# SIGMA and Tamron discontinue most of their DSLR lenses



## Canon Rumors Guy (Sep 27, 2022)

> It looks like both SIGMA and Tamron are transitioning fully to mirrorless lens mounts, which was obviously an inevitable outcome.
> According to Nikon Rumors, this information comes from a large retailer in the UK. We have seen big discounts on SIGMAs ART lenses over the last year, so we expect at least some of those lenses be discontinued.
> In total, 18 SIGMA lenses received the axe, and Tamron cut their lineup by 22 lenses.
> We do think that we’re going to see RF mount lenses from both SIGMA and Tamron in time. It’s not simply about Canon, both companies have to be able to develop, manufacture and support new lenses on a new mount and make money doing it.
> ...




[url=https://www.canonrumors.com/sigma-and-tamron-discontinue-most-of-their-dslr-lenses/]Continue reading...


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## Del Paso (Sep 27, 2022)

Time to buy an R5...or used EF lenses.


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## Skyscraperfan (Sep 27, 2022)

I don't know why they would discontinue the lenses that are already developed while there is no replacement for the RF mount. 

I wonder if I should buy the 35-150 f/2.8-4 while it is still available for just 679 Euros. There is no alternative.


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## BBarn (Sep 27, 2022)

Skyscraperfan said:


> I don't know why they would discontinue the lenses that are already developed while there is no replacement for the RF mount.


Sales of those lenses may have dropped sharply. Or they may want to utilize their manufacturing capacity to build other (newer) product that is experiencing higher volume growth.


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## Bob Howland (Sep 27, 2022)

Skyscraperfan said:


> I don't know why they would discontinue the lenses that are already developed while there is no replacement for the RF mount.
> 
> I wonder if I should buy the 35-150 f/2.8-4 while it is still available for just 679 Euros. There is no alternative.


They have to buy or make then store the parts to make the lenses, although they need a certain level of stock for repairs.


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## bbasiaga (Sep 27, 2022)

Looks like most of the discontinued ones are not the super popular ones....at least Sigma. I'm not as familiar with the Tamron line up. But the Art primes are not on the list, and the popular telephotos like the 150-600 aren't either. 

-Brian


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## entoman (Sep 27, 2022)

BBarn said:


> Sales of those lenses may have dropped sharply. Or they may want to utilize their manufacturing capacity to build other (newer) product that is experiencing higher volume growth.


They could also be making manufacturing capacity available in anticipation of producing RF mount lenses in the near future.

Despite the current "ban" on Viltrox (and possible others), we can be pretty sure that Tamron and Sigma will find a way to overcome any potential patent infringements. It's quite possible that they are both in negotiation with Canon, and that third party AF lenses will appear within a few months, although none of the parties involved would at this stage be prepared to admit it.


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## unfocused (Sep 27, 2022)

bbasiaga said:


> Looks like most of the discontinued ones are not the super popular ones....at least Sigma. I'm not as familiar with the Tamron line up. But the Art primes are not on the list, and the popular telephotos like the 150-600 aren't either.
> 
> -Brian


Yes. The discontinued Tamron 150-600 appears to be the older version.


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## EOS 4 Life (Sep 27, 2022)

The EF mount is not going anywhere.
I do find some of these discontinuations to be surprising, but, as it has been mentioned, these are not the top selling lenses.

These lenses will be missed:

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro APO
Sigma 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro APO
Tamron 45mm f/1.8 SP Di VC USD
Tamron 85mm f/1.8 SP Di VC USD


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## Chaitanya (Sep 27, 2022)

Many of these lenses have been unavailable for atleast 3 years at this point, in case of Tamron 90mm, Sigma 150mm and 180mm were all listed discontinued for well over 2 years at this point. It seems like Sigma and Tamron just decided to pull the proverbial band-aid and make things official.


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## Chaitanya (Sep 27, 2022)

EOS 4 Life said:


> The EF mount is not going anywhere.
> I do find some of these discontinuations to be surprising, but, as it has been mentioned, these are not the top selling lenses.
> 
> These lenses will be missed:
> ...


You forget Tamron 90mm VC Macro.


