Private company

Tamron

Logo: Fot13579, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons³

Japanese optics company

Tamron Co., Ltd. (株式会社タムロン, Kabushiki-gaisha Tamuron) is a Japanese company manufacturing photographic lenses, optical components and commercial/industrial-use optics. Tamron Headquarters is located in Saitama City in the Saitama Prefecture of Japan. The name of the company came from the surname of Uhyoue Tamura who was instrumental in developing Tamron's optical technologies.² It was founded by Takeyuki Arai.¹ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1950Founded¹

HeadquartersSaitama-shi¹
Founded inSaitama¹
Websitewww.tamron.com
Legal formkabushiki gaisha¹

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The story

Founded by Takeyuki Arai in 1950, in Saitama.¹

1950 November – Taisei Optical Manufacturing Company founded, to manufacture lenses for cameras and binoculars.

1952 October – Taisei Optical Industries established with a capital of 2.5 million yen.

1958 – ‘Tamron’ trademark registered.

1970 April – Trade name changed to Tamron Co., Ltd.

1979 April – Tamron Industries, Inc. (presently Tamron USA, Inc.) established in New York City.

1982 September – Tamron Vertriebs GmbH established in Germany.

1984 February – Optech Tamron Co., Ltd. is established in Namioka, Aomori Prefecture.

1984 August – Shares listed with Japan Securities Dealers Association (currently JASDAQ) in Tokyo for over-the-counter transactions.

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1985 December – Tamron Fine Giken Co., Ltd., a plant for making precision metal molds is established.

1986 January – Injection molding plant is established in Owani, Aomori.

1991 June – Optech Tamron Co., Ltd., is absorbed by Tamron Co., Ltd.

1995 February – Tamron acquires 75% capital of Bronica Co., Ltd., entering into the medium-format camera business

1995 April – Tamron (UK) Ltd. is established in the U.K.

1997 May – Tamron Industries (Hong Kong) is established in Hong Kong.

1997 July – Tamron Optical (Foshan) Co., Ltd. is established in Foshan, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China.

1998 July – Bronica Co., Ltd. is merged into Tamron Co., Ltd.

2000 June – Tamron Fine Giken is merged into Tamron Co., Ltd.

2000 June – Tamron France EURL is established in France.

2005 October – Tamron Optical (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is established in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.

2006 November – Tamron listed on the 1st Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

2008 May – Tamron Co., Ltd. Taiwan manufacturing factory opened in Tainan, Taiwan.

2009 July – Tamron Co., Ltd. India Liaison Office opened in Haryana, India.

2009 November – Tamron Europe GmbH. Moscow Representative Office opened in Moscow, Russia.

2013 June – Tamron India Pvt Ltd.opened in Haryana, India.

2016 – Sale of compact camera lens modules began.

2017 – Sale of drone camera lens modules began and Tamron acquired Toumeigiken Co.

2026 July – Sony made a non-binding proposal to acquire the remaining shares of Tamron and make the company a wholly owned Sony Group subsidiary. Tamron established a special committee of independent directors to evaluate the proposal; financial terms were not disclosed.

From Wikipedia’s article on Tamron, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Leadership

Who has led Tamron, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

FounderTakeyuki Arai¹

Products and brands

camera lens

Listed on Wikidata.¹

Photographic lenses

Tamron has sold more than 5 million lenses as of September 2014. In the 2017 fiscal year, such lenses accounted for 74.9% of all sales.

Interchangeable lenses for digital and conventional SLR cameras, including compact high-ratio zoom lenses of which Tamron was the pioneer in 1992 when it released the 28–200 mm. The most-current lens of this type is the AF 16–300 mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD MACRO. Tamron was the maker of the manual-focus Adaptall series which have interchangeable mounts for multiple camera brands. These replaced an older series of interchangeable mount lens, the Adaptamatic lenses, which offered less functionality. Tamron was also responsible for the development of the t2 or T-mount adapter system.

Fixed-focal wideangle, telephoto and macro lenses;

Zoom lenses of various focal length ranges;

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Teleconverters.

Optical components

Camcorder lenses

Digital still camera lenses

Cellular phone camera lenses

Commercial and industrial-use optics

CCTV camera lenses for

Surveillance

Industrial vision

Image-processing

Projection lenses, test plates, high precision molds, injection-molded parts & components, optical device units, etc.