Are the new Tokina lenses a copy/rebrand/rebadge of the Viltrox lenses?





We had several discussions on the topic in the past: are the new Tokina lenses a copy/rebrand/rebadge of the Viltrox lenses? There is a long and detailed post on ayrn.io investigating this topic:

If you want my opinion, knowing what I do about the Chinese lens market, my best guess would be that Tokina and Viltrox are both working with a well established 3rd party Chinese lens manufacturer that creates prototypes and allows other companies to customize and sell their lenses under their own brand names.

Here is another quote from the Sonyalpha.blog:

Tokina is starting a new series of lenses “atx-m” it seems this series is done in collaboration with the Chinese manufacturer Viltrox as the 85mm tested here is mostly identical to the Viltrox 85mm F1.8 PFU RMBH STM

What do you think?