Bronica Learning Center :: Tamron Tech
It is Tamron's objective to bring to medium format what they have brought to video and 35mm optical design. For over forty years, Tamron has been world renowned for their line of highest quality and technically advanced optics at an affordable price point. The development of this technology is the result of years of research that has been integrated into not only 35mm optics but also into video camera and closed circuit television lenses; lenses which require extremely compact elements that must deliver very high performance to video and CCD chips.
Developing
Hybrid Aspherical elements, which correct for distortions especially at wide
angle focal lengths, and Low Dispersion elements which increase optical
transmissions and improve sharpness, are some of the technologies that Tamron
has utilized to make innovative optical designs possible. These have been
integrated into Tamron 35mm lenses such as the AF28-200mm Super and the SP
28-105mm F/2.8 and are now used in the optical designs of Zenzanon optics such
as the PE45-90mm and PE100-220mm zoom lenses.
Even with the sharpest lens on a 35mm
camera, the image quality can only be as good as the limitation of the film to
which it is exposed. The Tamron 90mm 1:1 Macro F/2.8, for example, proven in
independent tests to be one of the world's sharpest lenses, has a limitation
inherent in the fact that the image is being captured on only a 35mm piece of
film. By stepping this technology up to a medium format camera, the negative
size is now at least 2.7 times larger. This does not even take into
consideration the cropping that a 35mm negative requires for an 8x10 print,
which makes the usable image area on a 35mm piece of film even smaller.
Consequently, the image quality by virtue of negative size combined with the
advanced optical design will render nothing less then the sharpest images
possible. Often, perfecting optical design can be a time intensive process and
it can take years before a lens is available in the market place. Tamron,
within just over 2 years, has introduced 7 new lenses for Bronica medium format
camera systems. The two Full-Frame Fish-eye lenses utilize Tamron's BBAR
(Broad-Band Anti- Reflection) multi-coating technology to increase light
transmission and suppress flare, even from point light sources. The PE45-90mm
and PE100-220mm zoom lenses integrate Aspherical Elements and Low Dispersion
glass. Both have reduced minimum focusing distances compared to even some fixed
focal lengths in this range and the PE 100-220mm is the first internally
focusing and internal zoom available for any medium format camera system in the
world.
For Bronica
medium format camera systems there are two 1:1 life-size macro lenses, bringing
life size reproduction to a medium format negative without the use of
additional extension tubes or bellows.
Tamron has effectively proven their ability and commitment to Bronica by perfecting and delivering new high quality optics in an unprecedented time frame.
