104 replies to this topic

[EOSHD]

 

Buy the E-mount Metabones Speed Booster - $599 for Canon EOS lens adapter, $399 for others

 

The Metabones Speed Booster adapter brings the full frame look to Sony mirrorless APS-C and Super 35mm E-mount. (Indeed it will bring the Super 35mm look to Micro Four Thirds but not until March).

 

It also gives you an extra stop of light. F2.8 becomes F2.0 and F2.0 becomes F1.4. F1.2 becomes a lightning fast F0.90.

 

It would appear the full frame sensor is now rather pointless. Is there a catch, a trade off in image quality?

[Ernesto Mántaras]

This is amazing. And on Micro Four Thirds, imagine using the SLR Magic 35mm T0.95!
I don't know the exact math, but a 50mm a stop brighter than T0.95 is absolutely crazy and now it's possible.

[ddueck]

I'd like to see this paired with that excellent-looking NEX-5N cinema cage. I can't wait to acquire a speed booster for my NEX-7. Double my focal length collection, gain a stop across the board and attain FF DOF and FOV? 600$ is a steal.

[Tzedekh]

Why don't manufacturers combine something like this with backside-illuminated smaller (1/2- to 2/3-inch) sensors?

[jcs]

Thanks for the tests as well as grading and sharpening the 5D3 footage- that's what most folks will do to get the most out of that camera. I should have an SB to test this evening with the FS700.

[EOSHD]

Why don't manufacturers combine something like this with backside-illuminated smaller (1/2- to 2/3-inch) sensors?

 

Beats me. Because there's more profit in making a larger CMOS sensor and a lens that covers that I suppose?

[richg101]

I'd like to see this paired with that excellent-looking NEX-5N cinema cage. I can't wait to acquire a speed booster for my NEX-7. Double my focal length collection, gain a stop across the board and attain FF DOF and FOV? 600$ is a steal.

 

 

It's funny.  enquiries I've been getting about the Cine Housing have become more regular since the speed booster was announced.  I'm glad I designed the housing to be compatible with the diameter of the original metabones ef-emount.  I think since the m4/3 version is likely to take a while to come to market a lot might move to emount because of this.  might make the cine housing more cost effective if i get a load of orders off the back of this.  Even the bigger Nex7 is a little small to accommodate a larger piece of Canon L glass.  Whereas the Cine housing gives a nice bit of ballast to counteract the weight of the lens.

[EOSHD]

This is amazing. And on Micro Four Thirds, imagine using the SLR Magic 35mm T0.95!
I don't know the exact math, but a 50mm a stop brighter than T0.95 is absolutely crazy and now it's possible.

 

Remember the lens needs to have space behind it between the sensor and rear element to work with the Speed Booster, so Leica M mount stuff won't work with it. Only SLR glass.

[haarec]

Shots with the adapter looks also sharper with Canon 5DIII but chromatic aberration seems to be a problem.

[noirist]

Andrew,  When you get a chance, take a look at Falk Lumo's discussion of camera equivalence. A 25mm f1.4 lens on a micro 43rds sensor is equivalent to (ie., indistinguishable from) a 33mm f2.0 lens on an APS-C sensor or a 50mm f2.8 lens on a full frame sensor. The nice thing about the speed booster is that it lets you use a full frame lens on an aps-c sensor in a way that makes it equivalent to the same lens on a full frame sensor, but this is only true if you shoot it at the equivalent aperture.  So if you are shooting a 24mm at f1.4 on a full frame sensor, you need to shoot the 24mm lens with speed booster at f1.0 on an aps-c sensor to achieve equivalence.

[Leang]

[RossF]

Thanks for taking the time to review this Andrew, it looks like a great product.

 

One question: you said that the adapter, "...turns the FS100, FS700 and Sony’s 4K monsters the F5 and F55 into full frame video cameras" but the F5 and F55 use the FZ-mount (the same as the F3), not the E-mount like the FS100 and FS700. Was that just a slip-up or do you know some way of making the metabones adapter work with the FZ mount cameras? I'm looking at getting an F5 and, if it's possible, would MUCH rather use the Metabones adapter for EF lenses on the F5, than the bulkier and non-full-frame-conjuring MTF Effect one.

[Zigmars Zilgalvis]

So it has been decided - i need one too:) I don't think there is a point in comparing MkIII with FS100. FS100 is a much better camera with or without adapter.

[nathanleebush]

It appears that the one drawback is more barrel distortion from the wider lens is present on with the Speed Booster. I noticed comparing the two images, while the angle of view and depth of field equivalency was preserved, the image was more warpy/bulbous on the Speed Booster image. Can someone explain the optical/technical reason for this?

 

So close to the holy grail -- in my mind, a BMCC with M43 active mount and Speed Booster -- but if the images have more barrel distortion that's a major setback for the product, IMO.

 

Also, can you use the Speed Booster with another adaptor, so you could do Canon mount to Nikon?

