Manual Focus Lenses Forum

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

Let's make a thread for sharing info on the Speed Booster, in terms of adapter/ lens compatibility, performance, etc.

I just got the adapter today (more like yesterday now), and haven't had the time to do any real tests (I received like 5 items in 2 days and am going bonkers now).

Very quick observations: it could be an issue with the cheap Chinese OM-EF adapter, but I couldn't get infinity on any of my three Zuiko OM lenses (28/2, 50/1.2). The 21/2 will NOT fit, as there is a protruding metal element that interferes (though shouldn't scratch the Speed Booster optics. relatively simple mod will be needed to mount it.

Zuiko OM 50/1.2 and 28/2 mounted fine, and performance seems to be as expected (i.e., good).

I'll try other mount adapters (including another OM-EF adapter that I have) and lens combinations, as well as comparison with 5Dmk2 in the coming days.

Phenix jc · Joined: 19 Dec 2009 Posts: 398 Location: France

Thank you for this precious thread ; I'm a possible buyer if the S B is available in Europe (price => customs tax) AND if infinity is possible with stacked adapters (sound bad...)

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Congrats! Do you still have some M42s to test? You already know my concern...hopefully it's just your OM adapter and you can get this fixed. Do the lenses feel like full framers again? Smile

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

Congratulations Rawhead, thank you heaps for this thread, VERY much looking forward to your samples, reports and opinions Smile

Phenix jc · Joined: 19 Dec 2009 Posts: 398 Location: France

shyl · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 27

Waiting for results

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

OK, let's start posting some real info, shall we?

Thanks for the infinity adjust link Phenix; I indeed went and adjusted the infinity on the adapter. It got the OM lenses to get *much* closer to infinity but not quite, and after turning the elements about 15˚, I couldn't see a change any more, so there seems to be a limit to how much you can "adjust".

Next, I tried my two C/Y lenses, 35/1.4 Distagon and 85/1.4 Planar. SAME deal, not quite reaching infinity. I have two C/Y-EF adapters, too, so we're talking four different adapters.

I began to worry that it might be an issue with the Speed Booster, that I'd need to get a better calibrated copy. I mean FOUR adapters?

I only have two Canon EF lenses, the 17-40 F4L and TS-E 17/4L. They both, by default, go beyond infinity (one to deal with focus shift, the other because it's T/S), so they're not optimal to test the accuracy of the infinity calibration of the Speed Booster.

Well, I believe all FOUR of them came from the same Ebay vendor---and I don't want to name names; they work fine on my 5Dmk2 which is what they were designed for, but just as unbiased facts––BIG_IS. They make decent & cheap adapters.

I then tried: Cosina/Voigtländer Macro Apo-Lanthar 125/2.5 (EF mount) and I got infinity fine. I then tried Hartblei/Zeiss Super Rotator 80/2.8 (Nikon F mount with cheap Ebay F-EF adapter) and got infinity fine.. went over it, in fact, just a bit. I then tested that adapter with Nikkor 50/1.4; infinity fine. Then I tried Helios 40-2 w/ M42-EF adapter. Infinity probably spot on, but maaaayyyybe just a little shy. I then tried that adapter on Volna-9 50/2.8 macro--infinity fine. Same adapter on Carl Zeiss Ultron 50/1.8. Infinity fine.

Then I tried Hartblei Super Rotator 35/2.8 with EF mount; infinity fine. Sigma 8mm Fisheye; infinity fine (but AF doesn't seem to work?).

Finally, I tried Mamiya 80mm f1.9 (for Mamiya 645) with Mirex Tilt Shift adapter (Pentax K mount with cheap PK-EF adapter), and again infinity fine.

So, the gist is, the Speed Booster is fine, and I think all the lenses are OK, too (unlike what Metabones say about adapting older lenses); rather, it's the cheap OM-EF and C/Y-EF adapters.

Now I'm just wondering if I should just invest in the highest quality adapters (e.g., Rayqual) for OM-EF and C/Y-EF.

Here are some other observations besides infinity:

(1) Zuiko 21/2 will not fit due to rear protrusion in the lens itself; would require mod to lens, perhaps irreversible. 28/2 was fine; would LOVE to know about 24/2.
(2) My Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 75mm f1.5 in Exakta mount with Exakta-EF adapter I got here, was a bit problematic... there was a bi of resistance as i tried to mount it and I didn't want to force it. It might have been the electronic contacts interfering with the after-market chip for relaying electronic information. Again, the chip works fine on my 5Dmk2, allowing e.g., for focus confirmation, etc. I'm guessing the Speed Booster is being built with a lot less tolerance than the 5D.
(3) Because the reducing factor of the Speed Booster isn't quite 1.5x (i.e., 0.67x), my Sigma 8mm fisheye is no longer a full circular fisheye: the top and bottom are chopped off a bit.

Besides the above three points, the Speed Booster pretty much acts like it's supposed to and I'm really satisfied. With some of the advanced features on the NEX6, I can foresee me needing less and less to use my 5D with my manual lenses Smile

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

Some lenses I tested

Some images:

C/Y Planar 85/1.4 + CY-EF adapter

C/Y Distagon 35/1.4 + CY-EF adapter

CV Macro Apo-Lanthar 125/2.5 (wide open, @ infinity): I'm pretty sure the vignetting isn't from the lens but maybe from a window sill?

Sigma 8mm F3.5 "Circular" Fisheye

Hartblei Carl Zeiss Super Rotator 80mm f2.8 + F-EF adapter

Zuiko OM 50/1.2 + OM-EF adapter

Mamiya Sekor 80mm F1.9N + Mirex TS adapter + PK-EF adapter

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

You should try shooting some test charts to see just what the speedbooster is doing. It looks like there is some light falloff on all the samples, mostly only very slight, but is this due to the lens being wide open or the speedbooster?

