The Thypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 is, in my experience, flare resistant in most real world situations. You can confidently shoot into bright light sources without immediately seeing issues like veiling or loss of contrast, and in normal backlit scenes it behaves in a controlled and modern way.
With that said, the more stylized flare character described in the marketing is not the default. The warmer, slightly amber toned response and the more cinematic flare character only really appear when you deliberately push the lens into difficult lighting. When you do force it, you can start to see some of that intended “Epoch Coating 73” look come through, with lower contrast, some ghosting, and a gentle veiling flare that adds atmosphere rather than destroying the image.
The key point is that this character is angle dependent and quite precise. It is not something that shows up consistently just because you are shooting toward the sun. You can point the lens into direct light and get no meaningful flare at all, then shift a few degrees and suddenly the ghosting or veiling appears. That makes it feel more like a controlled effect than a constant optical signature.
On a rangefinder like the M10-R, this becomes a bit of a hit or miss experience. You are working without a live preview of the final flare behavior, so it can be difficult to intentionally place the effect exactly where you want it in the frame. If someone specifically wants to use the veiling and ghosting as part of their composition, live view is the more reliable method since it allows you to fine tune the angle and immediately see when the coating behavior starts to engage.
Overall, I would describe it as a lens that prioritizes good resistance first, with the advertised cinematic flare character available as a secondary, more deliberate creative option rather than a constant signature.
Below are a few examples showing the type of flare the lens can produce when induced:
LEICA M10-RThypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 lens21mm1/800s100 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA M10-RThypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 lens21mm1/800s100 ISO-1.0 EV
LEICA M10-RThypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 lens21mm1/800s100 ISO-1.0 EV
LEICA M10-RThypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 lens21mm1/640s100 ISO-1.0 EV
LEICA M10-RThypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 lens21mm1/500s100 ISO-1.0 EV
LEICA M10-RThypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 lens21mm1/800s100 ISO-1.0 EV
Here is an example of a sunstar image at f/8, shot against the light at a low angle, with no visible veiling or ghosting flare.
mgscheu wrote:
You've reminded me that I should try it on my X-T5.
could you share your thoughts how it goes? how's the overall sharpness does corner suffer smearing? i owned a Voiglander 27mm f2 already, the image quality is fantastic but often have issue to quickly locate the focus knob.
Fred, not sure if it has been asked, but do you have any plans to review the 21mm Simera? I just picked one up off of buy n sell and it is a spectacular lens.
_jim_ wrote:
Fred, not sure if it has been asked, but do you have any plans to review the 21mm Simera? I just picked one up off of buy n sell and it is a spectacular lens.
I would love to see a comparison of the Thypoch Simera 21mm and the Leica Summilux-m 21mm to see the difference in rendering and character. I cannot find a direct comparison anywhere.