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## nunataks (Sep 27, 2022)

lol, like Canon will let them make new lenses for RF


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## [email protected] (Sep 27, 2022)

These lists of lenses are mostly the ones designed prior to their more modern designs, when they earned a reputation for putting out good lenses. There are a couple in there that were very good lenses for the value and newer designs (the more modern 70-200 f/2.8 Tamron jumps out at me), but most of the rest are legacy stuff from when the brands had reputations of being mediocre lenses at cheap prices. 

Two incidental thoughts: 
1) I wonder how much of their modern lens design sales are from EF mount lenses that are adapted to RF. I bet they sell more of those than Fuji mount lenses. 
2) Since both Sigma and Tamron make lenses and lens elements for the larger OEM lens/camera makers, I wonder how much those commercial relationships cause them to be cautious in entering into direct competition with Nikon/Canon. We may find out in the future that lens elements in the $3k Canon lenses were produced by Tamron, for instance.


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## MartinVLC (Sep 27, 2022)

At least most of the Tamron lenses are quite old versions and more recent versions exist, e.g. both 70-200 2.8, 28-75 2.8 and 24-70 2.8 (the G2 is out for years already). To me this list is quite misleading although the main message that they will move towards mirrorless is certainly true.


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## greggscutum (Sep 27, 2022)

Glad I managed to get the 24-70 2.8 from Tamron. Works perfectly with the RP


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## unfocused (Sep 27, 2022)

nunataks said:


> lol, like Canon will let them make new lenses for RF


Here we go again. There is nothing stopping them from making RF lenses, so long as they don't violate Canon's patents.


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## jd7 (Sep 28, 2022)

unfocused said:


> Here we go again. There is nothing stopping them from making RF lenses, so long as they don't violate Canon's patents.


Yes - but that is the answer at a theoretical level. At a practical level, the next question is whether or not it is actually possible to make an RF lens without violating Canon's patents. It seems to be possible for a fully manual lens (based on the fact various manual RF lenses seem to be staying on the market). For a lens with AF or other electronics though, it may or may not be (I certainly don't know), but it seems no one has managed to find a way to do it so far.


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## David - Sydney (Sep 28, 2022)

EF is still the "mirrorless" mount for Canon from their perspective ie adapted. I am sure that Canon R mount users will still adapt EF lenses for some time for both Canon and 3rd party lens manufacturers. Canon and the 3rd parties may trim their lineup to suit higher volume sellers but that is normal practice over time.


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## Scottboarding (Sep 28, 2022)

entoman said:


> They could also be making manufacturing capacity available in anticipation of producing RF mount lenses in the near future.
> 
> Despite the current "ban" on Viltrox (and possible others), we can be pretty sure that Tamron and Sigma will find a way to overcome any potential patent infringements. It's quite possible that they are both in negotiation with Canon, and that third party AF lenses will appear within a few months, although none of the parties involved would at this stage be prepared to admit it.


I do think at least Sigma is in negotiations with Canon about getting an RF license. There was a CR3 post that Sigma was going to address the RF mount this year about a week or two before the whole Viltrox thing. It’s since been removed I believe because I can no longer find it.


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## AlanF (Sep 28, 2022)

Scottboarding said:


> I do think at least Sigma is in negotiations with Canon about getting an RF license. There was a CR3 post that Sigma was going to address the RF mount this year about a week or two before the whole Viltrox thing. It’s since been removed I believe because I can no longer find it.


Threads don't get removed. Go to "Search", type in Sigma, check Titles Only, put in by "Canon Rumors Guy" and hey presto:





SIGMA will address the RF mount in 2022 [CR3]


I don’t have a lot of reliable sources for SIGMA and Tamron, which isn’t for a lack of trying. One of the most asked questions I get is “when will SIGMA and/or Tamron launch RF lenses?” With my answer usually being that I have no idea. That may have changed this week, as a good source for other...




www.canonrumors.com


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## Skyscraperfan (Sep 28, 2022)

I "found" 22 additional skyscrapers over 500 feet in Guangzhou that were not listed on Skyscrapercenter. As a result Guangzhou surpassed Tokyo and Shanghai for the number of skyscrapers.


