GH2 Can I get away with using a Speedbooster AND an FD adapter at the same time?

DPStewart

Veteran
Hi folks,

I have an FD to M43 adapter I use for my Canon 50mm f1.4 - it's the really good one from Poland, milled from a single piece of metal and lets you still use the aperture ring, it's really a solid piece, much better than the cheap alternatives.

But I'd like to get the Metabones Speedbooster for M43 and I was wondering if I stand a chance of being able to pull off using BOTH adapters at the same time without bad image distortion. (In series - the FD lens will have the FD-to-M43 adapter on it and then get connected to the M43 Speedbooster - just to be clear.)

Or is this attempt to Pimp My Camera going to end in tears?

EDIT: I would get the Speedbooster for the M43 mount, not another FD mount. This way I only need to buy 1 Speedbooster to use with both my Panasonic AND Canon FD lenses. The Speedbooster doesn't know the difference, it just accepts the correct mount - which all the lenses would be, and the Canon FD would be because it has the FD adapter already on it.

~Thanks
 
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The front end of your Speedbooster will be a female FD mount, that your FD lens mounts to directly.

If you left your FD-M4/3 adapter attached to the lens (not sure why you want to do that?) then you would be effectively try to attach a male M4/3 into a female FD - that ain't ever going to work, and even if it did, the lens would be too far from the sensor, so that all you could shoot would be macro.
 
Clarification:

I would get the Speedbooster for the M43 mount, not for an FD mount. This way I only need to buy 1 Speedbooster to use with both my Panasonic AND Canon FD lenses. The Speedbooster doesn't know the difference, it just accepts the correct mount - which all the lenses would be, and the Canon FD would be because it has the FD adapter already on it.

If a Panasonic lens can be mounted on the front of a M43 Speedbooster, then the FD lens with the FD to M43 adapter on it will mount the same way.

If A=B, and B=C, then A=C.
I'm just wondering if tiny bits of misalignment from using a 2-stage adapting process would add up to image distortion.
 
Ah - got it! The thing is, there are no Speedboosters for M4/3 lenses. Speed boosting works by shrinking the image produced by a full-frame lens to fit onto a smaller sensor size ... the resulting image is smaller and brighter. If you did that to a native M4/3 lens you would just get terrible vignetting.

Also, because M4/3 lenes mount close to the film plane, there is no physical room to add an adapter.
 
No, it cannot work that way: The FR changes the required flange distance so you simply cannot do that.
 
Clarification:

I would get the Speedbooster for the M43 mount, not for an FD mount. This way I only need to buy 1 Speedbooster to use with both my Panasonic AND Canon FD lenses. The Speedbooster doesn't know the difference, it just accepts the correct mount - which all the lenses would be, and the Canon FD would be because it has the FD adapter already on it.

If a Panasonic lens can be mounted on the front of a M43 Speedbooster, then the FD lens with the FD to M43 adapter on it will mount the same way.

If A=B, and B=C, then A=C.
I'm just wondering if tiny bits of misalignment from using a 2-stage adapting process would add up to image distortion.

Wait. Do you mean you want to get the m43-EF or m43-Nikon speedbooster, then adapt your FD lenses? Maybe it would help if you linked to the exact SB you wanted....
 
No such thing as a m4/3-m4/3 speedbooster. A speedbooster only works between a mirrorless camera and a lens that's both designed for a larger sensor and for a longer flange length.
 
Ahhh, yes.

There has been so much discussion here of the Speedbooster, and there are so many versions made, that I made an error and thought there was a Speedbooster made to be used with Panasonic lenses.

That was my missing piece of information.

Thanks GrahamH and aldolega.

As Emily Litella would say.......Nevermind.
 
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