Thoughts on Speedbooster with FS700

V

vcfilms

Well-known member
Hey all,

So I'm thinking about ordering the Nikon Version of the speedbooster for my FS700 and wanted to find out from others who have used it what they thought of it. How is image quality? does it really give a full extra stop? Any gotchas I should be aware of? I'm planning on using it mostly with my Zeiss 2.8 lenses and Nikon 2.8 zooms such as the 28-70mm. And of course it would be nice to use on my 100m Zeiss Macro to make that f2 even faster ;)

Anyways, what are your thoughts/experiences?

Thanks so much!
 
I find it very helpful to get really wide shots and the added light boost definitely helps. I think it's well worth the money. The only bad thing is the infinity focus screw is the tiniest screw ever made on earth and it loosens regularly on the Speedbooster. You need to keep an eye on it.

Looking at my footage I haven't seen any adverse effects caused by the Speedbooster.
 
I find it extremely useful, especially with the Canon 24-105 f4 which gains 1 stop of light and becomes wider. If I want that same lens with the longer focal lengths, I just switch back to the regular Metabones. Very versatile.

Also, if you want the uber-shallow DOF artsy shot, you just cannot beat Speed Booster. On my f1.4 lenses, you can get it super, super shallow and buttery looking, although the Bokeh can start to look Cat's eyes-ish the more open you shoot.

Most of this skateboarding piece was shot with Speed Booster. The Tokina 11-16 on Speed Booster essentially becomes a 9.5mm (at 13.5mm regular, the max without vignette using 2:35 ratio), so it's super wide and awesome. The ultra wide shot behind the Hollywood sign was at 13.5mm on the SpeedBooster (essential a 9.5mm) and it's crazy wide. :)

https://vimeo.com/74873629

But yeah, great piece of kit.
 
I don't know really.. I test it a few times and on normal shooting it's seems OK, but now, when I shoot some test in 4K RAW, I'm starting to think:
What for I change my adapter from regular to Speed Buster and loose some sharpness and details, instead to change 50mm lens to 35mm lens and have the best image quality ?? :shocked:
.. and often see some lenses don't work with Speed Buster ... for example: Now I'm looking to try nice Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 lens .. but this lens for APS-size sensors, so we cannot use it with speed booster..
If I have a LOT of different prime lenses and some useful Zooms - what for I have to waste $600 on Speed booster, instead to invest this money for new lens ? :)

Like super wide Sony 10-18mm F4 OSS lens which have very good geometry !! -->

892389.jpg



...so ?? :)
 
SergeSmArt said:
What for I change my adapter from regular to Speed Buster and loose some sharpness and details, instead to change 50mm lens to 35mm lens and have the best image quality ?? :shocked:
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You don't, use the 35mm. There's no need to use it unless you gain from it, right?

I haven't used the Speedbooster while shooting 4K but with Full HD there's absolutely no change in sharpness worth talking about.
 
Thanks guys. I think it's probably worth keeping it in my kit as I already own all the lenses I need and making them wider and faster without taking much of a quality hit (if that's the case) seems like a good option to me!
 
vcfilms said:
Is the added barrel distortion really bad? I'll have to look into this a bit
Click to expand...

Honestly, it's not that terrible in real world use; and it's really more just on the wider lenses. If I point the 24-105 f4 while on Speed Booster at a brick wall at 24mm (which is a 17mm on SB), then you notice it. But in real world use, I don't really notice the barrel distortion that much.
 
In video it's probably palatable. I was shooting stills with one for a while and the added barrel distortion really bothered me, so that even in video i tried to look for it (which is my fault, i suppose). I'm speaking from my experience using a bunch of Contax Zeiss prime lenses on both a 6D and a NEX-7 via Speedbooster. Even up to 85mm, in every case the SB exaggerates a lens' barrel distortion to an extent that bothered me, whereas on the 6D I never noticed it.

That said, the SB + 24-105 is really a great combo, although the new e-mount 16-70 f/4 almost matches it and even surpasses it in some ways.

Another thing I love about the SB is that it doubles as protection for your sensor.
 
In theory the sharpness of a speedboosted lens should be greater than the same lens on APS-C.

However the nature of a speedboosted lens means that we all love shooting wide open. If you do any tests with lenses there is a huge difference between wide open performance and stopped down a few notches. Ginormous in fact.

That's why these F4 lenses 'look' so good. Shoot at f4 on your 50mm f1.4 and then compare.

That 10-18 Sony lens is very well corrected. I'm right in assuming that there's no post lens correction going on in the 700? I'm pretty sure that's the case...

SergeSmArt, the walk at the end of your video, was that just with OSS running or a stabiliser as well?

cheers
Paul
 
I love my Nikon to NEX Speedbooster. I use it with the 24-70 2.8 and the 80-200 2.8. These zooms become so fast that I hardly ever bring out the couple primes I have. The wider shot I can get with the 80-200 makes it a great interview lens. My only complaint is that the Speedbooster iris is not "de-clicked" the way my other Novaflex adapter is. I became used to having an infinitely variable iris and don't like going back to the "stepped" model. Has anyone tried to get their Nikon SB de-clicked?
 
anyone in here pair a speedbooster with the canon 16-35mm ? I've used this for my wide on my mkiii and after reading this thread I'm concerned about barrel distortion.
 
Read a couple posts on reliability issues with the speedbooster. Anyone in here have a good run with theres and no problems?
 
I've had a good run with all 3 Metabones (Mark I, II and Speed Booster); but knock on wood. Sometimes, the lens freezes the camera, but I just twist the lenses with the camera on and re-twist and it works fine. But yeah, there does seem to be some reliability issues.
 
Seems like the barrel distortion might not be so much from the adapter as it is the lens. A wide 17mm lens will definitely have more distortion than a not so wide 24mm lens... Even more so for a 16mm lens compared to the same lens with SB which is 11mm.

Unless someone has compared a 24mm+SB to a 16mm without? An interesting test would be with the Tokina 11-16 since you could test it at 16mm+SB and at 11mm without.
 
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Vinnieman said:
I love my Nikon to NEX Speedbooster. I use it with the 24-70 2.8 and the 80-200 2.8. These zooms become so fast that I hardly ever bring out the couple primes I have. The wider shot I can get with the 80-200 makes it a great interview lens. My only complaint is that the Speedbooster iris is not "de-clicked" the way my other Novaflex adapter is. I became used to having an infinitely variable iris and don't like going back to the "stepped" model. Has anyone tried to get their Nikon SB de-clicked?
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What Nikon speed booster do you have? I have the one from jinfinance on ebay, it has a smooth aperture ring. Not sure how great the overall sharpness is, though. I've only used it a few times.
 
I have the Nikon to NEX Speed Booster from Metabones. It's not "declicked" but if you're careful, you can get the iris to rest in between clicks.
 
We used a Speed Booster with a Samyang 24mm T1.5 in a coal mine a couple of weeks ago. It allowed us to stop down to the T4 sweetspot and still have 2.8 light hitting the sensor. The footage looks stunning.
 
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