Pascal Garnier Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I subscribed to Metabones' waiting list for the Speed Booster FD to M4/3, but since I had no idea when it would become available again, I ordered a Focal Reducer from RJ/jinfinance on ebay. Received it today and shot a few tests with a Canon FD 24 2.8 (supposedly one of Canon's best and sharpest FD lenses) on my Pana G6, mainly to check how the Focal Reducer would perform in corner sharpness and chromatic aberration. I can confirm that corners are less sharp and there's a very light purple fringing in the extreme corners, BUT it is only really visible when zooming in to 1600%. There's no vignetting whatsoever and I didn't see the dreaded blue/purple center spot. I can imagine that for professional still photographers and pixel peepers this Focal Reducer is a waste of money. For HD video however : - it performs adequately with no noticeable side effects, - it makes your lenses wider (important with the 2x crop on Panasonic M43's) comparable to the field of view of APS-C sensors, - and improves low light performance (compared to my regular FD>M4/3 adapter I had to close down 2 extra stops with the Focal Reducer to keep the highlights from crushing). I will see how the Focal Reducer performs on the GH4 once I have it. For now, all I can say is that it's an essential piece of kit for anyone shooting with FD lenses on a M4/3 body in low-light. The adapter's construction is solid (all metal) and costs 25% of Metabones' version. For the work I do (doc, weddings and music videos) this is more than sufficient. andy lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 great news - I was looking at this last week . I will get one now , thanks for posting this I was looking at this version it is less than $100 ! is this the same as yours Pascal ? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360844545884?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotbyshaun Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 - it performs adequately with no noticeable side effects, - it makes your lenses wider (important with the 2x crop on Panasonic M43's) comparable to the field of view of APS-C sensors, - and improves low light performance (compared to my regular FD>M4/3 adapter I had to close down 2 extra stops with the Focal Reducer to keep the highlights from crushing). For now, all I can say is that it's an essential piece of kit for anyone shooting with FD lenses on a M4/3 body in low-light. The adapter's construction is solid (all metal) and costs 25% of Metabones' version. For the work I do (doc, weddings and music videos) this is more than sufficient. Thanks for the hot tip which sounds like a must buy. Out of interest, what 'regular' FD>m43 adapter do you use/recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-FD-FL-Lens-To-Micro-4-3-M43-M4-3-Adapter-GF1-GF2-GH2-GF2-GH2-G2-G3-DC156-/190699589038?pt=UK_Photography_CameraLenses_Lens_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET&hash=item2c6694cdae do not buy the ones with the silver ring , they have tiny screws on the silver ring that rip out with the weight of your lens and my entire lens fell off the front of the adaptor .....not good the one above is well built and works very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Cunningham Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I didn't see anywhere but what is the compression ratio on this one? Is it the same as the generic MFT model Speed Booster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal Garnier Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 @ andy : I bought this one : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360845797671?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649. Not sure the one you posted has the same optics (from other tests there seem to be significant differences between various manufacturers, so I can't vouch for that one). @ shotbyshaun : use the FD adapter andy suggested, looks like the ones I use. @ Sean : compression ratio is 0.71, I just measured by overlaying a still from the Focal Reducer and one without. So my 24mm 2.8 becomes a 34mm 2.0 (24*2*0.71) with this adapter. My 50 f1.4 a 70 f1.0. The best thing about this is that my Sun 24-40 3.5 zoom becomes a 34-57 2.8. Not the perfect range, but still way more usable for run&gun shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal Garnier Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Here's a very thorough review of the same Focal Reducer : http://josephmoore.name/2014/03/16/testing-the-lens-turbo-speedbooster-clone-with-extreme-lenses/ And footage : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 at x0.71 the focal lengths go the other way - wider so a 24mm becomes 17.mm 50mm becomes 35.5mm etc etc it makes your field of view wider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal Garnier Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 andy, you forgot to factor in the x2 crop factor of the G6 ! 24mm FD becomes 48mm on the G6 with a regular FD adapter. With the focal reducer you multiply 48 with 0.71, which gives 34. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal Garnier Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 here's a quick comparison of the crop factor of the RJ/jinfinance Focal Reducer : never mind the quality (heavily compressed jpeg), this is just to illustrate how much larger your field of view becomes with the Focal Reducer. colour shift and sharpness added in post to accentuate the difference in size. andy lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 andy, you forgot to factor in the x2 crop factor of the G6 ! 24mm FD becomes 48mm on the G6 with a regular FD adapter. With the focal reducer you multiply 48 with 0.71, which gives 34. I dont think it terms of full frame as I dont shoot full frame , I shoot m4/3 so a standard lens for me is 24mm and I think forward for telephoto and backwards for wide so 24mm with a speed booster like this is a 17mm in my head, so it wide angle I understand now that you think in terms of full frame - everyone does this different , I stopped thinking full frame when I shoot micro 4/3 Sean Cunningham 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal Garnier Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Well, every single manufacturer, reviewer and blogger mentions 35mm/full frame focal lengths when discussing lenses. Which makes perfect sense, since it provides us with a standard everyone can relate to and convert to for their own camera. Noone would call the picture I posted wideangle, and rightfully so. Just like noone calls 18mm fisheye (which you would, according to your logic). The only thing that does is add more unnecessary confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I shot on film for 15 years all through the 90s and early 2000s ......16mm and super 35mm Arri and Aaton Cameras so I never used full frame as a referance we never talked about Full frame so I still dont..... a 24mm lens is a 24mm lens in my head . anyhow the new FD to m4/3 adapter looks great I will be getting one asap thanks for posting this useful info , they also make a C/Y , M42 and EOS to micro m4/3 adapters too with the same glass these are all very cheap and usefull to have Francisco Rios 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bioskop.Inc Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Good to hear & didn't realise there was an M42 version! My BM Pocket is screaming out for my M42 lenses - Metabones are just taking too long to produce something & pricey too. Did anyone make an offer - seems strange that there is that option on the ebay listing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 offer them $80 see what happens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Cunningham Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 ... I stopped thinking full frame when I shoot micro 4/3 I stopped thinking full frame when I started shooting motion pictures ;) andy lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Well, every single manufacturer, reviewer and blogger mentions 35mm/full frame focal lengths when discussing lenses. This isn't true in my experience...or else I'm reading different blogs. You're not going to find much FF references in cinematography magazines for instance. And since this particular site is about filmmaking on photography equipment, having dual context-understanding between cinema and photography focal lengths is important. andy lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bioskop.Inc Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 offer them $80 see what happens! I was thinking more like $50/60 then i can always up it - the offer option is there, so would be silly not to take advantage!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 cool go for it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Gentles Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 So is this adapter Andy posted any good or not? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360844545884?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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