Thypoch Sculptor AF 23mm F1.4 for Fujifilm X Costs a Third of the Fujinon and Weighs Less
Thypoch’s first autofocus prime is out, and it goes straight at the most crowded focal length on Fujifilm X. The Thypoch Sculptor AF 23mm F1.4 went up for preorder on October 27 at $349, with B&H, Adorama and Amazon taking orders and Thypoch’s own store to follow.
That price is the story. Fujifilm’s own XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR sells for about $1,050 now. The Sculptor is a third of that, and it’s lighter too.
Some background. Thypoch made its name with Simera manual-focus primes, lenses people buy for the way they draw. Its first AF lens, the Voyager 24-50mm F2.8 for Sony E, landed earlier this year at $649 and got a fair reception: good optics for the money, focus that was smooth and quiet but not quick. The Sculptor is the second AF lens and the first one for Fuji. It was first shown, unfinished, at the Salon Photo & Vidéo in Paris at the start of October.
Photo: Pixel Effects
On X mount 23mm is the 35mm-equivalent view, the street and travel focal length. Wide enough to show the place, tight enough that a person in the frame is clearly the subject.
What you get for $349
The lens weighs 283 grams and is 71.4mm long, with a 52mm filter thread. Inside are 12 elements in 10 groups and a 10-blade aperture, designed to give clean sunstars when you stop down. It focuses down to 25cm, for a maximum magnification of 0.13x. So no macro tricks, but close enough for a plate of food or a detail on a table.
The barrel keeps it simple. A ribbed focus ring and a clicked aperture ring with an A position, the way Fujifilm does it, so the camera’s command dial takes over when you set it to A. On a body like the X-T50 or the X-E5 that feels right, dials on top and an aperture ring on the lens.
Thypoch hasn’t said which focus motor is inside, and it hasn’t made any weather-sealing claim. Both matter. The Fujinon has a linear motor and WR sealing, and that’s a good part of what the extra $700 buys.
How it stacks up against the other 23mm F1.4 lenses
The Fujinon weighs about 375 grams and is 77.8mm long. The Sigma 23mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary is 340 grams and 76.9mm, and sits between the two on price. The Thypoch is shorter and lighter than both. On a small body that difference shows. It’s the gap between a camera that hangs comfortably on a wrist strap and one that tips forward.
Viltrox has sold an AF 23mm F1.4 for X mount for years. It’s an older design, and the Sculptor looks like it’s aimed a step up, closer to the Fujinon in finish and feel than to the budget end.
If you don’t need f/1.4, Fujifilm’s own XF 23mm F2.8 pancake is the small option. Different job entirely. The pancake disappears in a jacket pocket; the F1.4 lenses are for low light and a softer background.
Who should wait and who should order
The open question is autofocus. Thypoch’s Voyager zoom was fine for travel and video but slow for anything moving fast, and a 35mm-equivalent street lens lives or dies on how fast it locks on a face that walks into frame. Fujifilm’s subject detection on current bodies asks a lot of a third-party motor. Until full reviews show how the Sculptor tracks on an X-T5 or X-H2S class body, that’s the thing to watch.
Rendering is the other one. Thypoch built its following on lenses with a bit of character, and if the Sculptor keeps some of that, it’s a real alternative to the clinical look of the newer Fujinon. If it’s just a cheaper clone, the price still makes it a sensible buy for an X-M5 or X-T50 owner who wants one fast prime and doesn’t want to spend more than the camera body on it.
For a weatherproof lens on a working camera, the Fujinon is still the safe pick. For everyone else, $349 for an autofocus 23mm F1.4 that weighs 283 grams is hard to argue with.
We’ll review it once production copies ship.
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