Tamron, Tokina and Astrodesign officially join Micro Four Thirds

The financial scandal+crisis has perhaps encouraged Olympus to run its "2 minute offense" on new products, instead of the usual fullback-on-almost-every-down we typically get from the traditional SLR manufacturers. Today they have announced that Tamron, Tokina and AstroDesign have officially joined Micro Four Thirds. Press release at Olympus Global. Tamron and Tokina are familiar to photographers. AstroDesign is a Japanese company in the world of digital video imaging.

Amateur Photographer UK suggests that Olympus will also launch more Four Thirds (SLR) products. It is not clear from the AmPho UK text whether this information was confirmed by interviews with Olympus or it is derived solely from the press release.

There is only one paragraph in the press release that mentions Four Thirds, and it may be a leftover or cut-and-paste from previous press releases, or standard corporatese:

"As the originator of the Four Thirds System and Micro Four Thirds System standards, Olympus Imaging Corp. will continue to develop and enhance the product lineup for both standards to meet the diverse needs of our customers."

The same paragraph is found in the February 2011 press release announcing that Carl Zeiss joined Micro Four Thirds.