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Metabones lens speed booster adapter, focal reducer
  • 873 Replies sorted by
  • ntsanntsan

    EF-M43 speedbooster with electronic contacts coming next month http://www.43rumors.com/ef-to-mft-speed-booster-coming-in-august/

    Should be really interesting with Sigma 18-35mm F1.8... with speedbooster it changes to 13-25mm F1.2, that is faster than most of the primes out there!

  • GH2_fanGH2_fan

    Hi everyone, I know this may seem like a really noobish or irrelevant question, but, how do you go about constructing a focal reducer?

    I remember it was not too long ago that there was small talk about using one of these lenses that was originally made for scientific purposes on DLSR cameras to theoretically 'restore' the focal length of a lens, now during the past few months all of a sudden there has been a small outburst of these products been professionally made to serve such purposes.

    I would like to know, how does one go about it? what process is involved? and what research is needed? and etc.?

    I really hope someone can help me answer this and perhaps understand or believes where I am coming from! :)

  • Brian202020Brian202020

    @GH2_Fan

    I was working on a homemade focal reducer. I stopped once real ones were announced. The problems I was having was coma and flange distance. I just about had the flange distance thing figured out when the Speed Booster was announced. Give me $50 and I'll give you all the parts I bought to make what I have so far. The focal reducer optic alone was more than that.

  • No_SuRReNDeRNo_SuRReNDeR

    What would the EF Tokina 11-16mm f 2.8 be equivallent to with the speed booster?

  • brianc1959brianc1959

    11-16mm f/2.8 becomes 7.8-11.4mm f/2.0 with the 0.71x SpeedBooster.

  • fotosiamofotosiamo

    The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 wide open (FF-equivalent f/1.0) is so incredibly sharp and shallow on the Metabones Speed Booster! Just take a look at my before and after retouching images, plus 100% crops of the eyes.

    _1110073-Elmer-01-Original.jpg
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    _1110073-Elmer-02-Final.jpg
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    _1110073-Elmer-03-Original-Eyes.jpg
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    _1110073-Elmer-04-Final-Eyes.jpg
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  • fotosiamofotosiamo

    The SLR Lounge review of the Speed Booster Nikon is up!

    https://www.slrlounge.com/near-full-frame-in-a-micro-43-camera-the-metabones-speedbooster-nikon-adapter-review

  • GH2_fanGH2_fan

    @Brian202020

    Yes I do remember you doing so! Infact I think you (and another) were probably one of the first people who was looking into it!

    And then yes, the professional ones came out...which I think they probably saw your posts and took it upon themselves to create a business out of it!

    They probably had some sort of optics expert, engineer or professional to help create such lenses. This is what I wanted to know, on how they were able to overcome the problems you were having when you first started going on about the Focal Reducers :)

  • nomadnomad

    Well, the idea is not new, but some patents ran out recently. So even if we have some pioneers on this board, the idea to look into the subject again was in the air.

    And Brian Caldwell, who helped in designing the Metabones SpeedBooster, is a highly regarded optics engineer.

  • pchristophpchristoph

    My c/y speed booster arrived today for the gh2. Money well spent. Added a c/y to m42 adapter for using all my takumar glass. All lenses work great with improved sharpness and less ca. All achieved infinity focus as well. (28,35,50,55,135mm). Crop is now reduced to only 1.3x! Spacial relationship of subjects are more pleasing to my eye with the new field of view. This adapter is something special.

  • bebelbebel

    The front metal ring on the adapter is removable and this gives option for a wider variety of lenses, since the flange distance can be shorter with about 2mm (for the c/y version).

    Lenses can then be attached with putting a fastable metal ring (used on flexible tubes in plumming) around the adapter and the lens, connect the two underneath with some strong pieces of paper (I use cardboard) and then fast them with a screwdriver. It does not look nice but for manual lenses, this gives many options with only one adapter.

    For example, I'm now using the c/y version with rollei mount lens, a thin paper ring put in to achieve correct focusing.

  • dtrdtr

    Very tempted by the speed booster + Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 combo as well... couldn't find any footage, guess it's just to soon still. If it works well it could replace my SLRmagic 12mm/1.6 and Pana 25mm/1.4 in one (bulky) package.

  • DouglasHornDouglasHorn

    Used the Speedbooster with my Tokina 11-16 last week on a AF100. It was a client shoot so I can't share any footage, but the combination is great and I didn't see any vignetting and surprisingly little barrel distortion. I might have to get the speedbooster and a few more Nikon lenses.

  • dtrdtr

    Btw, I'm getting confused with the crop and reduction maths... I'm used to my 12 and 25mm M43 lenses and compare focal lengths to that. What is the correct math for the effective focal length on a GH2 of the APS-C 18-35mm + speed booster?

  • WarrantyVoidedWarrantyVoided

    Your 12mm and 25mm on a GH2 in video mode are 22,3mm and 46,5mm (crop factor of 1,86) in 35mm equivalent. A 18-35 is a 23,8mm-46,2mm (cropfactor of 1,86 and 0,71) on a GH2 in video mode with a speedbooster in 35mm equivalent.

    So put simply, the 18-35 would cover the entire range of your 12mm and 25mm and in between.

  • oscillianoscillian

    @dtr the 0.71 magnification on the SpeedBooster turns the Sigma into a 12.78-24.85mm f1.278 monster! And with the GH2's crop factor of 1.86 you get a field of view equivalent as a 23.77-46.22mm f2.37 (DOF) lens on a full frame 35mm still camera.

  • ahblezaahbleza

    @dtr 12 and 25mm on a "classic" M43 sensor result in roughly a 2:1 crop, making them approximately 25mm and 50mm Full Frame Equivalent glass. The fact that a lens is intended for APS-C makes no difference to the calculation -- because it's the sensor size that makes the difference. So we simply apply the 0.71 crop reduction factor of the speed booster with the GH2's 2:1 crop, meaning your lenses will approximate 17mm and 35mm respectively FFE.

  • oscillianoscillian

    @WarrantyVoided Lol!

  • dtrdtr

    thanks guys!

  • WarrantyVoidedWarrantyVoided

    @oscillian Cheers!

    Based on the FAQ section on IS on Canon lenses with a speedbooster, is there any chance a speed booster will be produced which enables the use of IS of Nikon lenses on a MFT mount?

  • arknoxarknox

    I bought the MFT speedbooster to Nikon as all my glass is Nikon AIS. Bought on the Monday, arrived on Wednesday from HK to UK, super fast. Absolutely brilliant piece of kit. It might seem like a lot of money but when you've got a very expensive set of full frame or APSC lenses it allows you to get even more from your lens set. The boost of light by one stop, huge FOV boost and the fact that it's actually helping the lens by resolving the same resolution through a greater amount of the lens more than outweighs a slight softness (very slight) in the edges.

  • lmackreathlmackreath

    @arknox did you have to pay import duties and if so how much?

  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    @fotosiamo very interesting review, thank you!

  • MikeLinnMikeLinn

  • plasmasmpplasmasmp

    Speedbooster pares nicely with anamorphic adapters. Click Original quality to really have a look at sharpness

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