Apparently some of the lenses are made in China, and some made in Japan. I was told that those made in China has worse optics than those made in Japan. My tamron has a serial of under 400, and is fully made in Japan. My friend's made in China, serial well over 15000...

would that be a possible its a clone ? best email to Tamron and ask !

it's not a clone, they are just manufactured in China now. There's a thread in dpreview about this and also otehr threads in other forums. Apparently the china made ones have front/back focusing issues as well as overexposure issues.

Thats why some shops do extensive tests for you.
Some shops dont even care.

If you get a good copy of this Tamron, it will be superb!!!

i see u haven't strike it out from your wanted list yet

the tokina is taking forever to come to this shore + expensive
the tamron reputation is enough to hold to its ground

but my supplier is noob in testing lenses
im waiting for him to successfully test a good copy before striking it out