Image courtesy: EosHD
Andrew Reid from EosHD (Click here) is the first user testing the soon to come Speed Booster for Micro Four Thirds. And soon Philip Bloom’s test will be online too. He just got the same adapter and is testing it on the BlackMagic Camera (see his pic on Instagram).
Back to EosHD, the version Andrew got is the Leica R to MFT mount adapter. Here are some key findings:
- The MFT adpaters are different form the Sony E-mount adapters
- Build quality of Speed Booster is excellent
- Speed Booster increases sharpness in the centre of the frame but not at the edges
- Micro Four Thirds is a 2x crop but with the Speed Booster that becomes more like 1.5x
He tested it on these lenses:
- [shoplink 38869 ebay]28mm F2.8 Elmarit-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.0 on the Speed Booster
- [shoplink 38870 ebay]35mm F2.8 Elmarit-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.0 on the Speed Booster
- [shoplink 38871 ebay]50mm F2.0 Summicron-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/1.4 on the Speed Booster
- [shoplink 38872 ebay]90mm F2.8 Elmarit-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.0 on the Speed Booster
- [shoplink 38873 ebay]28-70mm F3.5-F4.5 Vario-Elmar-R (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. This becomes f/2.5-3.5 on the Speed Booster
ThE MFT Speed Boosters will come in late Summer and will available at Metabones Shop. You can save this search on Slidoo to get notified when they will be for sale one Bay (here is the How To if you don’t know what this is).
73 Responses
ahhhh finaly!
Yeah, this wonderglass must be one of the coooolestest things to happen to m43 🙂
not 0.5 but 0.71…..same ratio as E-patch.
result is ×1.42 only，，，approach to APSC…..
These three quotes are very encouraging:
“Unlike the E-Mount / NEX version, on the Micro Four Thirds version of the Speed Booster you can use APS-C glass as well as full frame”
“There’s no Smart EF mount electronics yet from Conorus though I believe one is still planned for release later in the year”
“APS-C glass like the Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 for example will be nice on the Canon mount version.”
And the fact that with FF lenses it gives a wider FOV than APS-C sensor without Speed Booster is nice. Although it may mean there’ll be some vignetting with APS-C lenses on m4/3 mounted via SB.
“Unlike the E-Mount / NEX version, on the Micro Four Thirds version of the Speed Booster you can use APS-C glass as well as full frame”
so my dream of that sigma 1.8 zoom lens on a MFT thirds is possible 🙂
Yes, the Sigma f/1.8 zoom will turn into a f/0.95 zoom.
Getting my factors confused, it would be of course a f/1.2 lens.
Hope we get a S16 Speedbooster for the Black Magic Pocket Camera.
Black magic pocket cam is already M43, so obviously, of course, without any doubt whatsoever, there will be one. S16 is the sensor size.
Some people seriously need to inform themselves.
That’s what I meant. The adaptor for an m43 size sensor would be quite enough. I meant it would be nice if they made one designed for an S16 sized sensor
Sorry – an adaptor for an m43 sized sensor WOULDN’T be quite enough.
and its smaller so it should work
The sensor is smaller so there is a bigger crop factor. The one problem that I can see with the Pocket Camera is W/A. I want one for diving so need W/A to get closer. I am sure other people will have other reasons. One solution would be a Speedbooster designed for an S16 sensor. I could possibly rent an S16 W/A but there aren’t any hire companies anywhere near where I dive. so that would be last resort option. But perhaps now that manufacturers are finally waking up to the fact that they need to make more high end stuff there is hope….
i am already checking for a Leica R 90mm Elmarit on ebay and other places lol
@ Ulli as I mention below I am not the market for this device, why would you hunt for this lens which is an F2.8 it ways just 90g less than the Nikon 85mm F1.8g { a superb lens}an advantage you lose when you add in the adapter, it costs considerably more than the Nikon .It is these kinds of decisions that make me seriously question the value of this type of adapter
Just before the Leica dentists jump in the 85mm f1.8G on FF wipes the best mFT lens./camera score out
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Compare-Camera-Lenses/Compare-lenses/%28lens1%29/823/%28lens2%29/898/%28brand1%29/Nikkor/%28camera1%29/792/%28brand2%29/Olympus/%28camera2%29/0
yes I could go for a Nikkor too ofcourse, but it depends which speedbooster version will come out for mft.
