There is no scarcity of lens producers from China – a number of come to thoughts, together with Laowa, Viltrox, 7Artisans, Meike, Sirui and Thypoch. Google lists 14 identified Chinese language lens manufacturers in all, between them making lenses for Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic and Leica cameras and extra.
Laowa makes utterly distinctive tilt-shift optics and excessive magnification macros optics, whereas Thypoch engineers stunning guide focus primes for Leica M cameras, at a fraction of the fee.
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I’m not alone in appreciating these brands – the big appeal of various Chinese-made lenses, now that the quality is there, is the price. I can buy a Viltrox prime that costs just a fraction of equivalent proprietary lenses and therefore saving myself hundreds if not thousands of dollars, plus it’s undercutting other leading third party brands, such as Sigma.
The Viltrox AF 135mm F1.8 LAB lens costs less than half the price of Nikon’s 135mm f/1.8 Plena, and Sony’s 135mm F1.8, but it’s still optical quality is a good match (Image credit: Viltrox)
Its practices have potentially landed it in hot water, mind you – Nikon is suing Viltrox for alleged patent infringements. We’re yet to hear the outcome of this lawsuit, and whether Viltrox will be able to keep making Nikon Z-mount lenses. I’m hoping it can, but I would expect the prices of future Viltrox Z-mount lenses to go up a little.
Each Chinese lens manufacturer is relatively infant, certainly when compared to camera makers Sony, Canon, Nikon, Leica and others, plus established Japanese third party lens makers Sigma and Tamron.
As such, one thing holding Chinese lens manufacturers back right now is product range. Sigma has a much wider choice of lenses than Viltrox, for example. Crucially, we’re yet to really see a variety of autofocus zoom lenses, but that could be about to change.
One big step
In fact, fresh news has emerged since I started writing this article, that the mysterious post could be referring to Thypoch. Previously known for stunning Leica M-mount manual focus primes, Thypoch displayed a new lens at The Photography Show in Birmingham, UK, last week, which was clocked by our sister site, Digital Camera World.
On display, a Thypoch 24-50mm AF F2.8 lens for Sony E-mount. Now I could be wrong, but this could be the very first autofocus zoom lens from China seen in the wild.
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A Chinese lens manufacturer that has never released an AF lens will launch a full-frame autofocus zoom lens in Q2, 2026.March 12, 2026
It is only one zoom lens, from one model, for one lens mount (and we do not know the worth), but it surely’s a giant step, and one which I anticipate different lens producers from China to observe shortly.
I can not consider that Viltrox is not already engaged on an autofocus zoom lens. If I had been a betting man, I’d gamble my home on Viltrox launching an autofocus zoom lens this 12 months, sparking a brand new daybreak of reasonably priced zoom lenses.
We spoke with Sigma’s CEO Kazuto Yamaki at CP+ 2026 in Japan final month and requested him about the specter of low-cost Chinese language rivals.
Sigma at CP+ 2026 (Picture credit score: Future)
Yamaki mentioned, “I’ve actually been amazed by the progress that these producers from China have made. I’ve lots of respect for them. General, nonetheless, we consider there’s a important distinction in high quality whereas we additionally provide an enormous vary of lenses.”
There is no doubt that Sigma has an enormous head begin over the likes of Viltrox – it was based within the Sixties and was making world-first zoom lenses as way back as 1979.
For me, Sigma is the primary identify that involves thoughts once I consider third occasion lenses – I’ve owned a number of for my varied cameras down the years, beginning with a 35mm f/1.4 Artwork lens for my Nikon DSLR.
Viltrox’s AF 35mm F1.2 LAB lens is exceptionally good (Picture credit score: Tim Coleman)
Extra just lately, I have been drawn to Viltrox and its spectacular primes, such because the 35mm f/1.2 LAB. Nonetheless, it is plain to see the restrictions in Viltrox’s line up, which includes prime lenses between 14mm and 135mm full-frame focal lengths solely. Sigma has a a lot greater selection; wider and longer primes, and zooms of every kind. It is also pushing the boat out with utterly new optics, such because the 5-star 135mm F1.4 DG.
If China is to overhaul Japan as the brand new lens-making superpower, we’d like extra selection, most notably autofocus zooms. Given the siting of the Thypoch lens, and the speed at which Viltrox and others are growing new merchandise, that day might come quickly.
What I’ll say although, is that there’s loads to love about Sigma particularly past the lenses it makes. Sigma has been working as a personal family-owned enterprise for over 60 years. It is frequently growing completely new merchandise, made in Japan, that price lower than proprietary lenses, and it adheres to sustainable and eco-manufacturing practices.
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