Tamron has been making lenses since 1950 and experienced many significant shifts in the photography landscape. While the move from film to digital was perhaps the greatest transition of all, the adoption of mirrorless camera technology has also impacted Tamron’s business.
“Since the DSLR market peaked in 2012, it has been shrinking year by year. We made a full-scale entry into the mirrorless market in 2018,” Tamron’s Kota Misawa tells PetaPixel. Misawa is the manager of the Marketing Planning Department of Tamron’s Imaging Products Business Unit.
“Mirrorless cameras are more compact and lightweight compared to DSLRs, so we have developed lenses with the same compactness and lightness. Mirrorless lenses have become our main products,” Misawa continues.
Per Tamron’s fiscal year 2024 financial results, 88 billion yen in net sales in FY2024, which is nearly $600 million at current exchange rates. Of this revenue, photographic products comprised about 73%.
“There are no major challenges manufacturing mirrorless lenses [compared to DSLR lenses],” Tamron explains. “However, developing for a new mount requires compatibility with camera communication software, so software development and some other technical aspects were the most challenging.”
However, there are also advantages to making lenses for the latest mirrorless cameras.
“We prioritize compact and lightweight product planning, so our designs are based on utilizing available in-camera corrections.”
The available in-camera corrections have increased in the mirrorless age, which enables lens manufacturers like Tamron to rely more heavily on digital corrections and make smaller lenses. Historically, addressing optical shortcomings required lenses to be physically larger and use more glass.
“The extent to which we emphasize digital corrections versus physical designs depends on the concept,” Misawa adds. If a product prioritizes a compact design based on its price point and target user, it will rely more on digital lens corrections. In contrast, a lens designed for professional use will focus on optical corrections, resulting in a larger, heavier lens.
As mirrorless camera makers have embraced video features to cater to the growing hybrid segment, lens makers have had to adapt, too.
“With the increasing number of users shooting video, we are placing greater emphasis on minimizing focus breathing as well as improving AF silence and tracking performance,” Misawa says. Additionally, we offer the Tamron Lens Utility software to allow users to assign practical video shooting functions to their lenses with their PC or smartphone.”
Tamron is focused on responding to the changing photography market and consumer demand. PetaPixel has remarked a few times that, except for Tamron’s excellent 90mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD lens released last year, the company has only released zoom lenses since it released a trio of prime lenses for E-mount in 2020. After some uncertainty concerning Tamron’s desire to make more prime lenses last year, the company was clear at CP+ last month. If there is demand for prime lenses, Tamron will consider making them.
“In recent years, we have released many zoom lenses primarily because of strong consumer demand. However, this doesn’t mean we are not considering prime lenses.”
Although demand impacts Tamron’s product planning, as expected, the company adds that it sometimes makes lenses nobody specifically asked for. Tamron is well known for creating unique lenses, like the 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di II VXD and 50-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD zooms featured in PetaPixel‘s “Favorite Weird Zooms.”
“The specifications and features customers seek depend on their shooting style. So based on customer feedback, we plan and develop unique lenses to expand the range of options available.”
Sometimes, a familiar lens that overlaps with the focal length and aperture offered by competing lenses best serves customer demand. In other cases, Tamron decides it can respond to specific needs with a lens nobody has seen or considered before.
“By clarifying the concept and target of a new product, the product development team narrows down the necessary functions and then our design department develops affordable, high-quality lenses through trial and error,” Misawa explains. “Of course, when we are developing new products, we must not forget our in-house know-how we have accumulated over many years.”
Tamron also knows the photography market is shifting toward more expensive, premium products. The answer to whether Tamron will ever compete directly against premium optics like Canon L, Sony G Master, Nikon S-Line, or Sigma Art lenses depends on what people want.
“We will continue to listen to our customers, and if there is strong demand for high-end lenses, we will plan and develop such products.”
As for how Tamron receives feedback from photographers, the company uses a multi-faceted approach.
“Our company gathers user needs through direct interactions at events, conducting surveys, reviewing online reviews, and analyzing market data,” Misawa concludes.
So, if photographers want prime lenses or premium Tamron optics, Tamron says they only need to ask.
Image credits: Header image image created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.
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