Kenko Tokina, Tamron, and Astrodesign join the Micro Four-Thirds standard

Since launching the Micro Four-Thirds standard in 2008, Olympus and Panasonic have remained the only major manufacturers producing cameras and lenses for the mount. Four years on, Japanese lens manufacturers Kenko Tokina and Tamron and professional video equipment producer Astrodesign have now announced support for the growing standard. Both Tokina and Tamron should be familiar to DSLR owners: they produce low-cost lenses for a range of different camera mounts. Consumer choice seems set to be bolstered in the near future too, with Sigma intending to support the format as the company’s CEO revealed in an interview with Imaging Resource at CES this year.

Astrodesign has announced the AH-4413, bringing Micro Four-Thirds lenses to the professional video realm. The camera is capable of shooting 4K/60p movies direct to the company’s video processing unit, and is being launched alongside a remote controller that allows access to a wealth of the cameras settings. It’s not the first video camera to use the lenses — Panasonic produces the AG-AF101E — but wider support within the industry could be a huge boost for the format.