Hello everyone,
Yesterday I discovered that 28mm now comes in E mount too! Is the lens optimized for the thicker Sony sensor? It's good in E mount or it share the same problems with the other WA M mount adapted lenses?
The B&H reviews are all M-mount related. I'll do a quick literature search of reviews on the subject, looking for those that used the native versions of this lens on non-M mount cameras.
I don't like the uncertainty and it would be best also for those influenced by innuendo. I seem to be in B&H's good books at the moment, so I'll write to them also. We'll get to the bottom of it. /
1. First up was Dustin Abbott, he used the 28/1.4 lens in M-mount on high resolution Sonys, the A1 and a7rV:
'Corner Performance peaks around F8. You can see that F5.6 (bottom left) looks good, but F8 (bottom right) looks fantastic.' 'Corner sharpness isn’t great at large apertures, but that’s unlikely to affect the kinds of shots that most people will take at large apertures with this lens.'
3. My favourite video reviewer, Analog Insights on YT:
'Thypoch Simera 28mm f/1.4 ASPH. Review'
He says the sharpness on a Leica body 'you get sharpness across the entire frame.' This is our control, then, for how the M lens works on an M body.
(many of the Leica reviewers absolutely love the Simera 28/1.4, and the images are very impressive indeed.)
4. The Optical Limits guys had this to say about the Z-mount lens tested on some 45mp Nikon body: '..this changes at f/2.8. The center quality is outstanding here and the borders are very sharp as well. The corner recovered to good levels. The peak performance is reached around f/5.6 with the corners reaching very good results.'
It's well worth seeing both ends of the spectrum of reviews for this very different lens series - from the traditional stills reviews who tend to see only through the prism of metrics and show images in a few tiny 'samples' - and the more artistically oriented people, who work from the images and feel of the lens in operation.
I don't personally need to go further writing to the large shops with the central concern here because, as outlined above, the corner results are very consistent across:
(i) M-mount lens on M bodies;
(ii) M-mount lens on high res Sonys (!), and
(iii) the OL classic still lens inspection process of a Z-mount lens on a 45mp Z body.
It's funny how these lenses sharply contrast the two extremes of reviews: those who believe their close examination tests are sufficient to characterise a lens's performance; and those who get out and use it and marvel at the image depth and images quality while enjoying the build quality.
Many of the first group don't even see the cine lens characteristics built in to the Simeras which bring so much to stills images: bokeh refinement, blade counts, designer flares, close focus, low distrortion, progressive cross-frame fade, image-relevant CA, etc. - even as many of them enjoy the imagery in a vague way of appreciation. The irony being many have watched literally thousands of movies.
It's fair to say DZO did a less than wonderful job of placing the lenses to their appropriate niches in the fussy stills world. But their productivity is so impressive that they can be forgiven that. They would have expected their lenses to be assessed on their merits..
And does anyone else produce the same lenses in E-M-RF-X-Z mounts within a few months of release, all at much the same size and weight?
It would probably be better if I added photos from Simera 28 to this thread.
The dog agreed to pose for me, for which I thank her very much. Shot outdoors.
00demontver00 wrote:
It would probably be better if I added photos from Simera 28 to this thread.
The dog agreed to pose for me, for which I thank her very much. Shot outdoors.
Hello. Yes, the photo was taken on a Sony a7r2 with the E bayonet version and is available at the link in full size.
What can I say? I'm an amateur and everything is simple for me: I like the picture as a whole or not.
Yes, I'm very pleased, this is my first manual Chinese 28mm lens. I expected the worst result. I especially like how it smoothly blurs the background. Without rattling and tin.
Initially, I wanted to take the new Nokton 28 / 1.5 sony e. But there are difficulties with buying from Japan and while I was looking for an opportunity to bring it, I bought Simera. And now, comparing the results from my copy with what is on the Internet, I refused to buy Nokton 28 / 1.5 sony e. After all, these are completely different glasses and I like the Simera pattern better.
The glass works very well at a minimum distance and in portrait modes. Here it is the sharpest. In the far field it is a little worse. Aperture 1.4 is definitely working, the dog was photographed with it.
Unfortunately, I don't remember what aperture values everything was shot at, at close distances usually 1.4 - 2.0, at long distances I didn't clamp it more than 8.0. At medium distances it shows itself well at 4.0 - 5.6
00demontver00 wrote:
Hello. Yes, the photo was taken on a Sony a7r2 with the E bynet version and is available at the link in full size.
What can I say? I'm an amateur and everything is simple for me: I like the picture as a whole or not.
Yes, I'm very pleased, this is my first manual Chinese 28mm lens. I expected the worst result. I especially like how it smoothly blurs the background. Without rattling and tin.
Initially, I wanted to take the new Nokton 28 / 1.5 sony e. But there are difficulties with buying from Japan and while I was looking for an opportunity to bring it, I bought Simera. And now, comparing the results from my copy with what is on the Internet, I refused to buy Nokton 28 / 1.5 sony e. After all, these are completely different glasses and I like the Simera pattern better.
The glass works very well at a minimum distance and in portrait modes. Here it is the sharpest. In the far field it is a little worse. Aperture 1.4 is definitely working, the dog was photographed with it.
Unfortunately, I don't remember what aperture values everything was shot at, at close distances usually 1.4 - 2.0, at long distances I didn't clamp it more than 8.0. At medium distances it shows itself well at 4.0 - 5.6
Fridge magnet.
Stylized image of a silver coin.
