p.5 #5 · Thypoch Simera 28mm 1.4 Z mount - images & discussion
Thx!
Yes, the Thypoch tends to flare under certain lighting conditions, but I also really like the character/style of the flares in certain situations.
You can use the lens hood to control the intensity of the flares to some extent.
The first photo was taken with the lens hood; without it, the flares would be more pronounced.
However, given the angle of incidence and the intensity of the light, they don’t disappear completely even with hood.
This lens is just so much fun to use that I prefer it to most of my Nikkor S-line lenses in this focal length range.
However, it’s usually flare effects that can be used creatively, as in the first image, where the flare traces the intense rays of the low evening sun.
With many of my modern, highly corrected lenses—whether Nikkor Z S-line or Voigtlander Apo—flares are much less common, but when they do occur, they tend to be more distracting flare effects.
p.5 #7 · Thypoch Simera 28mm 1.4 Z mount - images & discussion
I believe only the close-up of the tank markings is taken wide open @ f/1.4; all the others are somewhere in the f/2.8 range.
That's the downside of not having a chipped lens, no used f-stop EXIF information.
The Simera strikes a good balance with regard to the majority of optical aberrations without appearing overcorrected.
CA correction is surprisingly good, considering it's a relatively compact lens for a 28mm f/1.4 and also comparatively inexpensive.
On the Z8 it sometimes looks a little lost, but it's a very harmonious combination with my old Z6 Gen1.
An absolutely effortless, light, and compact camera/lens combination, despite the f/1.4 aperture at 28mm.
p.5 #9 · Thypoch Simera 28mm 1.4 Z mount - images & discussion
It's good to see so many fine images taken with this little gem. Unlike the 21mm (source:Voigtlander), 35mm (s:Leica) and 50mm (s:Leica) Simeras, this one appears to be an original design of DZO/Thypoch. I want to add that it is also really good for interiors and close-ish portraits. A superb travel or EDC lens.
p.5 #11 · Thypoch Simera 28mm 1.4 Z mount - images & discussion
Fortunately, I have no problems with the rotation direction for focus and aperture—quite the opposite, in fact.
Pretty much all of my manual-focus lenses that I still use are designed that way, and I’ve been shooting this way for over four decades.
It wasn’t until I switched to the Nikon Z system that the rotation direction changed for me—though my Nikon Nikkor lenses are all AF lenses without an aperture ring, and the focus rotation direction can be reversed via the settings.
Personally, this doesn't bother me that much, since I frequently work with non-CPU lenses and rendering is always No.1 priority for me—which is definitely the case with the Simera 28mm f/1.4.
Nevertheless, they missed an opportunity here to make the lens more appealing to the majority of users who, unlike me, aren’t accustomed to non-CPU and manual focus lenses—which I’ve been using for nearly five decades—by equipping it with a CPU/chipped, optimizing it for the Nikon Z filter stack, and using the traditional rotation direction for Nikon lenses.
Thypoch took the easy way out here with the Simera.
Still, it’s one of my favorite lenses, thanks not only to its harmonious rendering but also to its compact size and light weight.
It’s just a tiny thing compared to modern AF lenses with comparable speed in this focal length range, which makes it the perfect travel/EDC lens.
When paired with the compact Z6 Gen1, this is a real blessing compared to the Z8 and a lens that weighs as much as the Z8 body itself—especially if you’re not shooting in a very specific, location-oriented way.
Without really losing balance in terms of optical aberrations, even at wide-open apertures.
It’s more the vignetting and edge sharpness that visibly suffer due to the compact design—both factors that don’t bother me much with a 28mm f/1.4.
Chromatic aberrations, on the other hand—which usually really bother me—are very well controlled by this little lens.
p.5 #12 · Thypoch Simera 28mm 1.4 Z mount - images & discussion
It's worth keeping in mind that DZO/Thypoch is essentially a cine lens company, and their Simera lenses are infused with cine sensibilities quite at odds with the more purely technical orientation favoured by almost all stills enthusiasts, let alone commercial photographers.
In that cine realm, the pictorial quality is paramount, nothing else comes close. Vignette and edge performance are lower priorities for the biggest names in the cine field. The aberrations they want under good control are CA and distortion.
Cooke and Leitz are now making ranges with no asphericals at all, in pursuit of the charisma we had in the late twentieth century, pre-digital. Zeiss is aiming to recreate the Super Speed (and CY) look in their recent Aatma series.
So we have turned the corner in some respects, and we see something similar in the new 50/1.4 for Z-mount. I believe Thypoch know their prospective clients well. Niceties are on the back burner because these are not really commercial lenses, but early entrants into the enthusiast stills field, which (outside the M world) values technical performance, standards and conveniences over pictorial image quality and size/weight.
These are M-mount lenses in cine and stills, and only the 28mm and 35mm have been released in E and Z mounts. The 50mm, a magical 310 gram lens, is also produced in Z-mount, but it works fine adapted to Sony E-mount. cheers.
p.5 #13 · Thypoch Simera 28mm 1.4 Z mount - images & discussion
philip_pj wrote:
It's worth keeping in mind that DZO/Thypoch is essentially a cine lens company, and their Simera lenses are infused with cine sensibilities quite at odds with the more purely technical orientation favoured by almost all stills enthusiasts, let alone commercial photographers.
I don't know much about DZO, but the flare characteristics of my Simera Z 28/1.4 remind me of what I've seen in movies that were shot in the 1960's with lenses from the 1950's.
