Let’s face it, a majority of us might very well greet the arrival of age 40 with a crushing sense of existential dread. Tamron, however, has taken a healthier approach. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its SP lens line, the company has introduced a prime lens it says represents the culmination of the design and technology skills it has amassed over four decades of lens making.

That lens is the SP 35mm F/1.4 Di USD (Model F045) which is available for full-frame Canon and Nikon DSLRs.

Among the new innovations in the lens is a second generation of Tamron’s Broad-Band Anti-Reflection coating (BBAR-G2) to minimize flare and ghosting. The Fluorine coating used on the front lens element has also been reformulated for improved performance.

Autofocusing is driven by Tamron’s Ultrasonic Silent Drive with a newly-developed Dynamic Rolling-cam mechanism which Tamron says improves performance and reliability when working in extreme temperatures.

The SP 35mm has nine aperture blades that stop down to f/16.

Additional features include:

• full-time manual focus override
• moisture sealing
• compatibility with the optional TAP-in Console
• a locking lens hood

Nikon users will get the lens in at the end of this month, while the Canon mount will ship at the end of July. The lens costs $899.

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