In my previous blog article, I listed five key points to pay attention to regarding the latest interchangeable lenses of Tamron, or their five “positive qualities.”
   It takes very high-level technological capabilities to achieve any of these five qualities, but that alone does not really suffice. Truly satisfying results are unlikely to be attained if there is no clear philosophy (approach, thought).

   What you can say about all of these five characteristics is that the design engineers’ passion and strong commitment (belief) is essential: a commitment to taking pains to incorporate this and that technology into the product no matter what in order to create a superb interchangeable lens. So it may well be that the keywords for Tamron’s interchangeable lenses are “Philosophy” and “Commitment.”

   This is the same list I presented in my previous article, but let me again list the five qualities of Tamron lenses to which we need to pay attention.

① Ensuring excellent levels for both resolution and depictive quality for tones and gradations
② Built-in vibration compensation mechanism (VC)
③ Minimum Object Distance (MOD)
④ Spectacular background blur effects with a natural feel
⑤ Reduction in flare and ghosting

   First, I will discuss ① Ensuring excellent levels for both resolution and depictive quality for tones and gradations. This is where the philosophy behind a Tamron lens in terms of its depictive qualities is highly visible.

   A conspicuous trend regarding the depictive qualities of lenses currently sold by various manufacturers is that many of them are high-contrast lenses that place the topmost priority on their sheer resolving power.
   A probable reason for this is that in order not to be outdone by digital cameras with ever higher pixel densities, the companies aggressively promoted optical design, placing utmost importance on the resolving power of each lens. This “audacious” depictive quality with high contrast and resolution makes a strong impact on the viewer, and a glance could perhaps convince even a beginner that it is a lens with very sharp, superb imaging quality.

   On the other hand, compared to the depictive quality of a lens that places such importance on high contrast and resolution, it may be a little more difficult to fully appreciate the excellent depictive characteristics of a lens that optimally curbs contrast so as not to undermine the depictive quality for tones and gradations, while securing sufficient resolution. This would be depictive quality with fine, delicate resolution, in a manner of speaking.
   Regarding the basic characteristics of Tamron’s interchangeable lenses, it can be said that each of them is the type of lens that achieves superb depictive quality for both tones and gradations and resolving power, and not the type of lens that prioritizes the sheer high-contrast resolving power that seems to be in vogue at the moment.

   At a glance, the depictive quality of a lens that strikes a good balance between tone depiction and resolution may at times look as if it leaves something to be desired in terms of its sense of resolution. However, it is in fact relatively easy to create quite sharp images with clear contrast and an enhanced sense of resolution to the eye when taking pictures with such a lens, by setting the related parameters for the camera itself before shooting, and/or performing image processing afterwards. On the other hand, for a photographed image with the priority placed on high contrast and resolution in the first place, the processing is very difficult if you want to create an image with a soft depictive quality rich in detail for tones and gradations. Even if you manage to undertake the image processing, the end result could be a total failure as a photographic image in many instances. I call this quality “very risky depictive performance.”

   Tamron’s interchangeable lenses are created on the premise that they will be used in combination with a wide range of camera body types made by different camera manufacturers. To prevent the effects of any differences in picture-making qualities depending on the manufacturer and the image processing engine within the camera body, Tamron consciously secures ample leeway for the depictive qualities of its lenses. Put another way, each Tamron lens is designed with sufficient care so that the photographed images will not be exaggerated too much or end up as failed images. You can say that these are lenses with a depictive quality that places importance on the subject and the raw image itself.
   You may also be able to say that not creating lenses that prioritize high-contrast depictive quality with a super-sharp sense of resolution reveals the basic depictive characteristics and philosophy of Tamron lenses.
 

   Going back to that list now, the recently launched Tamron lenses show a particularly strong commitment to ensuring both ② Built-in vibration compensation mechanism (VC) and ③ A short Minimum Object Distance (MOD) in lens design.
   Installing a VC system inside and reducing MOD actually means fighting against depictive performance head-on. You can avoid this uphill battle (all the hard work) in designing a lens with good depictive performance relatively easily, by simply giving up on incorporating the vibration compensation mechanism and shortening the MOD.

   Adopting the VC system substantially limits the degree of freedom for the optical design of a lens. It becomes necessary to design a smaller and lighter compensation lens group and mechanism, and there are restrictions on where the compensation optical system can be positioned. Because of the motor and control unit for moving the VC lenses, it is not possible to avoid these lenses becoming relatively larger. I surmise that to be really honest, the engineers responsible for optical design and mechanism design must feel that they can live without VC.
   Well, maybe not. Prioritizing user-friendliness, Tamron has been fully committed to creating lenses with a built-in VC system, and it dares to continue tackling this challenge.

   A look at recent Tamron lenses shows that all the lenses in the SP series featuring a new concept have a built-in VC system, with the valiant example of even fast-aperture lenses with F/1.8 being equipped with VC. Maybe more than Tamron’s commitment, I feel as if their very pride is on the line here.

   Shortening the MOD also leads to the battle of how to eliminate the pesky aberrations that become more conspicuous when photographing close-up. The easiest solution to the problem is to create a lens that stops shooting at close range. But then it becomes impossible to bring a subject up close into focus, which would restrict the user’s freedom and force them to just put up with it.

   Instead, Tamron chose to adopt a floating system. Ordinarily, one group of lenses is moved to the front and back for focusing, but in this case, multiple groups of lenses are moved to the front and back in complex ways for focusing, which enables effective compensation for any aberrations. This floating system is used for the SP 35mm and SP 45mm models in the SP series featuring a new concept.
   The most difficult challenge lies in the need to put a mechanism in place for smoothly and precisely moving multiple lens groups in complex combinations, which was made possible by Tamron’s technologies for the lens barrel design.
 

   The floating system of the SP 35mm and SP 45mm, the ④ Spectacular background blur effects with a natural feel and the ⑤ Reduction in flare and ghosting all embody Tamron’s commitment and philosophy behind its lens design technologies in a lot of ways. There are many more things I would like to tell you about them, but this story has turned out to be a bit too long again this time around. I hope to take this up again in detail another time.
   In the meantime, let us hurry a little on our way towards the primary theme of this blog: Tamron’s lens manufacturing.

   In the next blog in this series, I would like to present a bird’s-eye view of the process of Tamron’s lens making, showing the types of procedures the personnel at Tamron go through from planning to design and manufacture until each product is completed.