This is Novotorzhskaya denga or "Novotorka" (Novy Torg is the old name of Torzhok, and many of its residents still call themselves Novotors). Sony a7r2 Fridge magnet. by demontver, on Flickr
Corner resolution is the typical steady Simera pattern of fade - it's by design. I'm happy (very, in fact) with what the E-mount 28mm delivers. The 3D is special, objects in the bokeh are shown as the eye expects them to look, more blurring with distance. Near distance focus yields this high quality bokeh that still shows identifiable content. Very satisfying, nothing jarring. It's a cine lens, and many movies are shot at 28mm or so.
In fact, on fast lenses I don't really care how things are with the corners, at an open aperture. The object is almost always in the center.
Here are a couple of examples of urban landscapes.I only corrected the vertical, I didn’t touch everything else.
For me, the 28mm focal length has always been "not my thing". But the more I walk with this lens, the more I like it.
The two coming lens focal lengths for non-commercial uses - and ideal for artistic, family, travel etc. - are 28mm and 75mm. How do we know this, in the face of all the 24s, 35s and 85s out there?
Because more of them are being developed as we speak, and more people are seeing the secret and special angles of view they create. Talking here of manual focus lenses, always the province of the avant garde of photography. Cosina currently make no fewer than five 28mm lenses for M cameras, all of them in the past 3-4 years.
Ralph Gibson stated that he felt the 75mm on digital was akin to shooting a 50mm on film. The great 75mm for M believed to be Mandler's favourite lens is the mighty Summilux 75.1.4. 75mm is a great complement for 28mm.
Interesting.
I actually felt that the 28mm - 65mm combination was the 2 lens solution that served me best. And quite true, 65mm really hasn‘t been on the market very long as well.
The Devil's Bridge in Vasilevo is a hundred-meter arched boulder bridge with grottoes, made using the archivolt technique on the territory of the Vasilevo estate in the Tver region, on the bank of the Tvertsa River, four kilometers from the city of Torzhok.
On the territory of the estate, on the stream descending to the Tvertsa, there is a cascade of three stone dams. Here, on the stream, is the famous "magnificent stone symphony", a real masterpiece of architectural thought - the "Devil's Bridge". The bridge is made using the archivolt technique and built according to the design of Nikolai Lvov at the end of the 18th century.
Its design is unique - the three-span bridge is assembled from huge boulders without a single fastener. The structure is held only by the weight of the boulders resting on the cornerstone. According to one version, the bridge got its name from the number of boulders that serve as a fence, and there are exactly 13 of them. According to another version, the architect was inspired to build the bridge by the passage of Alexander Suvorov's troops through the Alps and, accordingly, their storming of the very "Devil's Bridge"
The bridge has a clearly defined central arch made of round granite blocks. According to experts, the bridge can serve as a wonderful example of 18th century park architecture.
As has been said : the E-Mount version isn't optimized for the Sony sensor (filter stack) and Thypoch is even trying to hide that fact (they asked BastianK not to mention it), which immediately made me dislike the brand.
I also saw that the 7Artisans 28mm 1.4 has an "FE-plus" version that comes with the M-Mount, but is optimized for Sony's thicker filter stack.
This is awesome as it allows me to use it on my Techart LA EA9 with autofocus and (basically using it as an extension tube) getting below the 0.7m MFD.
All that being said, I really did enjoy using my Simera 28 1.4! It's a wonderful lens that gives you better bokeh and closer MFD out of the box than the 7Artisans.
Mar 06, 2025 at 10:13 AM
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Avntgardist wrote:
As has been said : the E-Mount version isn't optimized for the Sony sensor (filter stack) and Thypoch is even trying to hide that fact (they asked BastianK not to mention it), which immediately made me dislike the brand.
I also saw that the 7Artisans 28mm 1.4 has an "FE-plus" version that comes with the M-Mount, but is optimized for Sony's thicker filter stack.
This is awesome as it allows me to use it on my Techart LA EA9 with autofocus and (basically using it as an extension tube) getting below the 0.7m MFD.
All that being said, I really did enjoy using my Simera 28 1.4! It's a wonderful lens that gives you better bokeh and closer MFD out of the box than the 7Artisans.
It actually is unclear whether (and perhaps which lenses) Thypoch optimizes for which mounts. What we do know is that Nehemiah compared the Thypoch Simera 50 f/1.4 for Leica M mount with the Simera-C 50 f/1.4 cine lens for E-mount. These two lenses have the same optical formula, but the Simera-C performed differently and better on a stock Sony camera than the stills Simera did. This suggests that they adjusted the Simera-C when they made it for E mount.
What we don't know is whether they just adjusted the 50. It seems unlikely but possible. Maybe they just adjusted the Simera-C lenses. Again that seems unlikely but possible. What would be helpful is for someone to test whether the 28 and 35 in different mounts perform differently on the same camera. The biggest difference is likely to be seen between Leica M mount and Sony E mount on a Sony E mount camera. I haven't seen those tests. What we do know is that the 28 and 35 Leica M mount lenses perform better on a Leica M mount camera than on a stock Sony camera. I think it is likely, however, that these lenses have been adjusted when they were made in Sony E mount based on Nehemiah's testing.
It would be nice, however, if someone could confirm that, because Thypoch has been anything but clear about this issue.
I went with my family to Klichen Island. It is not big, you can walk around it in three hours along the path along the coast. But with very strong differences in altitude. Now down, now up. We were tired. My wife found a staff and jokingly showed how tired she was Shot on 1.4
