I had to laugh, looking through the comments on Matthieu's video linked above. A guy asked him why he didn't mention CA in his short coverage of aberrations, Matthieu replied that he hadn't seen any and overlooked it, to paraphrase. I agree and it really is something, every bit as good at wide apertures as my CY 21/2.8 which is loaded to the gunwhales with the best glass of the day. Good riddance!
There is a further point to note here. The new Viltrox 50/2 is similarly performing re CA (with astonishing MTF) so it seems the Chinese makers are close to being 'there' in conquering this most pernicious aberration. Both they and DZO are located in ShenZhen. Coincidences are rare.
At a time when most stills and cine lenses see the world through 9-11 blade apertures once the aperture ring is activated, the Simeras feature 14 blade irises, with the 75mm using a 16 blade fitting. Thinking this feature may be a standard in the cine world, I looked at around 15 cine lens ranges from Zeiss, ARRI, Leitz, Cooke, Canon and others - the cream of the crop. As cine lens ranges mostly comprise same spec irises for all or most of their lenses, the number of lenses in scope is in the hundreds.
Apart from DZO's cine ranges, I found just three ranges with lenses equipped with 14 or more blades in their apertures - all three date from 2017-2018. Only one comprised lenses of the speed of the Simeras - Zeiss's Supreme Primes all have 16 blade irises. The average of the rest was 11 blades.
The recent dates of release of these ranges are noteworthy for the high blade counts (the other two being Zeiss's CP.3 and Leitz's Thalia). The industry leaders are catching on to the benefits of all-aperture circular bokeh, particularly for near-wide open operation. These are credibly claimed to include: smoother focus transitions, cleaner bokeh ball interiors (less 'onion rings'), and more circularity to bokeh (out of focus) motifs.
It's likely there are more advantages, such as smoother skin rendering in the 1-2 stops off wide open, intuiting that lens designs should try to emulate in this aperture region the results we obtain shooting our lenses wide open. Two quotes from Leitz and Zeiss:
(Leitz Thalia) : '15 blades - circular through all stops.'
(Zeiss CP.3) : 'If you like the bokeh in your images to be round, you will be pleased to know that the 14 blade iris, made famous by the (2012) CP.2 lenses, has been retained.'
From Leitz about their THALIA cine lenses, one for the 'no 3D' people:
'The innovative iris design of the THALIA lenses maintains a circular iris through all aperture stops, creating a cinematic bokeh that comes alive with character. Out-of-focus elements maintain their structure, which further adds to the sense of dimensionality in the image.'
The debate is with DZO and Leica and the influencers with vision. The high blade count seems to feature strongly in their thinking and design development, as an integral part of that process. I want to look at the interaction of iris circularity and design of 'beauty-first' bokeh (another Leica term) soon. Not too hopeful, it's still an edge case and quite esoteric. Cine lens design is even more opaque than photo lens design.
28mm lenses have a special property you won't see in 21-24-25mm lenses and certainly not in 35mm lenses - it's the technique of using longitudinal layering with a close up subject, followed by content a short distance back, finishing with the fade into the background. The key to this approach is to look for compositions that present this way.
I would never suggest any changes to personal styles or downplay anyone's work at all, we all go about it our own way and see in our own way. So this is something you might see as interesting or not. I post it here because the Simera 28mm is *really* good at it, particularly if you enjoy street, or indoors like family or cafe. It comes from the cine orientation.
Here is a YT video from a talented guy (Hunter Hart) who uses the technique intuitively, title:
'The Best Lens for Leica - 28mm f/1.4 Thypoch Simera + Sample Images'
and another YT from today describing how to go about it analytically:
Maybe a playful April 1 post, but interesting nonetheless.
On their Instagram account, Thypoch are teasing the forthcoming release of a full frame f0.7 lens. 'Which mount should we make this one for?' they ask...
M and E seem to be the logical answers to this question. E first, given the difficulties in focusing such lenses. Most ultra-fast optics seem to be concentrated around 40-50mm in focal length. It's been a long time since the late great Stanley Kubrick made Barry Lyndon using a Carl Zeiss Planar 0.7/50mm to shoot using only candle light. This one better have a high blade count iris! It will be much easier with modern tech in both sensors and lens design.
Here is the title of an in-depth look at this extreme lens class, by Media Division. YouTube title:
Dave Sanders wrote:
Nice sharpness and transition to OOF areas, again.
Also...fresh artichoke? I always admire someone willing to go through the effort of cooking and eating fresh artichokes, delicious
Hey Dave!
Yep - fresh artichoke. My wife’s favorite. If you have an instapot or other pressure cooker, they only take 20 minutes to cook instead of the usual hour or so boiling. A lady at Costco gave me that tip as I was getting these a couple days ago. They are really good!
One thing I really like about 28mm is the ability to punch in to 42mm in crop mode on the fly. It helps with composition when you know you are going to crop anyway.
This series tells the story of a dog in trouble in frame one, to the same dog getting loved in frames 2 and 3.
I haven't had a chance to do any landscapes yet with this lens, but will be doing some very soon. It's serving very well as a family documentary lens.
These pictures and the one above of your wife at the dining table are piquing my interest in this lens. When I tried 28 in the past it didn't work for me, I prefer 35 and 50. More recently, I discovered the ideal use case for me for a 28, two people speaking across a table at a dimly-lit dinner.
I had trouble getting both subjects here in the frame with the 40/2.5 G, and 24 may be too wide and distort the edges. A 28 may be the sweet spot, and the rendering on this Thypoch is very pleasing.
mudlake wrote:
First image is at f1.4. Second at f2.8
Sharif Abdou wrote:
These pictures and the one above of your wife at the dining table are piquing my interest in this lens. When I tried 28 in the past it didn't work for me, I prefer 35 and 50. More recently, I discovered the ideal use case for me for a 28, two people speaking across a table at a dimly-lit dinner.
I had trouble getting both subjects here in the frame with the 40/2.5 G, and 24 may be too wide and distort the edges. A 28 may be the sweet spot, and the rendering on this Thypoch is very pleasing.
Very nice, intimate image.
I have not used 28mm often either, but have found a lot of love using this lens. For people it is very good. I can’t wait to try it on some landscapes.
I came across the soon to appear Simera 21/1.4 from last month Leica Rumors. It looks like they managed to slim it down significantly. 62mm thread, same as the CV 21/1.4 in M.
Playing around yesterday with M version on A1 ii at a little family gathering. Missing focus confirmation from Nikon zf. Peaking is not bad, but man that green box confirmation really makes manual focus a breeze.
I have the E version and use it on the 'game changer' (my name for my a7r). The 28/1.4 E is extremely easy to use that way with L1 peaking. And the focal plane is easy to watch fall into place, with even L1 magnification.
But that body is a very good one for MF lenses, having been partly designed with them in mind - Sony had only two AF lenses available at the time, and they were giving out manual focus lens adapters with each purchase (I got an M>E one). AF on the sensor was primitive, too. I hope the later models work as well for you.
