Metabones lens speed booster adapter, focal reducer

DrDave

@B3Guy I think if you put a lens on, as several have done, and it meters at F1.2 instead of F1.4, then it is faster. Faster means it meters faster, because you are actually measuring the light. I think the physics is going to take a while to sort out, but ultimately, if it meters faster and IQ looks better, that will be good enough for most people.

BurnetRhoades

@B3Guy Cutting flare isn't the biggest issue with anamorphic, unless you're using an LA7200. None of the other available lenses or even largely unavailable lenses are designed for this amount of coverage. Panavision anamorphic lenses may or may not fully cover a Super-35mm area but they're designed to cover just under a 7D sized crop area, which is only slightly larger than native GH2.

apefos

I saw the review and to my eyes we do not need to worry about the corner softness. It is more pronounced in 100% magnification for High Megapixel still photos. For 1920x1080 videos the corners get pretty good even at 100% magnification and wide open. Stop down the lens one fstop is a rule for me to get better quality and this improves corner sharpness a lot more with the MSB. Also the M43 sensor crops more than the NEX sensor, so corner softness will be lower. No worries for me.

feha

Well there is still no MFT version ?

MarcioK

Another review from RogerCicala from Lens Rentals - but for photos only:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/01/metabones-magic

He liked it.

blackspot

I think one very important question of the (planned) EOS to MFT SB adapter is...

Does it going to have IRIS BLADES built in?? Like Kipon Adapter for example...

Its not really usable if it doesn't.

RatLabProductions

@Blackspot it would probably have electronic iris support like the EF-NEX adapter does.

rockroadpix

If my MFT BMCC is ever produced, sign me up for the nikon passive version!

brunoalmeida

If you buy a Alpa to MFT, and some cheap adaptors Nikon - Alpa, Minolta - Alpa and Canon FD -Alpa, you get a modular adaptor ready for all situations. (I'm trying to get someone that makes these adapters for Alpa.)

feha

Here comes a video using it, really nice DOF ...

DrDave

I'm totally sold on this, but I guess I will wait for the M4/3 version, or buy a Sony, those seem to be my choices. Very curious what a medium format lens plus adapter plus metabones would do. Hope I don't have to mod the mounts on all my Rokkors.

Roger Cicala's explanation was cogent, thanks for the link. For the non-believers, it makes the most sense to speak in terms of a reverse teleconverter; for those of us coming from film, we intuitively understand that we lose a stop or two with the TC, so the reverse seems at least plausible.

Very impressed with the Samyang 24mm F1.4, I mean, holy cow. Porca Vacca.

Actual MTF figures (preliminary; it's still early): Cicala's MTF figures indicate a 22 percent increase in resolution using the adapter; that is, 590 jumps to 720. At f/0.9, it resolved 720 lp / ih. Oink! Obviously, that Canon F/1,2 would be a nice investment, but maybe a good 50/F1.4 would be almost as good.

I remember when m4/3 came along, a lot of junk lesnes suddenly shot up in price. I waslucky enough to get my Vivitar 55mm macro for $13, but now they are not cheap. We can all cry in our beer about missed opportunities. I'm just wondering if there are some lenses that we should try to grab. For example, is a Hasselblad 85mm medium format going to be be a monster lens? Maybe someone who is good with crunching the numbers can speculate a bit. It could be the more recent lenses work better.

AlbertZ

@Dr Dave nice to meet Italian people here holy cow;) @kronstadt I don't think Chinese people will offer a cheap version of metabones..it seems that the difference between old focal reducers and this adapter is the lens quality...and good lens are always expensive...:(

DrDave

Just wishful thinking, but is it possible, if eventually someone were to make a modular version, to have part of the system be an iris plate, like a back end filter, that had for example perfectly round bokeh as well, or different shapes.

Shaveblog

Question: how does the Metabones differ from the Panasonic DMW-GWC1 .79x converter lens I use with the Lumix pancakes? Other than I can only use this thing with the Pana 14mm and 20mm?

feha

@Shaveblog , this adapter have optics between lens and sensor ... something very different ...

Shaveblog

@feha

Good point. Okay, now I'm officially excited by this thing. FD-m43, come on March.

balazer

If you can use a faster shutter speed and achieve the same exposure, the lens is faster.

B3Guy, adapting lenses is more complicated than just comparing the flange focal distances. It really comes down to the shape of the specific lens and camera and whether there is room for the lens and an adapter. Sometimes you can adapt a lens with a shorter flange focal distance, e.g. C-mount to m43. Sometimes you can't adapt a longer flange focal distance format if the lens has parts that stick out too far past the flange - for example, PL mount to Nikon F.

B3Guy

@balazer yes I understand things sticking out, etc. and room for adapters from mount to mount. But other than lens mounts that are within millimeters of each other, in most scenarios it is truly just as simple as bridging the gap. It is hardly rocket science. Metabones has a unique situation with the Speed Booster in that they are also installing optics in the gap.

Also, I still stand by my statement that this does NOT make the lens faster. It is physically impossible for a lens to transmit more light via the addition of optics at the rear. YES, it is faster than without the Speed Booster if we are talking about with/without on the same camera, but it cannot be really making the lens faster in terms of light transmission compared to the same lens on a FF body. It may have something to do with the way a FF camera reads a lens' F-stop versus a crop sensor camera, I'm not sure. Regardless of wether it is possible or not according to the laws of physics, there is still an increase of light compared to use w/o the speed booster, and therefore a benefit.

@DrDave I highly doubt there will be any aperture addition to this adapter, and if there was, it would function much the same as other EOS-M4/3 "aperture" adapters, which generally have a lot of issues. A lens is designed for the aperture to be at a very specific position in relation to the other optics, so arbitrarily adding one at the rear generally functions quite poorly.

EDIT: Thanks to @apefos for the very sensible explanation. The lens never transmits more light, but it does concentrate that light onto a smaller area. Therefore the lens IS faster/brighter than on fullframe.

apefos

@B3Guy

Yes, the MSB increase the lens light by one fstop, it is true. What it does is to project the same amount of light to a smaller area, so it will be brighter.

To understand it you can do a test with a projector in the wall. For the same lens setting and same light power in the projector, the image will be brighter if you project a small image and it will be darker if you project a big image.

This is the principle of MSB, take the light from the lens and concentrate it to a smaller area, so it get brighter. It is the opposite of a teleconverter, which increase the area of projected light, so you get a darker image in the sensor.

Same amount of light to fill a small area will be brighter than same amount of light to fill a big area.

dtr

I feel like a kid before x-mass right now :]
My aunt is going to pass me my late uncle's film photo gear that's been collecting dust in the attic for years. He was a painter and graphic designer with a photography hobby. Collected his lenses and cameras with great care, I've been told. I don't even know yet what the brand is but here's hoping it's gonna be compatible with the SB when it comes out! I don't have any lenses outside the MFT format yet so very excited :]