I am not really into dxo and mtf, but you should change the 32MP body with a 12 mp and then it looks different. no spectacular difference then.
there are no current 12mp FF bodies , the lowest mp count is now the 16.2 mp of the D4 { which may lack in MP but excels in high ISO ] then the 22.3 mp of the Canon 5Dmk3 . then its 24mp then the 36mp perhaps he should have used the old 12mp mFT sensor to compare . Looks like he used the best sensor in each system.
why should a current FF model be used, the GH2 is also an older 12mp model, just pick a D700, or a D300 apsc
sorry i mistook the GH2 for 12mp
They are on par if you use a similar sensor http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Compare-Camera-Lenses/Compare-lenses/(lens1)/823/(lens2)/898/(brand1)/Nikkor/(camera1)/680/(brand2)/Olympus/(camera2)/0
That is with the 85mm on an APS body did you not read the FF part the 75 is a great performer for sure. But it is not even weather sealed, comes with out a hood and costs double what the Nikon does, which is weather sealed and comes with a hood . As an mFT user I do feel that the companies are taking the mickey in a lot of the pricing here in the UK anyway. I would not even consider using any mFT without an EVF this brings the price of an E-P5 with its EVF to £1149 quid which is OTT for a camera that now has a year old sensor, a sensor that doesn’t quite catch up on the last gen of APS { K5,D7000 D5100 etc]never mind the current best the D5200/D7100 .In fact buying just about any mFT gear on its first release is the same as setting fire to fivers and throwing them out the window.
It’s the other way around. the Leica 90 mm 2.8 Elmarit version 2 is 450 gram according to LeicaWiki, 100 gram more than the Nikon AF-S 85/1.8 at 350 gram.
DXO is bullshit lens tect. They do some other things ok, but not lens tect
Funny enough that’s what all the little sensor toy camera users say,go figure lol
big cam – little dick
God can give big cam but dick still the same
Ilya
as said DXO is bullshit lens tect
matters not, take this *super* lens and adapt to mft
Ilya
Are you sure you really want to use Leica R lenses on MFT? I have the 90 mm Elmarit-R version I. It’s the most solid built lens I have. The smooth mechanics of this lens from 1970 feels as if it was made yesterday. My mind goes to the precision looking mechanism of a safety vault or S-Klasse Mercedes door. The oversized build do however reflect itself in weight. Without caps but with a UV filter and its serie 7 retaining ring the scale show 521 gram! With adapter that is more than the heaviest MFT camera, GH3 (550 gram)! Unless you beleive in some magical Leica rendering I would suggest a Canon FDn 85/1.8 at 345 gram and much cheaper. For use without speedboster Olympus 75/1.8 or Leica M/LTM lenses which are much smaller are a much more reasonable choice.
yes I am already familiar with some good heavier manual focus lenses like the 500 gr weighing Voigtlaender Nokton 50mm f/1.1 and even the 1 kg heavy Helios 85mm f/1.5,reasons for using such lenses are various, could be because of FL, rendering characteristics etc. I like to get a decent object isolation of a full body portrait in MFT. The Nokton was able doing that and the combo of a focal reducer with intersting MF lenses woudl give a subtle enhanced effect for such shots.
Helios beautiful bokeh,not sure about Leica.
Maybe most important part
Ilya
Helios has indeed kind of rendering which really stands out, that much that alot people are not used to the different looks, because they are used to smooth style. Leica , with its creamy rendering, is fav among lots of photographers. Sometimes its nice to use total different swirly bokeh, and here the Helios rules. I like both but i think the Helios swirl character is more evident with apsc or bigger sensor. The 1.1 Nokton is really funky and is perfect for different circle of confusion bokeh.
btw are you the same Ilya from the gorgeous portraits with russian women?
shut up and take my money!
Leica 28mm F2.8 Elmarit is considered to be absolutorium lens with 10/10 optical quality, in some ways better than Sumicron f2.0 (and is much cheaper) – so having 42mm F2.0 m43 version – with stellar optical quality on our system with tiny lens is definitely a bonus for walk-around photography I’m after.
Will there be Leica M mount (more common) to m43 metabones adapter? As I don’t want to buy additional R->M mount for the ubiquitous Leica-M mount adapter lenses – and my ‘dream yet cheap’ combination I’m after.
42mm F1/4 results (almost 1 stop faster than Panasonic 20mm F1.8) in 35mm terms with Voightlander Ultron 28mm f/2.0 – as I don’t need to sell kidney like I would for the Sumicron.
