the case may be, if you own one of Sigma’s 50mm F1.4 DG DN, 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro, or 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN lenses, you can download the update free of charge from the company’s firmware downloads page here.
