Since its launch late last year, the Thypoch Simera series has quickly become a favorite among street photographers – offering great optics with a vintage touch. And Thypoch has just announced a new addition to the series.
The Thypoch Simera 50mm f/1.4 lens, is the latest to be added to its lineup, offering perhaps the most famous and recognizable focal length for street photography, favored by the father of street himself: Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the best photographers ever.
The Simera series already consists of the Thypoch Simera 35mm f/1.4 and the Simera 28mm f/1.4, so adding the 50mm completes a trifecta of lenses perfect for street photography. Of course, the 50mm focal length makes for a fantastic all-rounder – so this can quite easily stay on your camera for all occasions.
Much like all current Thypoch lenses, it is targeted to fit the retro and analog style of the Leica M cameras – therefore, the Simera 50mm is manual focus. It features a helpful crescent-shaped focus tab and a modification from the standard infinity lock, each added in response to user feedback.
The Simera 50mm lens is constructed of an 8-element, 6-group optical design, including an aspherical element, an extra-low dispersion (ED) element, and a trio of high-refractive index (HRI) elements. This enables clear and sharp image quality from edge to edge, even when shooting wide open.
The lens has a fast aperture of f/1.4, which makes shooting in difficult low light situations that much easier, and the 14-aperture blade aperture delivers spherical bokeh and smooth focus falloff. The lens also has a minimum focusing distance of just 0.45m, incredibly useful for spontaneous street shooting and offering closer shooting than similar lenses on the market.
The demand for content creation and video is constantly increasing and has been considered in the design of the 50mm, featuring clicked and de-clicked aperture modes to suit the needs for smooth video work.
"The high refractive index multi-layer coatings and high refractive index elements deliver an abundant light transmission of up to T1.5, resulting in bright and vibrant images," says Thypoch.
By referring to the aperture in T stops, in addition to stating that the 14-bladed aperture is "cine-standard", the manufacturer is clearly catering to video usage.
ABOVE: Sample images taken with the Thypoch Simera 50mm f/1.4
The Thypoch Simera 50mm f/1.4 is available to preorder now in black and silver, with shipping scheduled for late September. The lens will cost just $749 (approximately £575 / AU $1,120).
The price of this lens is substantially lower than a Leica with the same focal length and aperture, and promises a great alternative without sacrificing optical quality. If the 50mm follows the same trend as the 28mm and 35mm, we may see additional mount options released soon.
You may also be interested in our guides to the best Leica M lenses, the best Leica cameras, and the best Leica alternatives.
