FS7: Please help with my brand new Speed Booster and Canon lens!

moldcad

moldcad

Veteran
So I did my first test with Speed Booster, Canon EF 16-35mm F4.0L IS HSM and my FS7 camera. At first I didn’t notice anything wrong in the EVF, as I was focused on testing various functions – only when copied my first clip to the PC did I noticed this white-ish stain in the very low right corner of the picture!

I removed my new adapter and lens and checked with my other 2 lenses: no stain, the image is clean. So definitely my new Speed Booster Ultra, or my new Canon lens is at fault. But which of them? I inspected all external glass very carefully on both but found nothing…

The stain is only visible at the widest lens setting (16mm), it gradually disappears outside the frame when I zoom in. Please help!

Piotr

PS. Since I don't know how to attach large pics on this forum, here is the link to it - please watch the right lower corner :(

http://moldcad.idsl.pl/stain.png
 

Attachments

  • stain.jpg
    stain.jpg
    11.8 KB · Views: 0
Just ocurred to me that it might as well be the camera sensor - with my other lenses, its extremities are never within the frame of 16 mm... What do you think?
 
Strange!

I know many adaptors have some reflection issues at times, light reflects off the inside of the adaptor and gives you some strange flares, etc etc (I didn't think the speedbooster was prone to this).

Do you see that 'stain' at different focal lengths? Pointed at different angles / different lighting conditions?
 
As I said - it's there all the time, but gradually goes out of the frame as I zoom in. The screen I posted has been taken with the lens at its widest (16mm focal lens); I asses at some 25mm the stain is not visible any longer. But this is evidently NOT a reflection or glare of any kind, as it is static and doesn't depend on what I'm aiming at with the camera.
 
No it's not - just tested on friends' FF camera; not even trace of the artifact... But how is it possible nothing is visible on or in- between the adapter glass when inspected against the light, I have no idea...
 
Have you tried another lens on the SB? It looks to me like something is in the optical path. If it disappears as you zoom it suggests it's the lens, particularly if it's visible in a number of directions. Certainly, it's a weird one...
 
Bern Caughey said:
Your Smart Grip.
Click to expand...

Bingo!

I had the telescopic arm fully extended and level, as this is the best position for me when using the full rig, and with the 28-135 lens on the camera. Being a little excited about my new Speed Booster and lens, I mounted them on the camera and started checking the combo functionalities - totally forgetting that at 16mm focal length, the damn thing would get visible in the frame! Additionally - during those very first tests - I attached the adapter in the "Advanced Mode" (to check Auto Iris) rather than the "Green Mode" (where AI doesn't work, but Push AF does); testing the AF I tried to focus on a rather distant object so the Smart Grip was totally out of focus. This made it look like a blotch or lint, or even some glass imperfection, haha :) Anyway, I got scared and panicked - sorry for the false alarm, guys...

While we're at the Speed Booster subject, let me ask a few more newbie questions:

- is it / will it be possible to have both push AF and (at least) Push Auto Iris at the same time? I did upgrade my unit's fw, but it still is either - not both; is this a hardware limitation or just a choice by firmware developers at Metabones to limit power consumption in their adapters' Green Mode?

- have anyone actually tested the "light sensitivity doubling" claim by Metabones? Yes - EXIF reports my F4 Canon lens as F2.8 when fully open, but it's so easy to make it cheat (it's software, after all)... And in my further testing (nothing scientific) after I resolved the "stain mystery", I shot the same scene with the kit lens (F4) and the F4 Canon/Speed Booster combo; the difference in brightness didn't look to me as actually being a full stop...

That said, it's a great piece of engineering - I feel happy I went this way rather than choosing the Comlite adapter and and an EF-S lens (even though the latter would have been substantially less expensive).

Piotr
 
The Commlite is not the best adaptor. It produces ugly flares in certain conditions.
I have the speedbooster on one camera and a regular Metabones on the other.
Im using the Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 on the latter. That lens is pretty ok for the price and if shooting HD
The light loss is annoying, but so its the Camon 24-105 light loss at the far end.

My feeling is that the Speedbooster boosts 2/3 of an stop maybe
 
Anyone on my above question about Speed Booster's Green vs. Advanced modes? I asked Metabones support about their plans for future firmware updates - whether or not both AF and AE will be available simultaneously - but got no answer. And how about you guys - which mode is preferred by those using the Speed Booster? For run&gun work, *some* automation (in spite of being despised by most "real pros") can actually be useful, but which do you use more often: Push Auto Focus (only available in Green Mode), or Auto Iris (only in Advanced mode)?

Piotr
 
I'd like to add some more to my question in the previous post above: not only Push AF doesn't work (activate) in Advanced mode (even though the Metabones website says it should) - but it also stopped working properly in Green Mode where it worked flawlessly at the beginning. After reconfiguring several times between Green and Advanced modes, now Push AF does activate (in Green mode only), but it never succeeds to snap to focus when the lens is in max tele position (35mm on my 16-35 Canon). I need to back off to some 25mm for the Push AF to work properly! Anyone with similar problems?
 
Just don't expect to get useable AF of any kind out of the metabones no matter what they say - waste of your time and best to leave it at that. Fortunately IS works fine.
 
Lenilenapi said:
Just don't expect to get useable AF of any kind out of the metabones no matter what they say - waste of your time and best to leave it at that. Fortunately IS works fine.
Click to expand...

Lenilenapi - when making my decision to buy Speed Booster, I did quite a research and was aware what to expect. While I wasn't expecting continuous autofocus, Push Auto Focus is reported by everyone to work just fine (BTW, that's all I need as far as AF on any video camera, with any lens). And indeed - it was working perfectly from day one (albeit only in Green Mode of the adapter). Since then, I updated the firmware to the current one; also I switched to Advanced mode for my initial tests as Push Auto Iris (which only works in this configuration) was more useful to me (BTW, also working great - with the only caveat it's noisy - but that's not adapter's fault). Last night I decided that for the current job, Push AF would be more practical so I reverted to Green Mode, and noticed that while it still engages (hunts), it actually only finds the focus with focal lengths some 20% shorter than full telephoto (35mm) for my lens. So it's evident that either something got screwed - either by the firmware update, or otherwise. So telling me "don't expect anything to work on the Speed Booster apart from IS" is simply not well grounded.

broughtonfilm said:
That's where the Polish jokes come from.
Click to expand...

Sorry pal, could you elaborate, please?

EDIT: I thought you were trying to be arrogant until I saw your answer in my other thread :)

Piotr
 
Last edited:
All I can tell you was my experience - that even push auto was simply not reliable with my lenses, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I couldn't make sense of it so I just gave up on it. I haven't tried it with newer firmware, and I found it was different with different lenses. Just not something I could count on.
If you end up with better info though I'd be glad to have that in my arsenal. I haven't read anything from people who have had good luck but i could certainly be wrong. I have read lots of reports from people frustrated by autofocus and metabones but maybe they are talking about full auto, not push auto.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top