Sony opens up its E-mount interchangeable lens standard to manufacturers

We previously caught wind that Zeiss and Schneider would be manufacturing lenses for Olympus and Panasonic Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras and now Sony has a response of its own. Sony has announced that it’s opening up its E-mount specification to all lens and adapter makers from April, allowing them to come up with lenses and adapters for its NEX line of cameras without having to pay any license fees. Major players such as Carl Zeiss, Cosina Co, Sigma and Tamron have all signed up for the deal, giving Sony’s plan plenty of backing. It’ll be interesting to see how this affects Sony’s NEX cameras, since the availability of more lenses will definitely make it a more attractive device and whether it will be able to beat the MFT cameras from Olympus and Panasonic.