GH3 About the speedbooster ... This would save money, if I understand it correctly.

S

Stab

Well-known member
I am considering selling my Panny / Oly glass and investing in the Rokinon Cine Primes. Although still relatively cheap, it would be still too much for money for me to spend at the moment.

I would like to have:

- 24mm 1.5 (€500)
- 35mm 1.5 (€500)
- 50mm 1.5 (under construction) (€500)
- 85mm 1.5 (€250)

Note that I am using a GH3.

Now I was thinking that if I buy a Metabones Speedbooster (for about 450 euro) that, if I understand it correctly, this could work out differently.
What If buy the speedbooster (which maginifies the FOV with 0.71x) and buy only the 35mm and the 85mm lenses.

Then, if I use those lenses with a normal adapter I would have of course a FOV of 35mm and 85mm (not considering crop factor here), and if I use them with the speedbooster they would turn into a 24.5mm and a 60mm.
In other words, I would have almost the same focal lengths by only buying 2 of the lenses and a Speedbooster.
Hey, it's not ideal and I might add the other primes later, but this doesn't sound like a bad option to me.

What do you guys think about this? Any downsides that I'm forgetting or not seeing?
 
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Stab said:
I am considering selling my Panny / Oly glass and investing in the Rokinon Cine Primes. Although still relatively cheap, it would be still too much for money for me to spend at the moment.


What do you guys think about this? Any downsides that I'm forgetting or not seeing?
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I wouldn't be too hasty on this. I don't know what m4/3 glass you have but you might want to consider keeping it, as it will tend to be sharper in general than Rokinon.

I had the Rokinon 85mm T1.5 Cine lens for a brief time, I didn't want to pay the price for the Oly 75mm F1.8. The Rokinon wasn't bad, I didn't really dislike it, but after a month I sold it and bit the bullet on the Oly 75mm. Having owned and used both I see the Oly lens runs circles around the Rokinon in just about every way except having to contend with "focus by wire" on the OLympus lens.

But it's autofocus is amazing, and for manual focus I'm used to using the magnified focus assist quickly. There's just a good chance if you sell off your m4/3 glass you'll miss it.

So maybe try getting one Rokinon at a time. See how YOU really like them.
 
Thanks Bruce. I believe you when you say that the Oly 75mm is better than the Rokinon, but then it also costs a lot more.
You might be true about missing the autofocus as well. I like that when I'm shooting a wedding I can just put the focus on the brides face with my finger and then press the shuter to instantly get the focus right and don't have to worry about it. What I don't like about the lenses is that they are small, unprofessional looking, impossible to 'kit out' and give a 'digital' clinical look. Sharpness wise they are great though.

I currently own the Panny 14mm 2.5 / 20mm 1.7 and the Oly 45mm 1.8.

Yes I was thinking about getting the Rokinon 85mm first because I have no tele lens at the moment anyway.
I actually don't dislike the lenses I have at the moment, but they do give me a bit of a 'digital look'. It might be the camera also...
What do you guys think? Will the Rokinon (or other manual lenses for that matter) give me a more 'organic' look because there is no communication between the lens and the GH3? (and therefore not making use of any in-camera corrections and digital sharpening enhancers or whatever it all does)

And would the plan in the OP work out in practice? Getting 2 primes and 'turning' them into 4 primes with the Speedbooster?
 
Stab said:
And would the plan in the OP work out in practice? Getting 2 primes and 'turning' them into 4 primes with the Speedbooster?
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Yes, the speedbooster will operate as you expect giving you 4 focal lengths from 2 lenses and 2 adaptors. The open question is how sharpness will be affected.
 
The speedbooster has received pretty good reviews in regards to maintaining optical quality, so this sounds like a viable approach. You'd have less lenses to lug around and more flexibility with your focal lengths. I agree that it's a good idea to start out with one lens before going all in as you may not know what changes to your workflow will be required if you're used to AF lenses up until this point.

While some modern lenses do allow compatible bodies to perform additional corrections, this does not guarantee that manual glass will look more "organic" (subjective) or that modern lenses will look more "clinical" (also subjective). This comes down mostly to the lens. All lenses all have different character, so it will be more of a question as to whether the Rokinons have a character that fits your aesthetic.
 
I have the speedbooster and I use it on my two Nikon lens. The pretty basic 50mm 1.8, and a 35mm 2.0. It really has been great giving me four focal lengths. Is it better than your Oly? Hard to say. What I can say is that I am very happy with it and allows me to really look at good Nikon glass to have two focal lengths.

-For what it is worth
 
On travel shoots, I'll often bring just an 11-16, 35/1.4 and a 90/2 along with a speedbooster and standard adapter. The set is compact and flexible enough for most needs and the SB doesn't introduce aberrations significant enough to notice. I've never noticed any negative impact on sharpness, except maybe with the corners of the 11-16 at 11mm on the GH2, likely because it isn't covering the sensor fully.

On a budget, you could certainly get away with just the Rok 35 and 85.

How you use them would dictate how much you'd miss the auto features of your PanOly lenses.
 
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