[RossF]

Andrew,  When you get a chance, take a look at Falk Lumo's discussion of camera equivalence. A 25mm f1.4 lens on a micro 43rds sensor is equivalent to (ie., indistinguishable from) a 33mm f2.0 lens on an APS-C sensor or a 50mm f2.8 lens on a full frame sensor. The nice thing about the speed booster is that it lets you use a full frame lens on an aps-c sensor in a way that makes it equivalent to the same lens on a full frame sensor, but this is only true if you shoot it at the equivalent aperture.  So if you are shooting a 24mm at f1.4 on a full frame sensor, you need to shoot the 24mm lens with speed booster at f1.0 on an aps-c sensor to achieve equivalence.

 

Noirist, I'm still trying to get my head around it but I don't think this normal (and normally correct, by the way) logic applies to the Speed Booster. The equivalence that you mentioned is applicable when mounting a full-frame lens onto a normal, "dumb" adapter, to use it on a S35 sensor. In this case, the image circle that the lens projects, is the same size as it would be on a full-frame sensor, far bigger than it needs to be to cover the smaller S35 sensor. A lot of this wider image circle falls outside the sensor area and is basically wasted, with just the central portion being recorded. For this reason, the brightness is the same but the apparent DOF is greater as you're basically cropping into the same image with a smaller frame; not dissimilarly to if you cropped the image in post (though obviously without the decrease in resolution etc).

 

The Speed Booster is a whole different kettle of fish. The optics that are built into it actually focus the larger image circle down to the smaller S35 sensor. This means that the image is actually brighter as the light is concentrated (think of burning holes in things with a magnifying glass in science lessons!). Because the same image circle is captured by the S35 sensor as would be captured by a full-frame sensor, the DOF is actually the same as on full frame.

 

Therefore, when using the Speed Booster, using that 24mm f/1.4 that you referred to would give you baically the same image as using a 24mm f/1.4 on full-frame (same apparent depth of field) but the image would be one stop brighter due to the concentrating effect of the optics.

 

If I've got my head round this thing, then I THINK that's all correct!

[MattN.]

Thanks for the great first hand look on the effects of the booster that seem all positive, after all. Only thing that bothers me is the rather petulant tone to it. Does anybody still cast even a shadow of doubt over this being a real to change of the game? I'd call this person an ignoramus.

And how does this new development make full frame arguments uttered beforehand sound invalid? They don't seem valid anymore, yet, a lot of great shorts have been made with full frame DSLRs until now, that couldn't have been made without, well, full frame cameras. I mean we are talking of almost 5 years between the dawn of the 5DM2 and now! Eventually, FINALLY, crop factor will be a thing of the past, as most camera companies might think of developing their own speed boosters for their models, but before that, there hadn't been an actual point in deminishing that full frame does make a difference in creating a cinematic look. It doesn't create it without a fair amaount of work done in lighting, shot design etc., but it was one part of the equasion. Even most 16mm filmers would have gone for 35mm if they had had the money, right?

I totally agree that this alongside the BMCC is going to change the market in a way never seen before. The 5D opened the door 5 years ago, but Metabones/BlackMagic fully enter the new world NOW. Only thing to be wished for on the camera side (and let's face it, we've already become a pretty spoiled bunch!) is the elimination of rolling shutter. That would make a speed booster-equipped BMCC a really nice party pooperfor  Canon's halfa**ed forays into cinema camera tech.

 

Greets,

Matt

[sanveer]

Andrew, I was going to ask this, in your discussion, related to your write-up [Prototype Metabones Speed Booster equipped NEX 7 *VS* full frame (5D Mark III)].

 

This adds 1 stop of light, to, every adaptable lens, right? To EVERY possible lens, that, it is made for? So, lets say, an SLR Magic T.95 lens would also add another stop of light (assuming, there is an adapter made for it)? So, it would turn into an T.67 lens?

 

If that's true, then I don't wanna know how Stanley Kubrik's soul would feel about this. Especially after his long work on the f.7 lens, for barry lyndon ... 

[Maxmizer Vmax]

Thanks for the test, but we must wait to GH2 adapter eletronic canon Ef

[A Y]

According to Metabones, the maximum aperture of the lens being adapted, mostly due to space constraints, is f/1.2, resulting in approximately f/0.9.  Roger Cicala over at Lens Rentals is going to try a Canon 50/1.0 on it just to see what happens.  

 

http://www.lensrenta...metabones-magic

 

The Speed Booster white paper talks about the Kubrick NASA/Zeiss f/0.7 lens, BTW, which used a focal reducer as well.

[richg101]

Andrew, I was going to ask this, in your discussion, related to your write-up [Prototype Metabones Speed Booster equipped NEX 7 *VS* full frame (5D Mark III)].

 

This adds 1 stop of light, to, every adaptable lens, right? To EVERY possible lens, that, it is made for? So, lets say, an SLR Magic T.95 lens would also add another stop of light (assuming, there is an adapter made for it)? So, it would turn into an T.67 lens?

 

If that's true, then I don't wanna know how Stanley Kubrik's soul would feel about this. Especially after his long work on the f.7 lens, for barry lyndon ... 

 

the slr magic lenses for m4/3 actually have this type of speed booster within them.  they're just the same as a f1.4 full frame lens with a reducer (like the speed booster) in them  they dont cover full frame, and have too short flange focal distance so cannot be used with this type of adaptor anyway..