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

All the shots are wide open.

I'll print out a test chart and see what I can do. I also want to sit down and do comparison shots with 5Dmk2 mounting the same lenses.

JohnBar · Joined: 21 Jun 2012 Posts: 581 Location: Liverpool

Congrats on your new toy:P

Can you detect an increase in focus-breathing with it fitted?

I am interested also from shooting video where this can be important

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

JohnBar · Joined: 21 Jun 2012 Posts: 581 Location: Liverpool

I mean, when compared with shooting with the same lens without the adapter

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

OK, will test for that too, though I gotta warn you, I don't have a straight up OM-NEX adapter (or even an EF-NEX adapter) so I'll have to use my EF-NEX Tilt adapter and try to make sure there's minimum tilt when I do the test.

Phenix jc · Joined: 19 Dec 2009 Posts: 398 Location: France

Thank you for being our pioneer here.
Waiting for your next tests.
(yes, some corner vignetting)

caerwall · Joined: 11 Nov 2010 Posts: 51

Off to a galloping start. I have a Speed Booster as well. Not being into testing infinity on all mine - I probably should I have but have had no problems with what I have done.

All Canon EF lenses
14mm f2.8
24mm f1.4
50mm f1.8
50mm f1.2
100mm f2.8 macro IS
135mm f2.0

All work like a charm. I did try a M42 - EOS dumb adapter but I got the no lens mounted go away message from the camera - I later worked out I had to set the use shutter with no lens attached toggle. I changed this but have not gone back to the adapter as of yet. I have a few other lenses I can test, have been working my way up the focal scale.

Comments: - I have only seriously used the 100mm so far. Results have been exceptional (to my tired old eyes at least). This lens should auto focus but hunts all over the place so I gave up - I think I can probably get it to work better. For the mean time manual focus is a dream and I have had no problems in getting sharp as a tack images.

I am using a NEX-6 body.

The adapter is made for and obviously works best with EOS EF lenses, there are caveats on the Metabones site suggesting that care should be taken in stacking dumb adapters on to the device. There is also a need to register any non- EOS EF lens.

I have nicknamed this hybrid the "Cannybones" for the want of a better word = CANon+soNY+metaBONES" if it is necessary to spell it out.

Integration between the lens and the body is in reality very good for what difficulties there are in reverse engineering. Auto focus might not be properly there yet but manual focus is a snack and very accurate.

TomC

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

Yes, manual focusing on NEX is soooooo nice, I'm not going to miss AF on it at all.

And really, even with the added bulk of the adapter, my Zuiko 50/1.2 on NEX-6 is so compact giving you the kind of images that really, only the M9 + Nocti could give you in such compact form till now (that is, of course, RE: digital).... this adapter is a godsend. I really don't see the need for me to attach the Zuiko lens to my 5Dmk2 any more. Imma gonna see if it's be worth it to mod the 21/2 to fit on the Speed Booster as well.

Anyhoo, more tests coming tomorrow, including some MTF charting if I get around to it Smile

SeanM · Joined: 17 Sep 2010 Posts: 3 Location: Sweden

Hello

Really interested to see if your Olympus Lenses need to be adapted in some way, on my Olympus lenses it looks like the black ring with the offending fins should be able to be just unscrewed ( though I have not attempted this Laughing

).
Great info so far and a great thread.
I wonder if a Eos- FujiX adapter will be any differ than the Eos-Nex adapter

Good stuff

/s

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

Yeah, so I just unscrewed that black ring with the fin on the 21mm and it comes off all right, but it retains the aperture mechanism below it, and while that can also be taken out reversibly, you lose access to aperture control, so you can only shoot it wide open.

Definitely not how I want to shoot a super wide :LOL:

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I just went ahead and friggin' removed the fin (it's welded onto the black ring). I rationaliized as follows:

(1) Is it worth it? Of course it is, I wouldn't be using this lens as half as much if I couldn't use it with this new setup of mine
(2) It is reversible? Kind of. I mean 95% yes, since if the fin really is important (I don't know what it was for in the original Olympus system, but I'm quite sure it's useless adapted to my 5Dmk2 OR my NEX), I can always reattach it using metal epoxy (very tough stuff).
(3) Will it devalue the lens? Maybe. But this lens isn't a collector's piece, and I think more people would be wanting to use it with a digital body than an OM film body so they won't care so much about the lack of the fin. If it's really necessary, then read (2) above.

And so there you go. Didn't require much force, just a thin screwdriver wedged between the fin and the black ring (with the ring detached from the lens!!! Don't want to accidentally scratch the rear element!) and wiggle wiggle wiggle Smile

Voila, OM 21/2 on my NEX with near full coverage... though at this wide angle, I'm sure it's going to look quite different in terms of FoV when compared to 5Dmk2.

Fin removed

Attached to NEX6 Smile

SeanM · Joined: 17 Sep 2010 Posts: 3 Location: Sweden

Brave man, but like you say better on the camera than in the bag. Interesting to see a few samples at f4 + F5,6.

/s

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

fermy · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 1974

Pretty good dpreview report with some tests here: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2667195592/first-impressions-metabones-speed-booster

This makes a lot more sense to me compared to the marketing hoopla ("improved image quality compared to FF" Laughing

). Bottom line:

Overall, I think the results are impressive and I definitely would be interested in Canon FD -> NEX and Canon FD ->m4/3 versions.

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

fermy · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 1974

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07