Samyang and Astrodesign join the L-Mount Alliance
Jul 14, 2023
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Samyang and Astrodesign join the L-Mount Alliance
Jul 14, 2023
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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The L mount alliance, initially developed by Leica and launched with the trio containing Leica, Panasonic and Sigma, has just received its 6th and 7th members. The new members are the popular lens manufacturer Samyang and Japanese camera manufacturer Astrodesign.
Who is Astrodesign?
Astrodesign is a company you might not have heard of before. They are the 6th company to join the L mount alliance. Founded in 1977, the company makes real-time high-speed digital signal processing (DSP) technology. This includes professional 8K video cameras for live transmission and recorded broadcast use.
Who is Samyang?
Samyang is a name that doesn’t need much of an introduction in the worlds of photography and filmmaking. Last year, the company celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1972. The company sells its products under a variety of brands around the world, with the most widely known alternate names being Rokinon and Bower.
Today, the Korean company has a wide range of lenses, including more than a dozen autofocus lenses for Sony E mount. Autofocus lenses that they’re now able to produce for Leica L mount. So, I think we can probably expect the complete lineup to transition over relatively soon.
Who’s in the L Mount alliance now?
There are now seven companies in the L mount alliance. Since the initial announcement at Photokina 2018, Leitz was added in 2021, and DJI joined the team in 2022. Here’s the complete list as it stands today.
- Leica
- Panasonic
- Sigma
- Leitz
- DJI
- Astrodesign
- Samyang
I expect more will be added over the coming years as companies attempt to negate the costs of developing their own proprietary mounts. Joining an ever-growing ecosystem with multi-brand support will likely have license fees, but it’ll be much less expensive than creating your own fully evolved new system from scratch.
L mount looks like it might be shaping up to become the Bowens of lens mounts.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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