Tamron’s business is booming, especially white label lenses (But No RF Yet)

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If camera makers and lens makers were all put in the same bucket, Tamron would be the third largest player in the market now, due to another year of 20 percent growth in its lens division. Tamron sold about $450 million worth of lenses in 2021, a striking figure roughly half the amount of Canon’s own photo division revenues. This makes Tamron a very close third, just behind Sony, as a competitor to Canon.
While it sells most lenses under its own brand, an increasing proportion of its products are sold under the brand names of camera makers. Panasonic and Sony, among other manufacturers, have relied on Tamron to produce lenses, often of Tamron’s own design. The Tamron 35mm f/1.8 design in the picture above, for instance, was remarketed later as a Sony/Zeiss lens. These sorts of contracts now comprise about 40 percent of Tamron’s lens sales, up from about 33 percent last year.
With Canon increasingly...

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[Dragon]

What that actually says is that Sony is quite a bit smaller than they look (since Tamron makes a lot of their lenses. When you think about it, in real manufacturing terms, Tamron may actually be number 2. Sony owns about 11% of Tamron so the there is a very tight connection. Tamron is also very big in automotive lenses and cameras and thus a big customer for Sony sensors. This also explains why Canon is not generous with lens control protocols to 3rd party manufacturers, particularly Tamron (given the closeness to Sony).

 

[LogicExtremist]

What that actually says is that Sony is quite a bit smaller than they look (since Tamron makes a lot of their lenses. When you think about it, in real manufacturing terms, Tamron may actually be number 2. Sony owns about 11% of Tamron so the there is a very tight connection. Tamron is also very big in automotive lenses and cameras and thus a big customer for Sony sensors. This also explains why Canon is not generous with lens control protocols to 3rd party manufacturers, particularly Tamron (given the closeness to Sony).

It's not an apples for apples comparison. It's been said that Sony is a camera company that also makes lenses, while Canon is a lens company that also makes cameras. Looking at things that way, it puts things into perspective much better.

 

[Serenesunrise]

It's not an apples for apples comparison. It's been said that Sony is a camera company that also makes lenses, while Canon is a lens company that also makes cameras. Looking at things that way, it puts things into perspective much better.

Sony is a huge electronics multinational company…it never was and never will be just a camera company

 

[LogicExtremist]

I know, and I never implied that it was! I was talking about the photography market, but I was quoting what I read without the obvious qualifiers.

 

[Dragon]

It's not an apples for apples comparison. It's been said that Sony is a camera company that also makes lenses, while Canon is a lens company that also makes cameras. Looking at things that way, it puts things into perspective much better.

True, but $ earned in a market still determine the size of a company in that market.

 

[melgross]

Tamron makes/made at least one lens for Olympus, though I forget which it is.

 

[angelisland]

It’s great that a third-party lens company is now making some great, well received (and affordable) lenses!

 

[asingleredcactus@h]

Tamron is great and I'd buy one of their lenses if I knew it was going to work properly.

 

[asingleredcactus@h]

Sony is a huge electronics multinational company…it never was and never will be just a camera company

Sony technically bought their way into the current camera industry via their acquisition of Minolta. To be sure, Sony made attempts early in the days of digital cameras to enter the market, but they were fended off quite handily by the established players. After Sony acquired Minolta they gained access to a wealth of ILC camera IP, most of which they simply chucked down the toilet bowl. The acquisition temporarily gave them the opportunity to put the Sony name on a bunch of "real cameras" that used to be Minolta cameras. Now of course Sony has their own "E" mount, which could have been derived from Minolta tech. Sony is a "camera company" now because they bought Minolta.

 

[chasingrealness]

The Tamron 28-75mm and 70-180mm f/2.8 lenses would be very welcome in my kit.

 

[Sporgon]

Tamron is great and I'd buy one of their lenses if I knew it was going to work properly.

I can vouch for the 45mm f/1.8 VC and 85mm f/1.8 on two Canon 5DS. Zero AFMA on both and accurate AF though certainly slower than the equivalent EF lenses. The 85 is even 95% accurate with outer AF points, the 45 is not.

 

[AlanF]

Sony is a huge electronics multinational company…it never was and never will be just a camera company

Canon is also a huge multinational company with wide-ranging activities but it's only a fifth of the size of Sony with a market cap of $25.74 Billion campared with $129.37 Billion

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