At the CP+ show in Yokohama Japan two month ago, DPReview talked with senior executives from several major camera and lens manufacturers including Tamron. They discussed with Mr Takashi Sawao, Mr Kenji Nakagawa and Mr Minoru Ando, on various topics including the 40th anniversary of the ‘SP’ series, Tamron’s plans for mirrorless, and the shrinking APS-C market.

Here are some of the most interesting news:

About future Canon RF and Nikon Z lenses: “Yes, we’re also looking at that area. We have to do a lot of research and development into the reverse engineering, because they don’t disclose the details of their systems, so it’s a really hard job for us.”

APS-C vs Full Frame: “APS-C is still important to us, but when we think about the [industry], the full-frame market is expanding, so we’re looking at that market first – that’s the first priority. So gradually we’ll create a [full-frame] line and then at another time we can launch more APS-C lenses. The APS-C market is shrinking quite fast.”

What does ‘SP’ mean in terms of build and design?: “Tamron always tries to make unique lenses making a lens as compact as possible, or as lightweight as possible – and sometimes we trade off certain specifications to achieve that such as focal length, aperture range, or image quality. But with SP lenses we don’t do that. We just want to make a really high-performance lens with superior performance. We don’t want any compromises.”

How to differentiates Tamron from other lens manufacturers: “Our target is those photographers who really want to enjoy photography with a lightweight and compact [package]. We introduced the FE 28-75mm f2.8 for Sony E-mount, which is really compact and matches the Sony cameras really nicely for size and weight. This lens is selling quite well, and we’re backordered for six months. Other manufacturers are making very big lenses with high resolution and wide apertures, but people are struggling to carry such heavy lenses. They can’t take a lot of them when they’re out shooting. Tamron always tries to give photographers another solution. Lenses that are compact, with very high quality, but maybe a slightly different spec. Like this 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD, it’s a different solution – you can see the really compact size of this lens. Our aim is to provide another solution to our customers.”

On software correction: “We utilize software corrections in the camera body, but even without correction this lens will still give good performance. Of course this lens will let a Sony camera correct some things, but it offers a very high level of quality. We checked pictures from the lens, without any corrections, and the picture quality is very good. The quality only gets better with corrections from the camera body. We’re very confident [in its performance].”

You can read the full interview on DPReview’s website.