75mm f/1.4 Thypoch Simera (Leica M mount) Review

AD/ANZEIGE In this episode, I review the brand new 75mm f/1.4 Thypoch Simera lens for the Leica M mount. I have reviewed two Thypoch lenses on the channel before and I am honestly a huge fan of the brand. They are truly pushing the envelope and trying hard to introduce new, interesting lenses for the Leica M mount that are produced to high quality standards. The company has its roots in Cinema lenses and you can often feel how they make an effort to also cater to the needs of videographers in their consumer lenses.

The 75mm focal length is interesting on the Leica M as it was only introduced with the Leica M4-P in 1981, so it is a relatively recent addition. The 75mm Leica Summilux-M designed in 1980 was the first 75mm lens created by Leica and is allegedly the favorite lens of legendary lens designer Walter Mandler who designed it. So instead of his even more famous 50mm Noctilux f/1.2 or the later f/1.0, he preferred the 75mm.

By now Leica, Voigtländer and other manufacturers have at least one 75mm lens in their line-up and it makes sense for Thypoch to extend the Simera line in this direction. Depending on your camera and preferences, the 0.72x magnification viewfinder (like I have here on my Leica M6) makes it opportune to use 75mm as a normal lens in combination with a 28mm lens for instance.

The photographer Ralph Gibson made a similar point in a 2021 interview with Andreas Kaufmann arguing that 75mm feels normal to him on a digital sensor and more like 50mm on film.

All these are reasons enough to take this new Simera lens out shooting portraits, architecture details and street shots. For the main portrait session, I had reached out to MostWantedModels here in Munich for a test shoot with Sidney. I wanted to create a bit of a grunge atmosphere in these run down surroundings.

Gear used:
Leica M6 with
Thypoch 75mm f/1.4 Simera

Films used:
Ilford FP4
Orwo Wolfen NP100
Kodak Portra 400

Purchase the lens here:

All films developed and scanned by my trusted On Film Lab:

Watch more reviews:

[Jaxplode]

Got a 50mm 1.4 Thypoch last week and its truly on the same level as the Leica Summilux for 4000 less money. And it feels really well built. I had the 50mm Noctilux, the 75mm Noctilux, the 35 APO and the 50 APO. In terms of production quality and handling Thypoch isnt that far. So I think about this 75 Thypoch and selling my 75mm Voigtländer 1.5 for it.

[ChristianJMiller]

Love the review! Definitely will keep this lens on my short list for when I get another m mount lens.

[camerafusion]

Great review as always! It's a beautiful lens. Hope to get my hands on one to review.

[peteb]

Great work as always Max, i have ordered one for my M6 and M11 :)

[davidottman]

Thanks for the review. It's nice to see what's available at the more tempting prices. It's hard to know what a lens is like before purchase, so all your information and examples are appreciated.

[Zetaphotography]

Great channel Max. Always a pleasure watching. I unfortunately get disappointed recently that no one reviews these lenses on Monochrom sensors.

[ibhyman]

I have a Leica 75mm 2.4 and I receive the lens used from the Leica store in Berlin, wasn’t expensive. I’m very happy with this lens.

[kevin-parratt-artist]

75mm? ... some years ago at Leitz Park, needing to buy something, I bought a Summarit-M 1:2.4 / 75mm. It remains as the default lens on M7, loaded with Kodak Portra, either 160 or 400. I leave the aperture fully open, and it's beautiful.
There seems to be some veiling flare in that Thypoc. Were you testing that out? True, it's a very attractive lens and the Bokeh really is superb. 👌
Thanks, Max, for the video. 🤝

[Dave-vohn]

I originally shot with Leica and Pentax film camerasr for many years (decades) and in addition to using a few Leica lenses, due to budget constraints, I began using the very first VC series of lenses ever released with a screw/M mt adapter. Many hokd up even today on digital M bodies I now use, most notably thr original VC 50mm f1.5, (close to Leica pre asph Lux) the 28mm f1.9 (very very low contrast), their 75mm f2.5 ehich eauals the performance of Leica's 75mm f2.4 in every way and others. Even back then decades ago, VC had some lenses that came xlose to Leica's in performance althoug not in build quality and could be argued didnt draw quite like a Leica lens

My point is there are now 3rd party lenses like this Thypoc 75mm and their 28 & 50mm that not only perform relatively close to Leica's offerings, but incorporate their own set of optical values, that if these lenses were instead marketed under the Leica banner, people would marvel at them. Your review is excellent as I just found your channel and your explanatiok why some must but only lixury brand name items is exactly right. Enjoying the tool of the trade besides its actual performance is part of the equation.

Lastly my mentor, a extremely well know photographer to many, used a Leica M3 and readily admitted that lart of the reason was that the camera was an extension of his art sven though other cameras existed that xould accomplish the same image. No right or wrong...its a personal choice but the image captured at the end of the day is all that really matters.

[pedrova]

6:49 Nerd thing about "high refractive index" glass: they aren't very "new". I think Leica already had some special glass in their catalog in the 80s, maybe late 70s (1.9x refractive index, almost 2). The thing is that nowadays a lot of brands are using similar glass types, I guess it 's a bit cheaper/easy to produce today Nikon's new "SR" glass is the same: a high refractive index glass (over 1.9 I think) with very low "Abbe number", that means it deviates colors (dispersion) much more than conventional glass. That's why the brand says it acts on short wavelengths (blue, near 400 nanometers) It's quite the opposite of ED glass, so you can compensate things. But it's a HRI glass, known for a long time

[mikedesimone]

Great review Thank you so much. Cheers

[erichung]

Nailing focus must be tough at F1.4 with the rangefinder. This lens belongs to the Nikon Zf or Leica SL series. I almost never use my 90mm Elmarit on my Leica M.

[rad_cheed]

Curious about this compares to the Voigtlander 75mm 1.9 Ultron. Obviously the Thypoch is faster, but it's considerably larger. Also, the Voigtlander is considerably cheaper on the used market, at least for now, until the Thypochs start showing up.

[RafStreetPhotography]

Haha, nice comparison about the fretless bass. This will be my very next lens.

[gregpantelides]

I think one of the biggest advantages is that we get a floating lens element at such an affordable price! But the biggest takeaway of this episode is that you play fretless bass! :-)

[jls]

I am happy owner of a Summilux 75mm. It's one of my best lenses by far. the Thypoch seems correct nevertheless

[suffocated]

Voigtlander should keep their eyes peeled at this.

[martingallardo]

Segundo 0:11 l think model has a book on his head buen trabajo lo felicito el lugar lleno de colores y contrastes para sacarle el mayor provecho al lente thanks my dear friend

[geofff]

With the Chinese getting so good at making lenses, how long can it be before they make a quality M mount rangefinder.🤔

[bybenoit]

How would you say it compares to a similarly priced used Leica Summarit M 75mm?