Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-04-18)

8 18 April 2020 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113

AP meets Tamron

For the final report from his recent trip to Japan

following the CP+ show cancellation, Geoff Harris sits

down with some top people from Tamron

WITH an aggressive marketing
strategy, a commitment to
high-quality yet affordable lenses
and savvy targeting of Sony users,
Tamron is a company punching
above its weight. Tamron’s R&D
and manufacturing budgets
maybe be dwarfed by the likes of
the big camera makers, but that
doesn’t stop it hard charging for
market share, despite stiff

competition. There’s a lot of

interest in its latest lens, the

70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD for

Sony E-mount, with the VXD

standing for Voice-coil eXtreme-

torque Drive – this technology

enables quieter, quicker AF drives

and is a big breakthrough,

according to the company.

To find out more about this lens

and Tamron’s future plans, I went

to the firm’s HQ in Saitama, north

west of Tokyo, to meet Kenji

Nagakawa, Product Manager of

Product Planning Dept, Imaging

Products Business Unit, along with

Minoru Ando, General Manager of

the Optical Design and

Engineering Research and

Development Unit, and Kumiko

Saito, Manager of the Marketing

Planning Dept, Imaging Products

Business Unit. The welcome was

as warm as ever.

AP Had Tamron been

planning to announce any

new lenses at CP+?

KN Not for the moment. We were

supposed to show the 70-

180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD, which is

already announced, and were

looking forward to consumers

getting to grips with it – but that is

no longer possible, obviously.

AP What are the particular

strong points of this new lens?

KN It’s a full-frame mirrorless lens

Geoff with Tamron’s Minoru
Ando (left) and Kenji
Nakagawa (right)