Photos of the upcoming Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD lens for Sony E Mount leaked a couple of weeks ago. With promotional product photos out there in the wild, we knew it wouldn’t be long before there was an official announcement. Now it looks like we might see that announcement come at some point this week. A tweet from Nokishita (who else?) suggests that you’ll be able to pre-order and reserve your new lens in Japan next week. A screenshot from French retailer, Photo Univers that seemed to jump the gun a little, also suggests it will be significantly less expensive than Sony’s FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM, with a price tag of only €1,499.

https://twitter.com/nokishita_c/status/1246017163841814528

The translated tweet, posted on Friday (hence “next week”), says… Sony’s own 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens costs around $2,600. The Tamron is expected to be substantially less expensive at a mere €1,499 (~$1,619.67), according to an early listing on the website pf french retailer Photo Univers. The Japan price is said to be 137,500 yen (~$1,267.69) including tax.

Some specs of the lens were known a couple of weeks ago, but the new listing helps to fill in some gaps. Nokishita says that we should expect an official announcement at some point this week. The announcement should make a lot of Sony shooters who don’t want to fork over $2,600 for Sony’s own f/2.8 telephoto zoom lens very happy. [via Photo Rumors]