Manual Lenses for Nostalgic Imagery - Thypoch Simera 28mm F1.4 (February 2025 Issue)

 My photographic style is not what you would really consider Asian (certainly not Southeast Asian) as there are many western stylistic elements, a very British meat & potatoes mentality and also a pinch of Hollywood-esque sugar coating to what I photograph. On top of this, I always was drawn to the work of Capa, Bresson and the Magnum golden era when it came to the reportage elements of my work. Undoubtably Fan Ho’s work is a testament to the history of Hong Kong and in many ways, Bangkok has over time became the sister city in regards to the relationshib between East and West. With similarities such as this, alongside Fan Ho’s well known Rolleiflex sporting a 75mm lens (42mm Full Frame) matching that of the Simera’s 28mm (42mm Full Frame) it made total sense to explore Bangkok with fresh eyes and draw from these elements of Fan Ho’s work from the late 50's and the early 60's.

Twin lens reflex cameras such as Fan Ho’s gave his images a staggeringly different perspective than the eye level rangefinders or SLR’s of his contemporaries and with a wider than average field of view due to being medium format, and a that lower level perspective being constants. With the advent of mirrorless live view and the pull-out screen, we can easily mimic this style of shooting, and is actually one of my favourite ways to photograph using the X-Pro3. With that covered and with the 28mm focal length giving us plenty depth of field to work with all I needed to do was concentrate on his very aesthetic looking images, shadows, silhouettes, sunrays and smoke are not usually what I look for when photographing and needed to retrain my brain to actively look for these elements.

In terms of build quality everything I spoke about last month regarding the 35mm stands true for this lens also. We have the included metal square lens hood, the de-clickable aperture along with that amazing solid metal build quality. It also sports the same focusing tab and depth of field indicator, but as a 28mm optic both of those arguably more useful in this version of the lens especially as I found the 28mm far more difficult to use with peaking. I used this lens a lot more with the X-Pro3 and found the focusing tab far more useful than on the 35mm, if anything just for the tactile indicator of where I am currently focused in comparison to Infinity or 0.45m. Although we get that gorgeous Alpa-esque red dot indicator on the barrel, when shooting the camera is either to my eye or I am half looking at the screen and half looking at the scene so to know by touch is handy indeed. As for that 0.45m close focus, this is achieved by using a floating lens element design and a very expensive and sought after feature on Leica M. Sorry Thypoch this isn’t Leica, and here on Fujifilm 0.45m is acceptable at best, with par for the course on this focal range being 0.2-0.3m. Usability wise, marks off your score there. Luckily though you get marks back for how beautiful the lens renders, with the inclusion of aspherical elements this lens gives very clean, sharp images that play very well with the X-Trans sensors. People often talk about the “Leica Look” and this lens has it in spades. I would say this lens performs and feels better than any Leica M Cosina Voigtlander or Cosina Zeiss lens I have had the fortune of using. Bold words for a bold lens. As for how it fares to Leica? I’ll let that be a discussion for another day, but its close enough for it to be a discussion.

I originally thought that throwing this lens on F16 and just getting everything in focus would be the way to go but in reality, that didn’t work out too well. Of course, we have to bear in mind that this is a 28mm lens initially designed for Full Frame, and I am pretty jealous of Full Frame users who get to experience the true 28mm field of view and the benefits that come with. However, back to what I was saying, this lens performed best between F2.8 and F5.6 which is no real surprise, but I was hoping to get that full 1 meter to infinity depth of field and to shoot from the hip but when I did so the images were soft thought and with no definitive focal point. I ended up using this lens at around F4 and F5.6 more often than not. Surprisingly with the focus peaking I found it could be unreliable and give you an over confidence in what would be in critical focus. Magnifying and checking focus would eliminate this issue but was at odds with the style I chose for this homage (and in my opinion at odds with the kinds of environments you would take a lens like this). I did shoot some more documentary style images in markets and the more deliberate shooting that came with it lent itself to this lens. I quickly learned that the way I needed to shoot for 42mm APSC equivalent is worlds away from 28mm. A novice mistake perhaps, but worth noting as the lens does not benefit from the smaller APSC image circle and design wizardry that makes wider lenses react well on APSC.

Many of Fan-Ho’s works are from in and around train stations, as such I ended up lurking around the BTS walkways in search of images reminiscent, or their modern counterparts. I really didn’t enjoy the experience, I ended up feeling as though I pigeonholed myself into a style that wasn’t mine and a place that whilst similar on the surface, was drastically different to the transportation hubs of yesteryear. I found that at least 90% of the people I saw were on their mobile phone, making a humanistic image virtually impossible. I ended up ditching the stringent measures I placed on myself and used his work as a loose inspiration. Perhaps I have been in rural Thailand too long, as I didn’t feel comfortable in a situation that I previously would have relished. I felt disconnected from my surroundings but most of all, unable to find a connection with the people around me.

There is no denying that the 28mm Simera is a beautiful optic that renders gorgeous imagery however I would still consider it an either/or lens rather than a companion to the 35mm. That said, Thypoch are a company just over a year old and with the recent release of the 50mm Simera for Leica M, the 28mm could well become the viable companion for that lens should it make its way over to X-mount. I like to shoot two bodies, one wider and one longer whist staying at a comparatively normal range but if I were to put myself in the shoes of someone who wanted a one and done lens, this could also well be an option if you desire something a little wider than standard. Whilst not as wide a X100, it does offer a very similar field of view to Leica’s new Q3 43mm and the Richo GR 40mm. Many cameras of yesteryear came with fixed 45mm lenses such as the Yashica Electro, and whilst this lens is (physically) longer and less compact than any mentioned above it is also far brighter at F1.4. the only thing stopping me wholeheartedly recommending it is the issues with peaking. I think of the two Simera lenses, whilst a native X-Mount is an intriguing prospect (and the foundation for my interest in these lenses) I would consider purchasing the 28mm in Leica M Mount and adapt, that way should you wish to use it on a Full Frame body or the accurate rangefinder focusing on an M mount film camera, you get something that would otherwise be rather expensive and comparatively unavailable.

Thank you to Thypoch for providing the lens for this project, and if anyone is interested in learning more about the specifications or wanting to purchase your own copy then you can head over to their website - thypoch.com