+ 46mm filter size (same as majority m43 lenses)
+ tiny and portable (same size as Oly 45mm)
+ weight only 244g (half of what Voightlander usually weights)
+ £500 for a new sealed model (comparable to the optically certainly inferior Olympus F1.8!)
Would be great to be able to shoot at ISO1600 on my OM-D (instead of 3200) at night wide open – and get amazing results for not a heavy investment. Plus I could use 28mm without metabones as a great replacement of a not-so ideal 28mm Panasonic lens!
if the final crop is 1.42 (not 1.5) it’s even better! 40mm focal lenght – a tiny bit longer than Panasonic 20mm F1.8! (which is around 38mm)
“Will there be Leica M mount (more common) to m43 metabones adapter?”
No. There’s not enough space, because of short flange distance of Leica M mount.
500 pounds for leica 28mm 2.8 ??
Voightlander Ultron 28mm f/2.0
I thought the Metabones adapters would give a crop of 0.7 – not 1.5.
well you need to add ‘crop sensor’ to the equation…
from what I understand, they first crop the focal range, and then you will apply the crop sensor calculation to it (like you do with any lens, say Panasonic 20mm is really 20mm focal length lens but it _behaves_ like 40mm on our 2x crop sensor)
so in the case of m43 (this will be rough) 28mm*0.7 = 19.6*2(crop sensor) = 39.2mm final field of view equivalent
in the case of APS-C it’ll negate with crop sensor, so full frame lens of 50mm should behave exactly like 50mm on APS-C (in other words, they use most popular full frame lenses, which have like 10 times better quality than APS-C offerings, and don’t need to ‘recalculate’ field of view) – so are using lenses for the intended purposes!
wouldn’t be a crop then, would it?
It reduces your already present crop factor by 0.71. An 11mm lens on the GH2 shows the FOV of a barely 21mm lens because the GH2 has a crop factor of 1.86x. Multiply the focal length of the lens by 1.86 and you get 20.46. The Speedbooster you would reduce that crop factor by 0.71. It follows that you’d take the calculated FOV of the lens w/o speedbooster and simply multiple by 0.71 to get the speedbooster crop. The Tokina 11-16 would just barely be covered on the wide side, and would become a 14-21mm lens. Hope that math is somewhat correct.
Hi, My friends.. I don`t if Speed Booster can help me with the deep of field in my gh3. I always have many problmen fixing it and is too dificult get it, no like a full sensor camera. Speed Booster could help me with that?
Hi Nelson, the dof rendering will be closer to the bigger sensor looks but not 100% i think.
The DOF is a lot nearer Nikon/Sony/Pentax APS than any FF 1.42 VS 1.5
I can see how some would like this for DOF control and so on. But ,I have never seen the sense in buying mostly over sized ,overweight lenses { I am aware of the very limited selection of smaller primes most of them from the very restricted RF focal range] that all necessitate MF. In a quest to chase FF performance, frankly if that was my wish I would just be using FF here in the UK the new E-P5 with EVF price is within spitting distance of the D600,in fact the E-P5 plus EVF along with a metabones adapter is the same price as a D600,contrary to what the drama queens tell you there are no shortage of high quality , relatively small lenses for it such as the 50mm f1.8G or 85mm F1.8g all on their native system with better sensors, better image quality and much better AF, for anything moving.I love my mFT gear for its weight to performance ratio the last thing I would consider is mounting my FF Nikon lenses on it
yes you have some point here, especially if you dont shoot with mft(only) or dont need the option to choose between going compact or use bigger combos. I will never say that mft is better but its is certainly more flexible in using different combos for various situations. Not anyone needs the best mtf performing setups. Since I am a typical wide open aperture shooter, it means I dont strive after perfect sharpness but in my case the rendering is more important, its nice i can do it with mft, which is my only system I use now, and in future such speedbooster certainly helps me with more possibilities.
Snooze…what a waste of money. Better off just buying some native glass.
if you could get all those options in native lenses, i would agree with you.
Native is better, but there aren’t any long superfast primes other than the Oly 45mm. A FF 85mm 1.4 becomes roughly a 120mm .95. My old but great Nikon 50mm 1.8 becomes a 70mm 1.2. These are highly viable options, particularly if you own old glass or even if you shoot video and don’t need AF. The Rokinon 85mm is very sharp wide open and costs $300.
