My first-hand experience of using Thypoch Simera 35mm f/1.4

Overall user experience

The design of the Thypoch Simera 35mm is very nostalgic. When I first saw this lens, I noticed that it looked like the depth-of-field scale of Alpa kern 50mm /f1.8 and 50mm /f1.9. This design from 1958 is said to enable photographers to obtain a more accurate depth of field reference when taking hyperfocal distance or focus estimation shots. In addition, the Simera 35mm has an infinity locking mechanism similar to many early L39 threaded lenses, and a focusing ring that seems to be derived from Leica's famous Rigid, or in other words, the second-generation 50mm Summicron. There is no doubt that these designs combined into one greatly increase the fun and playability of the Simera 35mm.

The Simera 35mm also has a certain macro function, and the minimum focusing distance can reach 0.45 meters, which is not common in rangefinder lenses. The rangefinder cameras can generally only reach a minimum focusing distance of 0.7 meters. Perhaps to make it more convenient to use the Simera 35mm on modern digital Leica cameras, there is an alert when switching from 0.7 meters to 0.45 meters. A subtle resistance is set to notify the user that the lens is about to switch to macro mode, and the camera's live view mode can be used for focusing accuracy.

In film creation, a de-clicked aperture can often achieve smoother exposure control, but a clicked aperture will make the transition of exposure less smooth, thus affecting the look and feel of the film. The Simera 35mm lens has a lever on its aperture ring, which is a purely mechanical structure used to switch between clicked and de-clicked aperture. I really think that this design should be applied to all modern manual lenses.

Optics Design

The Simera 35mm adopts a 9-element design in 5 groups, including 3 high-refractive index lenses and 1 aspherical lens, all of which are made of glass, without the use of resin commonly seen in some modern lenses. Although this design prevents the overall size of the Simera 35mm from being made too small, it enables good dispersion control and extremely smooth out-of-focus transitions.

Image quality and optics performance

At the edge of high-gloss metal, even if the aperture was wide open at 1.4, the purple edge control of the Simera 35mm is still relatively good.

After testing, the dark corners of the Simera 35mm were improved when the aperture was tuned to f2, and basically disappeared when the aperture was adjusted to f4. Personally, the dark corners are advantageous for taking photos, adding unique styles to photos.

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When I sent the photos I took at night to my friend, he exclaimed, “The performance of the Simera 35mm at night is better than that during the day”, and also praised the bokeh of the Simera 35mm.

I was very happy to see more lenses springing up for Leica users, who can get more budget while excellent choice to enhance photographic experience to a new level.

More info about the Simera 35mm f/1.4.

Credit to 鹤川