To be completely honest, when I was offered the Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm lens to review, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I knew it was a completely manual lens and I was fine with that. I have been using Lensbaby lenses for years now. But I didn’t think the Simera was a “creative” lens as such. Being 28mm, it is more of a wide-angle lens, but it doesn’t really behave like a wide-angle like my Sony 16-35mm. Still, I totally enjoyed my time playing with this lens. The more I used it, the more confident and comfortable I became.
Note: While I received this lens for review and return from Thypoch, it is a completely independent review. All thoughts are my own.
Pros
- Super shallow depth of field at f/1.4 – f/16
- 0.4m minimum focal distance
- The linear response in Manual Focus mode feels smooth and responsive
- The focus ring is smaller than a finger width and has a crescent-shaped focus tab
- Nice starburst at f/16; also captured sun flares
- Bright highlights and deep shadows
- Vintage feel
Cons
- Soft focus; Even when the image is in focus, it is still a little soft
- It has a slight vignette on the edges, quite pronounced at f/11 – /16
- The lens cap is held on with foam and could wear over time, making possibly it easy to fall off
- When using the zoom magnification function (on my camera)and I changed the aperture, the camera did not adjust to metering in AP Mode until the magnification was dropped, making images over or under-exposed.
- I did often find I accidentally changed the aperture when trying to adjust focus.
- Quite expensive for a prime lens
Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm – Technical specifications
All technical specifications have been taken from Thypoch’s website. Please see the website for full details.
- Mount: Sony E-mount (also comes in other mounts such as Nikon Z mount, M, RF and X)
- Format: 28mm full-frame
- Focal Length: 28mm
- Lens groups/elements: 11-14
- Angle of View : 750 / 650 / 450 (E-mount)
- Maximum Aperture: f/1.4
- Minimum Aperture: f/16
- Construction of Optics: 11 Elements in 7 Groups
- Iris blades: 14
- FLE – Built-in floating elements
- Minimum Focus Distance: 0.4m
- Filter Diameter: 49mm
- Dimensions (L): 55mm (2.13″) without lens hood / 69mm (2.7″) with lens hood
- Weight: 330 grams
- Colour: E mount in Black only, Black or Silver (M, Z, RF and X)
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“,”link_href”:null,”link_target”:”_self”,”link_rel”:null,”attributes”:{“data-mgl-id”:”196780″,”data-mgl-width”:”1045″,”data-mgl-height”:”746″},”orientation”:”o”}]” data-atts=”{“ids”:”196779,196780″}”>Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm – Ergonomics and build quality
- High grade of build, classic and elegant design, made from anodized aluminium alloy
- Good features and general handling, compatible with Sony E-mount without the need for adaptors
- Manual aperture and manual focus
- Soft bokeh with a gentle focus fall-off, isolating subjects from their surrounding
- Low chromatic aberrations
- It’s compact and lightweight design would make for the ideal street photography lens
- Automatic depth of field indicator, supposedly enables photographers to visualize the range of focus within their composition, but I never actually used it at all; possibly just a gimmick?
Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm – In the field
Despite the small size of the lens, when used with my Sony A7RV, it actually feels very comfortable in my hands. I enjoyed the high contrast and images looked great in black and white. The focus ring is smooth and well-positioned, even if it did take a little bit to get used to. I used it for still life, landscapes, flowers and portraits. I think that this lens maybe well suited to street photography rather than my usual studio portraits. The minimum focal distance makes this lens unsuitable for true macro, but it was great at f/1.4 for some garden shots.
Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm – Performance
It is a true manual lens, so it takes a little longer to set up focus. I don’t mind that, as it means slowing down and being more intentional with my images. At f/1.4 there is a creamy bokeh. I did find the sweet spot at f/2.8 – f/5.6, especially for portraits and animals. Granted it’s still early days, but I can’t wait to get into some more portraits in the studio.
Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm – Image quality and characteristics
Distortion control and vignetting
I found there was a slight vignetting on the edge of images, especially at f/11 – f/16. Not that it was overly distracting, but definitely noticeable at f/16 in the right conditions. In the studio, I played with some rainy day portraits. I poured water onto a sheet of clear acrylic in front of my model and I was able to easily set focus on my model through the water droplets. Even with low light at f/1.4 I was easily able to set my focus with peak metering. I adore the soft velvety, almost vintage feel of the images.
Chromatic aberrations, flares and ghosting
When shooting high-contrast areas (i.e. bright skies and shady trees), I found some magenta chromatic aberration on the fringes. Easy fix in most cases. No real ghosting, but there was some lens flare. Not an issue in the studio with artificial light.
Sharpness and bokeh
I found the focus a little soft, I certainly wouldn’t call it tack sharp (Or perhaps that is my manual focus skills?) You do get lovely bokeh when shooting into the light, although a little on the small and soft side. It gave a lovely velvety vintage feel to many of my images.
Color rendition
I found everything I captured was mostly true to color, but I found a slight degradation in color saturation where there was focus fall-off. I found I like the black and white high contrast images with this lens, with the aperture at f/1.4, although it did take some nice landscapes as well.
Thypoch Simera f/1.4 28mm – Best for Street Photographers
I used this lens for gardens, macro, landscapes, portraits and still life in the studio. I am not a street photographer, but I honestly think this lens would be ideally suited for just this genre, or perhaps even architecture. However, I felt the price is a little on the expensive side for a prime lens.
You can check out the unboxing video over on Youtube (I also received a Nikon Z mount 35mm lens which I will review separately, but it is mentioned in the unboxing video).
I have also put together a short video montage of an afternoon spent at my favourite gardens, Cloudehill, one late autumn afternoon with images taken on the Simera 28mm at various distances, focal ranges and apertures.