Tamron 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens patent discovered in Japan

Tamron has patented as 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens aimed at cameras with APS-C-sized image sensors. If it becomes official, then it will become the company’s first fisheye lens.

Third-party lens manufacturers are forcing Nikon, Canon, Sony, and others to improve their lenses, while keeping down the prices.

The competition is much stronger now than before and the price-quality ratio is more important to today’s photographers when compared to the beginnings of digital photography.

Tamron is one of the most popular 3rd-party lens makers. The company is best-known for its zoom optics that fall into both wide-angle and telephoto categories.

According to recent discoveries, the Japanese manufacturer may be preparing to expand its line-up with the introduction of its first fisheye lens with a fixed focal length.

Tamron 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens patent published for APS-C cameras

The internal design described in the Tamron 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens patent.

Japanese sources have unearthed a Tamron 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens patent with built-in optical image stabilization. The patent refers to VC, which stands for Vibration Compensation technology.

The optic is aimed at digital cameras with APS-C image sensors, which will probably include DSLRs from Nikon, Canon, and Sony, as well as mirrorless cameras from Sony and Canon.

This wide-angle lens will provide a 35mm focal length equivalent of 15mm, meaning that it will be great for landscape, interior, and architecture types of photography.

Fisheye lens patent emphasizes video recording support for some reason

The patent for the Tamron 10mm f/2.8 fisheye reveals that the lens’ focal length is actually 9.712mm with an aperture of f/2.85 and a half angle-of-view of 90 degrees.

The optic will consist of 10 elements split into eight groups and will include a couple of aspherical elements and a trio of LD (Low Dispersion) elements.

It offers internal focus, vibration control, and it will be compatible with video recording. A manual focus ring will probably be placed on the lens, but it remains to be seen whether focusing will be smooth and quiet during video capturing.

Tamron currently does not have any plans to launch a new lens

Patenting a lens does not necessarily mean that the product is coming to the market. Moreover, it does not translate into the fact that a launch date is very near, so potential buyers will have to keep their excitement under control.

According to the source, the patent has been filed on September 6, 2012 and it has been published on March 20, 2014. Tamron has not announced plans to introduce a new lens therefore we cannot do anything else but to remain patient.