'People can hate on Leica all they want but their stamp on lens design and influence is still showing today'
I'm something of a reformer Leica critic. They will always attract some unhappy observers for several reasons, but it's largely because they do so much good work. And they are so prolific, two full ranges and cine as well, APS-C, FLCs. We'd be much poorer without them, but many are poorer because of them.
I read a fine piece on the Summilux 50/1.4 (one before the FC) from Erwin Puts, he stated it has one element of glass that is more expensive than all the elements of its predecessor combined. Everyone will learn something from this piece:
This below might be why Thypoch worked hard on the close focus of the 50/1.4 Simera when they modified the Summilux design:
'But at a close range and particularly at wider apertures one might begin to see a drop in contrast and a very slight haze that seems to reduce the clarity of the image.' 'The floating element improves the quality in the near focusing range. Reduction in image quality will normally occur around the distance of 3 meters and less with high-speed lenses.'
(still no word on the Simeras: 21mm and 75mm. Chinese New Year is now over, so it's back to work for DZO/Thypoch.)
RustyRus wrote:
If anything this threads reminds you how far Leica really was ahead of the bell curve with lens design and focusing on the interesting design philosophies-
People can hate on Leica all they want but their stamp on lens design and influence is still showing today-
People can hate all they want, but Leica has done some fantastically impressive things in the last half century of photography—including the 50 Lux.
This thread makes me bummed Cv does not release cine versions of their glass like Thypoch has smartly done.
Will be interested to see where this one lands vs. the Voigt for design approach / rendering / size. I've thought about adding the Voigt back into the fold with my M 75/2.4 ... but, have been standing pat for a while now.
Recently picked up the Voigt Vintage 50/1.5 II to scratch that itch a bit (smaller brother-ish).
Standard size 58mm filters, same as CV's 75/1.5 and many others. 0.55m MFD for a very healthy magnification ratio. See how close they have the filter thread to the lens body outer edge.
And, drum roll (or drum troll if the source is wrong): 16 blade aperture. The cine version in M is 435 grams, how much will they shave off? I hope under 400 grams. It's a true 73mm at infinity.
DZO/Thypoch are likely to release the 21mm and 75mm Simeras in stills form at CP+2025, which is to be held in Yokohama from Feb 27 to Mar 2:
'CP+ is one of the world’s largest photography & videography industry events, hugely popular among photo and imaging enthusiasts of all ages, genders, and nationalities. CP+2025 quickly captures the global revival of dedicated cameras in the smartphone age, the latest social media trends, and more.'
It has a quite different kind of dreamy cine feel to the CV 75/1.5, much stronger at close focus and more retention of bokeh motifs, for that ultra smooth all-of-range effect they use.
More intended to be used at f1.4, possibly with less bite in middle apertures than the CV equivalent. It will be a tall order to displace the Simera 50mm for a lot of portraiture.
75/1.4 - next pic released. It looks like some serious weight reduction, see how close the thread is to the front lens diameter. At 450g, the geared cine version is already 65 grams lighter than the Sony version of the Voigtlander 75/1.5 (515g) but 100 grams heavier than the svelte VM version (350g). The cine version had a front diameter of 72mm, which some users did not like as it was larger than the others in the range.
'Thypoch is expected to announce a new Simera 75mm f/1.4 lens for Leica M-mount on *February 24th*' (Monday in Asia).
Bit off topic but I will be visiting China in a month. Bejing, Hangzhou, Shangai. Any stores there where I can buy Thypoch lenses and is it worth it or will it not be a huge price difference compared to Europe?
From what I know of Eurpoean price structures, they are most unlikely to be more expensive in the country of origin. We get a lot of Chinese products here in Australia at very good prices, the place is kind of testing ground for them.
If you don't get anywhere, look up CP 2025+ on Monday and be in touch with them from there.
There are a bunch of reviews out on YouTube about the Simera 75mm 1.5 M Mount.
I don’t have a sense of the lens watching the videos, I find it always hard to comprehend the rendering of a lens even with a night of bing watching some reviews.
