Tamron

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Tamron is a Japanese optical company founded in 1950 as Taisei Kogaku

History

8155402471_9d644468c3_m.jpg
Auto Tamron 1:5.6 f=300mm
image by John-Henry Collinson (Image rights)

Tamron is a Japanese optical company. It was founded in 1950 by Takeyuki Arai as Taisei Kōgaku Kiki Seisakusho (泰成光学機器製作所) by Arai Takeyuki (新井健之), and was incorporated as Taisei Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. (泰成光学工業㈱) in 1952.[1] The company was initially based in Urawa (浦和市) (today part of Saitama City), but it moved to a new plant in Hasunuma, Ōmiya (大宮市蓮沼) (today also part of Saitama City).[1] Early products were usually marked Taisei Kogaku / Taisei Optical.

The main optical designer was Tamura Uhyōe (田村右兵衛), from whose name was derived the Tamron brand, registered in 1957. Many Tamron lenses were made with the T-mount, a universal screw mount first presented by Tamron. In 1962 the still-in-production 42×0.75mm screw mount replaced the old 37&timrd;0.75mm T-mount. It was only in 1970 that the company took the name K.K. Tamron (㈱タムロン).[2]

Acquisition of Bronica

Tamron took shares of the Bronica company in 1995 and fully absorbed it in 1998.[3] The last Bronica products were discontinued in 2005 but Tamron is still (2007) active as a lens maker.

Interchangeable Lens Mounts

The company started making cameara lenses in 1957 and with their first lens, a 135mm f/4.5 (model #280), they introduced the T mount. According to the company, the "T" stands for Taisei.[4]. It is often erroneously speculated that the "T" stands for Tamron, but Taisei did not change their name to Tamron until many years after the mount was introduced. The T mount is a 42mmx0.75 thread screw mount. According to Tamron, the mount adapter was later modified by another company into the modern T-2 mount adapter but the mount itself remained the same. The T-2 mount adapter consisted of two concentric rings. The inner ring of a T-2 mount can be loosened and rotated so that the lens markings are correctly oriented with respect to the top of camera. The T mount was adopted by many other companies and is still in use today.

Tamron is often erroneously credited with the T-4 and TX interchangeable mounts used by companies like Vivitar and Soligor but Tamron history researchers deny any connection to them, even implying that there may have been patent infringement lawsuits brought by Tamron.[5]. In fact, the evidence points to Tokina as the inventor of the T-4 and TX mounting systems.

The T mount does not provide automatic diaphragm control, and was superseded in 1966 by the Taisei Adapt-A-Matic system, allowing the transmission of the automatic diaphragm for various SLR cameras. Taisei filed two patents on the 1966 Adapt-A-Matic system that are important in the history of interchangeable lens mounts.[6][7]

The Adapt-A-Matic system was subsequently replaced by the Tamron Adaptall system in 1976.[8] In 1979, the company introduced the Tamron Adaptall-2 system, an evolution of the Adaptall, and released the first SP (Super Performance) lenses.[9]

Lenses

Taisei Kogaku

  • Taisei Kogaku 135mm f/2.8 T mount, (ex sn: 376193 )
  • Taisei Kogaku Vernon Edonar Auto 28mm f/2.8 (ex sn: 651471)
  • Taisei Kogaku Vernon Edonar Auto 135mm f/2.8, silver barrel (ex sn: 665723), dist by Vernon Photographic Corp
  • Taisei Kogaku Vernon Edonar Auto 300mm f/5.6 dist by Vernon Photographic Corp

Tamron T and Fixed Mount Pre-1970

  • Tamron 35mm f/2.8 T mount (model 460)
  • Tamron 58mm f/1.2 T mount (model 380)
  • Tamron 135mm f/2.8 T mount (model 680)
  • Tamron 135mm f/2.8 fixed mount (model 680AR)
  • Tamron 135mm f/4.5 T mount (model 280)
  • Tamron 135mm f/3.5 T mount (model 860)
  • Tamron 180mm f/3.5 T mount (model JH-35)
  • Tamron 200mm f/2.8 T mount (model 360)
  • Tamron 200mm f/3.5 T mount (model 870)
  • Tamron 200mm f/5.9 T mount (model F0-59)
  • Tamron 200mm f/6.3 T mount (model F0-63)
  • Tamron 250mm f/4.5 T mount (model FG-45)
  • Tamron 300mm f/5.6 T mount (model 670)
  • Tamron 300mm f/6.9 T mount (model S0-69)
  • Tamron 350mm f/5.6 T mount (model 750)
  • Tamron 400mm f/5.6 T mount (model 340)
  • Tamron 400mm f/6.9 T mount (model F0-69)
  • Tamron 400mm f/6.9 T mount (model ?)
  • Tamron 400mm f/7.5 T mount (model 490)
  • Tamron 400mm f/8 T mount (model Y0-8)
  • Tamron 450mm f/8 T mount (model 880)
  • Tamron 55-90mm f/4 T mount (model PZ-50)
  • Tamron 80-250mm f/3.8 fixed mount (model PZ-20)
  • Tamron 95-205mm f/5.6 T mount (model PZ-60P)
  • Tamron 95-205mm f/6.3 T mount (model 910P)
  • Tamron 95-250mm f/5.6 T mount (model PZ-10II)
  • Tamron 200-400mm f/6.3 T mount (model PZ-70)

Tamron Adapt-A-Matic Lenses

Tamron Adaptall Lenses

Tamron Adaptall-2 Lenses

Tamron SP Adaptall-2 Lenses

Tamron F-System Lenses

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 See this official history page (1950s).
  2. ↑ See these official history pages: 1950s and 1970s.
  3. ↑ See this official history page (1990s).
  4. ↑ History of Tamron
  5. ↑ History of Tamron, 1960 to 1969
  6. ↑ U.S. Patent 3,500,735
  7. ↑ U.S. Patent 3,657,988
  8. ↑ Tamron History, 1960-1969, 1970-1979
  9. ↑ Date of the Adaptall-2: Tamron history at Adaptall-2.com. Date of the SP lenses: this official history page (1970s).

Links

In English:

In Japanese:

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