[6BQ5]

Does anyone know where he is today? It seems there are posts on the internet that he either came back to Ricoh/Pentax, works at Canon, or works at Tamron.

[boriscleto]

It's been said he works for Tamron.

[lytrytyr]

It's been said he works for Tamron.

Interesting.

Are there any recent Tamron lenses with the "look" of the FA 24, FA 43, or FA 77 (not necessarily for K-mount)?

[boriscleto]

Interesting.

Are there any recent Tamron lenses with the "look" of the FA 24, FA 43, or FA 77 (not necessarily for K-mount)?

I won't link to it, but RiceLow posted a patent from Tamron that had his name on it. I remember someone saying he designed the 24-70/2.8 Di VC USD. Tamron doesn't do primes other than Macro, so you won't ever get the "look" of his old primes.

[lytrytyr]

I won't link to it, but RiceLow posted a patent from Tamron that had his name on it.

Thanks, found it.
I hate having to go there, but sometimes there's no alternative.

[Miguel]

That was a huge Hoya-driven loss for Pentax.
It seems like Tamron's reputation is rising for quality and that 24-70mm zoom is part of it. I'm mighty pleased with the Tamron 150-600mm zoom. Now I'm curious whether Mr. Jun had a role in its development?

M

[MadMathMind]

That was a huge Hoya-driven loss for Pentax.
Mr. Jun
M

Jun is his first name. Hirakawa is his family name.

It's a bit confusing because Western media reverses last names from the usual Asian order (family name first) randomly. Some examples where it is traditionally kept:

Mao Zedong - Mao is his last name
Kim Jong-un/Il-sung/etc. - Kim is the last name
Xi Jinping (president of China) - Xi is his last name
Park Geun-hye - Park is her last name

but you will usually see

Shinzo Abe (prime minister of Japan) - Abe is his last name
Ichiro Suzuki - Suzuki is his last name, although he is generally mononymously called just "Ichiro"

The trend as of late has been to keep the order, but there seem to be some strange exceptions.

[6BQ5]

I won't link to it, but RiceLow posted a patent from Tamron that had his name on it. I remember someone saying he designed the 24-70/2.8 Di VC USD. Tamron doesn't do primes other than Macro, so you won't ever get the "look" of his old primes.

Is there any chance this lens is related to the FA 28-70mm f/4? Did he look at this lens and think, "Oh, I know what I can do with this!"

[ChristianRock]

From what I've read, he designed the new 24-70 and 70-200 VC lenses for Tamron. Of course that is just speculation, I have not seen the patents. But I did see good sharpness and very nice colors and high contrast in what I have seen coming from those lenses. And they cost quite a bit more than the lenses they replaced...

[tabl10s]

Jun is his first name. Hirakawa is his family name.

It's a bit confusing because Western media reverses last names from the usual Asian order (family name first) randomly. Some examples where it is traditionally kept:

Mao Zedong - Mao is his last name
Kim Jong-un/Il-sung/etc. - Kim is the last name
Xi Jinping (president of China) - Xi is his last name
Park Geun-hye - Park is her last name

but you will usually see

Shinzo Abe (prime minister of Japan) - Abe is his last name
Ichiro Suzuki - Suzuki is his last name, although he is generally mononymously called just "Ichiro"

The trend as of late has been to keep the order, but there seem to be some strange exceptions.

Korea is the only place I know where it's reversed. I lived in Japan twice dating back to '81 and everyone I met had names non-reversed. The current national Table Tennis champ is Mizutani Jun(reversal may be the norm with this name).

[ogl]

Tamron 60/2 macro - I've heard that it's work of Jun Hirakawa

[clackers]

Tamron 60/2 macro - I've heard that it's work of Jun Hirakawa

Ooh ... he's never done a macro lens before!

[indy]

Korea is the only place I know where it's reversed. I lived in Japan twice dating back to '81 and everyone I met had names non-reversed. The current national Table Tennis champ is Mizutani Jun(reversal may be the norm with this name).

You will run into a variation of this in the U.S. in the deep south. I lived in the panhandle of Florida and it was not uncommon to hear Mr. Followed by a first name - Mr. David for example. Typically it was someone from Alabama using this colloquialism

[ogl]

Ooh ... he's never done a macro lens before!

What is the problem for optical engineer?

But he made Fish-Eye
Hirakawa Jun - Camerapedia

[clackers]

What is the problem for optical engineer?

But he made Fish-Eye
Hirakawa Jun - Camerapedia

I'm sure he's excited by the project. A chance to tick off a box in a brilliant CV.