Factory tour shows how Sigma makes its 70-200mm f/2.8 lens

It’s time once again. We’ve been graced by another episode of “how it’s made – camera gear edition”. It’s an unpredictable series, and I don’t think there’s anyone leading it. But this time, it’s the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG DN OS Sports ($1,389) lens.

Posted to YouTube by ProcessX, the 25-minute-long video goes into quite some detail. It covers everything from initially grinding the glass elements to boxing it up, ready for the store.

Lens building is surprisingly hypnotic

Watching someone – or several someones across the run of a production line – build a lens is quite a mesmerising experience. You just find yourself watching, fascinated by what’s going on. It’s very satisfying, especially when there’s no narration.

This is handy, because there’s no narration in this one. There are, however, subtitles that will pop up throughout the video. When they do appear, they explain more of the context and the part of the process you’re looking at.

All the way through, from grinding the raw glass to polishing it to optical perfect, it’s difficult to look away. But with those complete, we see the individual components of the lens barrels being manufactured. Of course, we then see them assembled into the final lens.

We don’t give lenses enough respect for the amount of work they actually do. We often complain about their performance or sharpness. But when you see how complex these things are, you can understand why they may sometimes not quite be perfect – especially if you bought cheap.

This isn’t the first time ProcessX has taken a peek behind the scenes at Sigma. He also brought us assembly footage of the Sigma fp ($1,899) mirrorless camera.

[via PetaPixel]