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## entoman (Sep 28, 2022)

jd7 said:


> Yes - but that is the answer at a theoretical level. At a practical level, the next question is whether or not it is actually possible to make an RF lens without violating Canon's patents. It seems to be possible for a fully manual lens (based on the fact various manual RF lenses seem to be staying on the market). For a lens with AF or other electronics though, it may or may not be (I certainly don't know), but it seems no one has managed to find a way to do it so far.


Yep, modern lenses incorporate a lot of chips and circuitry that "speaks" to the camera, especially to the AF system. The lens and body electronics are intertwined. It's pretty easy to copy the physical mount and the electrical contacts, but it's entirely another matter to unravel the mysteries of the circuitry, understand the protocols, and get the lens to work efficiently and without errors or malfunctions. Canon, Nikon and Sony can't even make their own cameras and lenses work without occasional freezes occurring, so what hope have Sigma and Tamron got?


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## unfocused (Sep 28, 2022)

entoman said:


> ...Canon, Nikon and Sony can't even make their own cameras and lenses work without occasional freezes occurring, so what hope have Sigma and Tamron got?


I don't know about Nikon and Sony, but I have followed the freezing issue pretty closely with Canon (mainly because I have had the issue with two R5s and one R3). I have not seen any evidence (credible or not) that the phenomenon is lens-related. I have also not seen any cases where adapted lenses using the Canon RF adapters have any relationship to freezes. It may be difficult for third-parties to produce a mount that does not infringe on Canon's patents, but given how flawlessly both native and third-party EF mount lenses work with adapters, I don't see any reason why third-parties are facing any greater challenges with RF lens mounts than they were with EF lens mounts. Perhaps you have information to the contrary that you can share.


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## entoman (Sep 28, 2022)

unfocused said:


> I don't know about Nikon and Sony, but I have followed the freezing issue pretty closely with Canon (mainly because I have had the issue with two R5s and one R3). I have not seen any evidence (credible or not) that the phenomenon is lens-related. I have also not seen any cases where adapted lenses using the Canon RF adapters have any relationship to freezes. It may be difficult for third-parties to produce a mount that does not infringe on Canon's patents, but given how flawlessly both native and third-party EF mount lenses work with adapters, I don't see any reason why third-parties are facing any greater challenges with RF lens mounts than they were with EF lens mounts. Perhaps you have information to the contrary that you can share.


I agree that native EF lenses work flawlessly via adaptors (although not as fast as RF lenses). However, I think it's possible that the extra RF contacts may allow additional functionality on future Canon body and lens combinations. Sigma and Tamron could certainly manufacture RF mount lenses that didn't make use of the extra contacts, but they'd probably prefer to wait until they've been licenced (or have figured out the RF-specific protocols), to ensure full compatibility. Only guessing of course, and I could be completely wrong...

As to whether the freezing issues are in any way related to the lenses, I agree that it's unlikely, but the fact that Canon have been unable to pinpoint the cause(s) indicates that lenses could be one of the factors involved, especially as the electronics of the bodies and lenses are intertwined. In my case, I've only had freezing issues when using EF100-400mm and RF100-500mm, but that's probably due the fact that they are the only lenses that I use for burst shooting - all my freezes have occurred when shooting bursts.


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## antonio_s (Sep 28, 2022)

All the Sigma lenses listed are ancient and none are from the current GV (Art, Sports, Contemporary) lineup. As far as I know very few GV lenses have been discontinued (maybe just the 120-300 and perhaps one other I've forgotten). All of these discontinued lenses for Sigma have actually been unavailable for years.

On the other hand, there is no sign of any major discontinuations of the current Sigma Art lineup. A number of the Art primes are sold in the same optical formula for Canon EF and Sony E. I would be very surprised to see those discontinued for quite some time. Especially as Sigma is literally still promoting these lenses in the latest updates on their official blog: https://blog.sigmaphoto.com/ --- one of the last posts is about how great the 2019 primes are on the Canon R6 (https://blog.sigmaphoto.com/2022/ge...h-the-sigma-28mm-40mm-f1-4-dg-hsm-art-lenses/).

I don't know about Tamron, but Sigma seems like they're not getting rid of their EF lenses anytime soon. They also manufacture cine lenses, and the new ones they just announced are available in EF, though of course cine is its own thing.


