Lens manufacturers background

[archon75]

Sigma Corp.
Sigma Corporation (株式会社シグマ ,Kabushiki-gaisha Shiguma?) is a Japanese company founded in 1961, manufacturing cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan. Although Sigma produces several camera models, the company is best known for producing lenses and other accessories that are compatible with the cameras produced by other companies.[1]

Sigma produces products to work with cameras from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Konica Minolta, Sony, Olympus and Panasonic, as well as for their own cameras.

Sigma lenses are usually less expensive than the equivalent offering from the manufacturer of the camera body in question, so are therefore often sold bundled with a camera body as a less expensive alternative to the manufacturer's body and lens kit.

Sigma's digital SLRs, the SD9, SD10 and SD14, are unusual in their use of the Foveon X3 image sensor. All use the SA lens mount. The DP1 and DP2, high-end compact P&S cameras, also use the Foveon X3 image sensor, which gives it a much larger sensor than other cameras of this type.






Tokina Company History:
Tokina was founded by a group of Nikon engineers who left Nikon to concentrate on the development of high-quality zoom lenses, which were rare at the time. Originally an OEM manufacturer only, in the early 1970s they began selling lenses under their own Tokina brand.[1]

In recent years, Tokina has enjoyed a partnership with Pentax, with whom they have jointly developed new lenses, such as a 12–24 mm zoom and a 10–17 mm fisheye zoom.[2] These are available under the Pentax brand in Pentax K mount and under the Tokina brand for other lens mounts.

The jointly developed lenses share optical designs but have different barrel designs. They also have different features. For example, Tokina released a new version of the 12-24mm ("AT-X 124 AF Pro DX II") with silent in-lens autofocus, while the Pentax version still has screwdrive autofocus. Another example is that the Pentax 16-50mm and 50-135mm have both screwdrive and silent in-lens autofocus, so you get screwdrive autofocus on old bodies, and silent in-lens autofocus on newer bodies. The Tokina versions of the 16-50mm and 50-135mm have only screw-drive autofocus, requiring manual focus some Nikon bodies including the D40 and D60. Another example is that the Pentax 16-50mm and 50-135mm are weathersealed, while the Tokina versions are not.

As of March 2009, the six lenses released in both Tokina and Pentax versions are the 12-24mm f/4.0, 16-50mm f/2.8, 50-135mm f/2.8, 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye, 100mm /2.8 macro, and 35mm f/2.8 macro. The first one was the 12-24mm, in 2005.

Tokina lenses released since the beginning of the collobaration that have not been released in Pentax versions are the 11-16mm f/2.8 and the 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6. Also, the announced Tokina 16.5-135mm f/3.5-5.6 and 18-80mm f/2.8 have not been announced in Pentax versions. Tokina no longer lists any lenses on its website that predate the collaboration. The last lens Tokina released before the collaboration was the 28-70mm f/2.8, in 2002.

Pentax lenses released since the beginning of the collaboration that have not been released in Tokina versions are the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (all three versions), 17-70mm f/4.0, 60-250mm f/4.0, 50-200mm f/4.0-5.6 (both versions), 55-300mm f/4.0-5.8, 14mm f2.8, 15mm f/4.0, 21mm f/3.2 pancake, 40mm f/2.8 pancake, 70mm f/2.4 pancake, 50mm f/2.8 macro, 55mm f/1.4 portrait, 200mm f/2.8, and 300mm f/4.0. Pentax lenses that predate the collaboration and are still current are 16-45mm f/4.0, 50mm f/1.4, 31mm f/1.8 Limited, 43mm f/1.9 Limited, and 77mm f/1.8 Limited. The last lens Pentax released before the collaboration was the 14mm, in 2004.

Tokina's glass is made by Hoya Corporation, the world's largest producer of optical glass


Sources from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokina



Tamron Company Background:
Tamron Co., Ltd. (株式会社タムロン ,Kabushiki-gaisha Tamuron?) (TYO: 7740) is a Japanese company manufacturing photographic lenses, optical components and commercial/industrial-use optics. Sony is a major shareholder in the company[1] and the two companies have worked together on several Sony-brand lenses for the Sony α series of digital SLR cameras.
This could be the reason why the Tamron len produces very refine optical performance - the Sony - Carl Zweiss relation.

Sources from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamron

[La Fontaine]

Thanks bro for the compilation.

I didn't know that Tamron is under the wing of Sony. Interesting fact.

[dRebelXT]

tokina 11-16 is the best.. ；）