Thypoch Simera 28mm F1.4
Thypoch have quickly garnered a reputation with influencers, but I will see how much of that is aestheticizing and how much of that is earned. Please note: some of these images were intended for use on Fuji X Passion, but following my departure I decided they are too good to die in a folder. You may see them over there, you may not. What matters is you see them.
The Simera 28mm is a difficult lens to use on APS-C, as it is inhibited by all the traits of a 28mm wide angle formula but with a field of view similar to a standard prime, closer to normal than wide. You don’t get the benefits of an expanded field of view, only the drawbacks of a 28mm optical design. The only problem with this is that the images that come out of it are up there with the German names, so you adapt or struggle, or struggle to adapt. But you use it anyway. I certainly did. Perhaps it is because of my love for Contax Zeiss Planar 45mm, a lens with an extremely similar field of view, coupled with the X-Pro3 it is almost enough to feel like a spiritual successor. The grading of images above are inspired by a cross between my use of the Contax G1 and Kodak Ultra Max (it eats film, don’t judge) and the Leica CL and 40mm Summicron which I used extensively with Agfa Vista. If comparisons are to be made, the Simera would lie slightly closer to the Summicron, with the X-Pro being closer to the G1. I don’t see the Simera 28mm as a struggle to use, but as a challenge. And that (if not the familiarity of the field of view) is what breeds creativity. This can’t be replicated with lenses with inherent flaws to work around, I’m not working around flaws, but around dissonance. The next set of images pulled from my time using Rollei Retro 80S. The Simera 28mm does muted monochrome very well. Not an easy look to get without looking sterile, flat or digital.
I enjoy using my lenses wide open, for that rendering and depth. Wide apertures like the Simera’s F1.4 also come in handy in a place like Thailand, where there can be a lot in a single frame, and making a little bit disappear is not only natural but preferred due to how we parse a still image over the world around us. However, I started my journey with this lens at F11, and attempting zone focus, something I enjoyed with my old Voigtlander 15mm Super-Wide Heliar. It felt natural what with Thypoch’s resurrection of the Alpa Kern style focus indicator. What I wasn’t expecting was that the wider I opened the aperture, the less friction I encountered, surely due to the dissonance between optical formula and field of view rearing it’s head again. At narrower apertures I found that the exact focal point gets easily lost, and an un-disciplined eye will wander. There’s a saying I keep from my time in the Army: cater to the lowest intelligence. A more polite version might be: keep it simple, stupid. If I have to point out or caption my exact subject, then I have failed as a photographer. We cannot assume that the viewer will stay long with our images. Nor can we assume they hold the same passion as we do. The skill becomes in making it obvious without being obtuse.
Please see below for the full sample gallery shot during my time with this lens. Both of the Thypoch Simera lenses are featured in FUJILOVE (issues 106 and 107), and I’ve shared more about the process of creating those articles over on my blog.
