Karma Hotel and Restaurant. Some need good karma here, at 4300m. These places are godsends, endless food and coffee/chai, and soft carpet beds for overnights, even your own room out the back if you want.
philip_pj wrote:
Karma Hotel and Restaurant. Some need good karma here, at 4300m. These places are godsends, endless food and coffee/chai, and soft carpet beds for overnights, even your own room out the back if you want.
Well said, These places are why travelling to these outskirts make it so worthwhile.
4900m road building camp, Zanskar. I think the 28/1.4 does very well at gritty textures. It's surprisingly adept at landscapes too. That was an area where I expected it (and the 50mm) to not shine, but it proved me wrong there too (IMO). The Simeras seem to 'attract' high light tones to a higher level than other modern lenses. So landscapes keep more interest in the picture and are effective at showing high macro contrast between objects in the scene. With luck and good diffused light, it helps create a faux cinematic look, out-of-camera - very nice, as a personal opinion.
These lenses are 'hybrids': half late vintage era - the excellent color, the 3D true-to-life depiction of the distance of objects from the camera, a gradual focus-fade transition zone, the structured yet silky smooth mid-full bokeh, and small size/weight - along with modern polish - in design and build, coatings, CA/distortion correction, ease of focus from high centers, fab and materials. It's Dr Jekyll at f1.4, and Mr Hyde at f5.6.
Thypoch are here for the long haul, I believe, so plenty of time to buy in if you go that way.
They openly canvas feedback on what they might do next. But having given it some thought, I told them they were ahead of the market with what they had done so far. It is getting past the early stage of euphoria for me (thousands of images, two big trips), and honestly it's hard to find fault with the imagery. It might put an end to my slow burn lens turnover, because my new portrait lenses excel at landscapes and documentary and travel, and are usable at any aperture I need.
I want to say also that these lenses' images are easy to process, very responsive indeed, and no complaints about the color. And the other big thing is the highlight handling. They have more dynamic range than my other lenses, easier recovery so they are very easy to live with in my shooting environments. They also look far less digital than my Voigtlanders, partly as a result of the spread and detail in this section of the tone curve, and they are less dependent on aspherical surfaces too. And the 3D! A few street shots in the monsoon fog at Shimla:
Looks like this lens is rendering very well and keeping it's character on Sony bodies. Very nice works.😁
philip_pj wrote:
Thypoch are here for the long haul, I believe, so plenty of time to buy in if you go that way.
They openly canvas feedback on what they might do next. But having given it some thought, I told them they were ahead of the market with what they had done so far. It is getting past the early stage of euphoria for me (thousands of images, two big trips), and honestly it's hard to find fault with the imagery. It might put an end to my slow burn lens turnover, because my new portrait lenses excel at landscapes and documentary and travel, and are usable at any aperture I need.
I want to say also that these lenses' images are easy to process, very responsive indeed, and no complaints about the color. And the other big thing is the highlight handling. They have more dynamic range than my other lenses, easier recovery so they are very easy to live with in my shooting environments. They also look far less digital than my Voigtlanders, partly as a result of the spread and detail in this section of the tone curve, and they are less dependent on aspherical surfaces too. And the 3D! A few street shots in the monsoon fog at Shimla:...Show more →
It was a surprise packet in several ways. I hadn't used it much at mid apertures before this expansive landscape trip, but I'm thrilled at the visual cues it emphatically pastes into the image at different distances from the camera (very important for 3D in the absence of leading lines as in the glacial rocks image below). And the other thing is the highlights can be dialed in more-or-less perfectly, to taste. So many lenses block up highlight detail, leaving a chalky overlay. Colors are even more vibrant stopped down.
I'm moving into a kind of PJ approach these days, if you will, so versatility is a huge asset. Being able to turn your mounted lens to photograph at short notice: people close and in groups, low light, townscapes, the built environment, open landscapes, any aperture...all with confidence - it's invaluable for what I do. It's the best at this I've ever used, and not by a little. It only took thirty years.
A lot of places I go, due to relations, can be desolate with little subtlety in the landscape. It’s scenes that I find remarkable, but too many times the images just look flat. I try to under-expose considerably, but too many times the sky is lost. It’s sounding increasingly like this lens might be worth a try.
Flat light and fewer visual cues are very hard to deal with. It's why Zeiss got a reputation with its high contrast, high saturation optical model.
What helps induce dimensionality into these lenses is a carefully balanced combination of output characteristics, from gradual focus fade to fine bokeh, vibrant natural color, responsive contrast and sound light handling. It tells you they have been long term students of cine lenses (as part of DZO) before bursting onto the scene, same as with other Chinese firms.
Looking ahead for you, another option, maybe, is Sirui ('soo-ray') will release an AF Aurora wide angle early next year, it might be a 28mm since they have built quite a reputation for fine bokeh, whereas a 24mm is (to my mind) a different kettle of fish. Like Sirui, Viltrox is another balanced high refractive index (HRI) user and who knows what they will do, after the 50mm AIR and the 14mm/9mm pair?
Earlier I posted the "Lady in Red" at this location in Paris. Here is the same location with another elderly lady but wearing blue. Both color and black and white.
mudlake wrote:
Earlier I posted the "Lady in Red" at this location in Paris. Here is the same location with another elderly lady but wearing blue. Both color and black and white.
The colors are rich and yet not artificial.
The b&w has wonderful gradation and tonal quality.
Pretty solid separation here, but the secret ingredient is the softened detail that still resides in the background objects and people. All the Simeras have this, but the 28mm is a sweet spot, as it is in all decent lens ranges. The many straight lines here complement and point at the main subjects - the quizzical women. You cannot do this with high bokeh lenses, you get a very different look, more of an outline than anything else. Choice is always good.
Good impression of backgrounds with people shot at a comfortable longer distance, maybe 2.5m. See the light as it travels across their faces, and the progression of the bokeh from front to back (like the fence), and settled bokeh detail (trees etc.).
