It’s always interesting to see new lens makers enter the picture. There’s probably a very good chance that you’ve never heard of Thypoch or their Simera line of lenses, so we’ll explore a little about the brand in the section below. The Simera lineup debuts with two lenses – a 28mm and a 35mm F1.4 – both of which are designed for Leica M-mount and its macular linkage. Anything with the name “Leica” attached to it tends to be ridiculously expensive, so these compact Thypoch lenses with their reasonable price tags are a breath of fresh air. Today’s review focuses on the Simera 35mm F1.4, which is the second of the two Simera lenses that I’ve reviewed after spending time with the 28mm. You can get my full thoughts by checking out my video review below or reading my thorough text review…or just enjoy the photos in the galleries below.

Thypoch Simera 35mm F1.4 M-Mount Review: A Summilux-M Alternative?

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Thanks to Thypoch for sending me review loaners of these lenses. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV along with the Sony Alpha 1 that serve as my benchmark cameras for Sony lenses.

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As noted, Thypoch is a new lensmaker, and their name is a combination of the word “Thy” (as in “you”) and the word “epoch”, which refers to the age, era, or time in a person’s life. It’s a bit of a mouthful to say, but the intent is that they want to project a brand that is about enabling a person’s creativity and ability to make art that suits their self-expression. The word “Simera” is similar, as it is actually a transliteration of a Greek word which means “today”.

I’ve got the silver editions of these lenses in for review (a look I’m very partial to, actually), but they are also available in a traditional black finish as well.

The Simera 35mm is really designed for Leica M-mount rangefinder style cameras, but as I don’t own an M-mount camera, I’m using the Techart LM-EA9 auto adapter that allows me to have autofocus (of a sort) on Sony E-mount. I’ve also used a much cheaper manual adapter from Neewer to evaluate using more typical manual focus as well.

The retail price for the Simera 35mm F1.4 will be $699 USD, and if that seems expensive for a manual focus lens, consider the competition. Leica makes a number of 35mm lenses with differing maximum apertures, but the most direct comparison is the Leica Summilux-M 35mm F1.4, which retails for a cool $5600 – about 8x as much! Even their Summicron 35mm F2 costs $4100, so obviously Thypoch has a serious pricing advantage. I am a fan of Voigtlander lenses, however, and I would say that the Voigtlander Nokton 35mm F1.4 II is probably the most direct inexpensive alternative on M-mount, though I haven’t personally tested that particular lens. Here’s a look at the specs and prices of these various alternative.

I was quite pleased with the overall feel and optical performance of the Simera 28mm F1.4, and while there is some give and take in a few areas with the Simera 35mm, it also stands up as a very nice little optic.

One caveat: I don’t own a Leica camera and I’m not familiar with the Leica platform and alternative lenses. Those are hardly fair comparison points because they are so incredibly expensive anyway. My points of comparison will be more on Sony, as that’s where I’m actually testing the lens. Here’s hoping that Thypoch can find some experienced Leica users to review the Simera lenses on their native platform.

Images of the Thypoch Simera 35mm F1.4

Images Taken with the Thypoch Simera 35mm F1.4

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GEAR USED:

Purchase the Thypoch Simera 35mm F1.4 @ B&H Photo or Adorama

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