On the occasion of CP+ 2025, we had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Kota Misawa, Marketing Planning Manager in the Imaging Products Business Unit at Tamron Co., Ltd.
With him, we discussed the company’s new production capabilities, the latest developments of Tamron lenses for the RF mount, as well as the return to prime lenses with the 90mm macro. There was even mention of a certain Godzilla… Now, on to the interview.
In 2024, Tamron unveiled its first RF-mount lens for APS-C. When can we expect the arrival of full-frame lenses?
Considering the current and future market environment, we will expand lens selection options for users of Canon RF mount.
The 90mm F/2.8 Di III Macro VXD marked Tamron’s return to the prime lens market for mirrorless cameras. Can we hope to see bright prime lenses (f/1.4 or faster) coming soon, like in the DSLR era?
As usual, we are unable to provide details about our new product roadmap. However, we intend to pursue the development of prime lenses, so you can look in for some of them.
The Tamron 50-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD was released in Z-mount in 2024. How has this lens been received by Nikon users?
The lens has received high praise from Nikon users for its focal length starting from 50mm, image quality, AF performance, and build. The sales are in line with our expectations.
After the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD, can we expect other unique bright zoom lenses from you? This seems to be the trend with Sony and Canon.
Again, we are unable to provide details about our new product roadmap. However, we will continue to listen to our customers’ needs as we plan new unique products. Please look forward to it.
Internally, are you exploring the development of specialized lenses (super-macro, tilt-shift, etc.) for mirrorless cameras? This would align well with your strategy of offering “unique lenses”?
That could be one of the options we might consider, but we can’t reveal exactly what we’re working on right now. All possibilities remain open.
We will continue to listen to our customers’ needs as we develop unique products. Please stay tuned for future announcements.
Can you share with us what are the needs from customers? What kind of request do you receive from end users?
Currently, prime lenses are in particularly high demand. We’re also receiving numerous requests for high-specification lenses.
Overall, Tamron has very good economic results, particularly in the photo lens segment. How do you explain this?
First and foremost, as I told you before, we listen to our customers’ needs when planning our products, while continuously improving performance aspects such as AF capabilities, Vibration Compensation, and the feel of the focus ring. As a result, our products have been well received by customers, which we believe has contributed to our good business performance.
Additionally, we have increased our annual new product release pace from five lenses to six or seven lenses per year, and our ability to develop lenses for four mount systems: E-mount, Z-mount, X-mount, and RF-mount.
Looking ahead, we plan to further accelerate our launch pace, aiming to introduce up to 10 new lenses annually.
Could you give us a glimpse into the next technological innovations Tamron is currently working on for its future lenses?
With the increasing number of users shooting videos, we are making greater efforts to minimize focus breathing and enhance AF silence and tracking performance. At the same time, we continue to improve AF performance and Vibration Compensation as we always have.
Additionally, we plan to update Tamron Lens Utility and introduce new functions at a pace of once per year.
How do you explain that on Sony cameras, your lenses are limited to only 15 fps in AF-C burst mode? Is this a constraint imposed by Sony?
We apologize, but we are unable to provide detailed information.
TLU Mobile for iPhone: now that Apple has switched to USB-C on its iPhones, will you be able to develop the application for iOS?
We believe that’s technically possible.
Some of our users are asking for wireless connection betwen TLU and the lens. Is this something you are considering?
That is one of the options, I think.
Can you tell us more about the new factory in Vietnam that should open in 2025? What is the purpose of this new facility, will photo lenses be produced there?
The purpose is to support mid-to-long-term business expansion, strengthen our ability to ensure a stable supply chain, and enhance cost competitiveness. We plan to produce photographic lenses there as well and as I mentioned earlier, we will achieve the launch of 10 models per year.
Currently, China accounts for 65% of our production and Vietnam around 25%. However, we’re planning to redistribute this to 45% in China, 45% in Vietnam, and 10% in Japan to create a more stable production infrastructure.
Do you have specific lenses produced in Japan?
Technically, any model can be produced in any of our factories. However, our Japan facility functions as the mother factory.
I asked you this question because “made in Japan” is considered superior by most European users.
We recognize the wrong stereotype that made-in-Japan products are superior to those made in China or Vietnam.
At Tamron, we have established a mass production system that maintains Japanese quality across all our factories through collaboration between our mother factory in Aomori and our overseas factories, as well as through communication of engineers between each factory.
As a result, we can confidently say that products manufactured in Vietnam and China meet or even exceed the quality of those made in Japan.
These efforts allow us to offer high-quality lenses at reasonable prices to our customers.
Could you tell us about your CP+ stage featuring Godzilla and MechaGodzilla? What was the inspiration behind this?
For the past two years, we have been showcasing fun shooting objects. This is because we believe that not only photography enthusiasts but also those who usually take photos with their smartphones can experience the charm of shooting with an interchangeable lens camera.
Our past two exhibitions were a great success, so we had a hard time deciding what kind of subject to choose this year.
We found a common theme between Godzilla, which continues to break conventions and provide extraordinary experiences worldwide, and our company, which continues to break conventions by creating groundbreaking lenses. This led us to plan a collaboration.
For example, with the 28-75mm f/2.8 lens, the conventional standard focal range was 24-70mm. However, we were the first in the industry to adopt the 28-75mm range for mirrorless cameras, achieving a compact lens despite its f/2.8 aperture.
Thank you to Mr. Kota Misawa and Tamron Co., Ltd. for this interview. We also thank the Tamron France team for organizing this meeting.
