Sony E 18-200mm = Tamron 18-200mm?

	=		?
Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE		Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III VC

In May 2012 Sony announced its latest E mount lens, the Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE. This lens is now the third 18-200mm lens for the E mount in 1.5 years. The other two lenses are the Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS (announced 05/2010) and the Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III VC (announced 12/2011). However, looking at the properties of the lens it seems that Sony’s latest lens is just a rebranded version of the Tamron lens. Because when comparing the technical data of both lenses there are too many similarities. Not only are they identical in their key aspects, like focal length and aperture, but also in every other detail with the exception of their appearance.


Lets’s look at this table:

Name	Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE	Tamron 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III VC
Focal length	18 – 200 mm	18 – 200 mm
Focal length [35mm]	27 – 300 mm	27 – 300 mm
Max Aperture	F 3.5 – 6.3	F 3.5 – 6.3
Weight	460 g	460 g
Diameter	68 mm	68 mm
Length	96.7 mm	96.7 mm
Filter size	62 mm	62 mm
Lens Construction (elements and groups)	17 – 13	17 – 13
Construction
MTF
Image

Here it’s clearly visible that Sony’s new lens is identical in all properties with the Tamron lens. But this rebranding is not so strange, because both companies have a special relationship with each other. Sony owns 11% of Tamron.

Furthermore there are some people stating that compared to the new Sony LE/Tamron lens the old Sony 18 – 200 mm has better stabilisation and is better suited for video. (another link)