The lens is also now advertised on the Thypoch website. A 75mm 1.5 is always welcome though, there are not many.
I'm getting a production Simera 75/1.4 lens for review in a couple of weeks and I'm really excited to test this lens. I was told it will have a cinematography rendering reminiscent of the cine version it was based on.
Fred Miranda wrote:
I'm getting a production Simera 75/1.4 lens for review in a couple of weeks and I'm really excited to test this lens. I was told it will have a cinematography rendering reminiscent of the cine version it was based on.
I read the whole review here by Jonas Rask. I never put much stalk in his reviews, though his images are nice if you like that type of processing. I did find this interesting:
“The center sharpness is as I said very impressive at f/1.4. More than enough to bring good details, but it avoids the ultra-crisp, razor-edged look common in other modern lenses. Colors are rendered rich and natural, with a slight warmth that flatters skin tones, while the contrast has a pleasing balance that remains true even under high-key lighting as well as night scenes. In those instances it covers beautifully.”
On both the 35 and 50 Simera, I found the colors to be cold and difficult to work with. I could get around some of it and post processing, but even with profiling, I did not like them. and both of those lenses had less micro contrast and sharpness then their Leica counterparts (35 Lux and 50 Lux) at common shooting distances. I will be very curious to see there that softness wide open—I hope it’s a decent amount.
I will trust Fred’s review, or Bastian’s. I am more curious about this lens than others lenses given the lack of fast options at 75 mm. That’s why I think their 28/1.4 is their best offering yet.
And this is priced well, spec’ed well and it has a really spectacular MFD. Maybe with a slight Glimmer Glass filter and some post, this could be quite attractive. I can already tell though, the bokeh looks a little too staid for me.
How soon is 'coming soon'? I want one but I have an Indian trip mod-march. I'll do some looking around over the next day or two.
They have put the cine version in the hands of many users at all levels, so looking past YT compression etc. I'd already decided on it. Any general release information would be appreciated.
No internal focus, a fair degree of extension. The lens body has really been given a real shave, 372 grams. Retained olde worlde dots DOF display. The cine version's 16 blade aperture is intact. MFD of 0.6m (Haisch). Now this is interesting:
The dedicated page indicates 'a 49mm image circle, making it compatible with sensors larger than full-frame, expanding its potential for use with medium format systems.' (!) It's one of the things to like about this maker - they always look to serve across the field of mounts and here, even formats. Also, the cine version is rated as an image circle of full frame - 43mm. Maybe a late addition, it's not shown ion the table, but the page text.
The design is interesting - it's a beefed up remake of CV's 75/1.5 by the look of it, with the Sonnar style front end (four elements), followed by the now-common 'rouleaux' design layout featuring a central Summilux-style aspherical element, ending with four elements for back and forth correction, as two of them are the fine HRI elements DZO-Thypoch like so much.
They did away with one ED element up front (no bad thing IMO) and carried on the correction throughout the design. So we see the replacement of the sole APD element used in the CV lens with HRI.
The other design inspiration might be the Summilux 75/1.4, which shares the four final elements of this one in the same two stage layout. The floating element section is all of the front 7 elements.
To get all that into 370 grams (just 20g more than the far simpler CV 75/1.5) is a fine outcome.
philip_pj wrote:
No internal focus, a fair degree of extension. The lens body has really been given a real shave, 372 grams. Retained olde worlde dots DOF display. The cine version's 16 blade aperture is intact.
The design is interesting - it's a beefed up remake of CV's 75/1.5 by the look of it, with the Sonnar style front end (four elements), followed by the now-common 'rouleaux' design layout featuring a central Summilux-style aspherical element, ending with four elements for back and forth correction, as two of them are the fine HRI elements DZO-Thypoch like so much. They did away with one ED element up front (no bad thing IMO) and carried on the correction throughout the design.
To get all that into 370 grams (just 20g more than the far simpler CV 75/1.5) is a fine outcome. ...Show more →
I love the no internal focus so we are not burdened with a larger carry. The dust sucker trade off is overblown IMO