And the 75mm f/1.8
Ooh, it can take APS-C! I can’t wait for the version that’ll let us mount the upcoming Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 zoom lens! Now THAT would be an amazing combination (at least for my GH3)
http://www.slrlounge.com/sigma-pushing-the-limits-with-newly-confirmed-18-35-1-8-lens
Meanwhile the Chinese are quietly at work with Sony, for a fraction of the price:
http://www.ebay.it/itm/focal-reducer-speed-booster-adapter-Minolta-MD-lens-to-Sony-NEX-5-6-FS700-FS100-/140978458578?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item20d2f88fd2&_uhb=1#ht_3535wt_1184
do we already know the price for this R/MFT speedbooster from Metabones? I mean this one is without electronics too.
Some 400-450 were rumored. The Chines will safely keep within 1/3d of the price 🙂
Kind of changes the whole proposition…
owww big difference indeed, just wonder how the chinese version performs compared with the metabones.
amalric the king of thrift – thanks for the tip!
1.5 crop factor equivalent?
Will this thing work with the Lumix 7-14? And you get a super duper wide 10,5-21 equivalent zoom lens at constant f2.8?
Did you look at the photos and the test at EosHD.com?
The pics takne with the Elmarit2.8/28 plus speedbooster on the GH3 look awful, the borders are soft and not sharp. The Elmarit on the NEX without speedbooster was way sharper at the borders.
So I doubt all this hype about the speedbooster. Quality might not be better than the usual teleconverters ….
Native (lenses) can’t be beaten my friend.. (at parity of quality / specs of course)
there is no hype at all. The speedbooster gives excellent results with indeed lower performance in the corners. If you expect a perfect focal reducer then keep on dreaming.
Well for 500-600 $ I can buy one or two mFT primes instead, so why should I care about the speedbooster that gives a subpar performance at the borders and edges of the frame?
The obvious reason to care would be if you already owned a bunch of lenses for a different systems.
How about tele primes with focal lenghts not available in native format, and resulting in adapted lensens which are 1 stop faster and 1 stop “enhanced” dof. Keep in mind that border sharpness has low priority for portrait/people photography. Not everyone is a landscape photographer. But the way you commented alread indicated that it was a very subjective based opinion.
Any news on an OM or FD speedboater for m4/3?
yes …definetly once they will do OM version of speedbooster …it will be interesting, mostly because of reduced crop to 1,4 instead of 2x
…otherwise…who will buy leica lens to use on mft body …on the other hand once I have leica lens…why I would buy 4/3 body…thats nonsense
Exactly my thought.
bunch of Leica R lenses that are not that expensive, so it makes perfectly sense to buy one or two for your mft body, if you are into manual focus photography
Its nice to have one or 2. I have the 28mm elmarit r works well. If the Speed booster gets high enough praise in use (not bench tests) I may buy a few more and a speedbooster. But possibly a canon speed booster as most manual lenses I have will fit this with a canon adapter. In fact most lenses will fit the m43 speed booster with the canon version and appropriate adapters.
Their first version will be 0.71x magnifications. But if they don’t go to 0.67x and then to 0.5x (for m43 fans), someone will develop such a version and they will lose out, so you know they will go to a 0.5x version or lose out. There are a lot good lens manufacturers out there and can do this since this is the same skill set.
I have a bucket full of Minolta MDs and M42 screws. I am sitting on a gold mine once these adapters come to market.
Prob the 0.5x reducer is a challenge, especially for a “universal” design. Nikon did build a 0,5x reducer in its E2/E3 series(Fuji 505/515) DSLR’s long time ago, compressing the 24×36 view into a tiny format ccd. I could not find a link yet about the resulting quality and problems, but i assume it still had some flaws, otherwise it might have been implemented in other series as well.
I like the idea very much, but now that we have so many beautiful native MFT lenses with AF, I will not use any adapted glass any more.
Well, Metabones mentioned that one of their aims is to remove the limitation at the wide end for ‘cropped’ formats.
I can see the use with some good and old Russian wides. The problem is indeed if the adapter doesn’t make them telecentric enough, for not spoiling the edges.
Also the cheap 50mm become a 75mm eq. which is an ideal portrait lens, if you are used to Manual Focus.
Old lenses can also have some beautiful signatures and so worthy independently from their digital counterparts.
As well if you own legacy glass, you already own “regular” adapters, add a speedboost adapter and now you’ve effectively doubled your focal range options with the same lens. One lens and two adapters in your kit is a lot smaller than two lenses. So that larger, manual prime isn’t so big and awkward after all …
Bloom is leik a spoilt brat! Got to be the first to get everything!