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## EOS 4 Life (Sep 29, 2022)

antonio_s said:


> I don't know about Tamron, but Sigma seems like they're not getting rid of their EF lenses anytime soon. They also manufacture cine lenses, and the new ones they just announced are available in EF, though of course cine is its own thing.


Canon also released new EF/PL mount cine lenses


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## Skyscraperfan (Sep 29, 2022)

The nice thing about Sigma is that they have a mount conversion service. So for $100 or so you can convert your lens to another mount. The optical formula has to be compatible of course. Some lenses are only possible for mirrorless cameras. However you could buy a used Sigma lens for a Nikon DSLR and convert it to fit on the EF mount.


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## Kharan (Sep 29, 2022)

unfocused said:


> Here we go again. There is nothing stopping them from making RF lenses, so long as they don't violate Canon's patents.


There is. Samyang were using their EF lens protocol on their RF lenses. This version must be clean, because it's been in use for many years and Canon didn't threaten them before (and they probably would've if it were). This, in turn, means that no patents have been infringed (there's broad consensus among people who know about patents that the bayonet itself cannot be thus protected). And yet they were threatened into submission by Canon... who have big offices in many countries, and probably lawyers on retainer there, who could easily file multiple parallel lawsuits against a smaller company. Sigma and Tamron are tiny in relation to Canon, and most certainly don't have lawyers on retainer in most markets. The cost of fending these suits off could be very high, and might prove a pyrrhic victory in the end.

There's something very real stopping third parties from going into RF: Canon "speaking softly and carrying a big stick". There won't be third-party AF lenses for RF unless one of three things happen: 1) 20 years pass from the time the patents were granted (so, around 2038); 2) a brave company decides to fight the lawsuits and wins, opening the floodgates; or 3) consumer backlash is intense and Canon see themselves forced to reverse course.

I'm ready to chip in for a "Viltrox Defense" GoFundMe. I think it's the only reasonably realistic chance we have.


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## SteveC (Sep 29, 2022)

Skyscraperfan said:


> The nice thing about Sigma is that they have a mount conversion service. So for $100 or so you can convert your lens to another mount. The optical formula has to be compatible of course. Some lenses are only possible for mirrorless cameras. However you could buy a used Sigma lens for a Nikon DSLR and convert it to fit on the EF mount.


I'm going to guess that they build the actual optical assembly as one part, and then attach what is essentially an adapter on the back of that for the mount in question. So their service just has to change back ends. No actual machine work needed!


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## victorshikhman (Sep 30, 2022)

Both manufacturers had some excellent DSLR lenses that were built like tanks and will last for decades. Hopefully we can pick them up cheap soon.


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## Dragon (Oct 1, 2022)

EOS 4 Life said:


> The EF mount is not going anywhere.
> I do find some of these discontinuations to be surprising, but, as it has been mentioned, these are not the top selling lenses.
> 
> These lenses will be missed:
> ...


The 150 and 180 macros have been discontinued for over a year.


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## koenkooi (Oct 1, 2022)

Dragon said:


> The 150 and 180 macros have been discontinued for over a year.


I haven't been able to find a new Sigma 180mm for sale (in the Netherlands) the past 3 years. Which is one of the reasons I went with the Canon 180L instead.


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## Dragon (Oct 1, 2022)

koenkooi said:


> I haven't been able to find a new Sigma 180mm for sale (in the Netherlands) the past 3 years. Which is one of the reasons I went with the Canon 180L instead.


It has been formally discontinued on Sigma's web site for about that long. I found a decent used one about a year ago and it is a tad sharper than the 150, which I have had for about a decade. Both are very sharp lenses and the R5 focus stacking feature seems to work with both as well. The downside of the 180 is that it is a heavy beast. The Canon is not as fast (f/3.5 vs f/2.8), but it is substantially smaller and much lighter. https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Lens-Specifications.aspx?Lens=109&LensComp=919


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## Johnw (Oct 4, 2022)

I’ll have to disagree with the “most” in this headline, at least in the case of Sigma. I still see more EF mount lenses for sale than the number cancelled, implying that it was not most.


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