SpeedBooster Question

If I'm reading correctly, the Metabones SpeedBooster effectively makes my 70-200 2.8L IS a true 70-200 (basically in round numbers) 2.0L IS on my Sony a6000. I lose the "Crop factor," corrrect?

Here are my two questions.

1. Why would anybody want to ever buy a "normal" EF-->Nex converter? Why wouldn't you buy this instead??? Always! Where's the market even at anymore for a "normal" converter?

I think my second question may be a little harder to answer, at least so I can understand it!

2. Doesn't this adapter effectively make the Nex a FF camera when used this way? My thinking is that despite the fact that you haven't increased the size of the sensor, haven't you effectively created a FF at the same megapixels as the sensor is? I'm not asking that very well but maybe somebody will understand what I mean.

Any guidance and help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I envision using this on my Nex-VG30 camcorder too if anybody knows anything about that. Looks like a dream come true for videography too unless I'm missing something.

Thanks,
-bob

Wow.

Two reasons to buy a "normal" EF->E converter
1. They're cheaper (Metabones speedbooster = $649, Metabones adapter = $399, FotodioX adapter = $100)
2. Lot's of people use then on the full-frame A7 series cameras. The speedboosters only work on crop sensor cameras

I wouldn't call it full-frame, but it kind of makes it "full-frame equivalent"

yellowt2 wrote in post #17684194
Two reasons to buy a "normal" EF->E converter
1. They're cheaper (Metabones speedbooster = $649, Metabones adapter = $399, FotodioX adapter = $100)
2. Lot's of people use then on the full-frame A7 series cameras. The speedboosters only work on crop sensor cameras

I wouldn't call it full-frame, but it kind of makes it "full-frame equivalent"

1) They serve a completely different purpose. The price doesn't bother me if they do what they claim to do and do it well. My question was do they.

2) I could care less about the A7. I have an a6000. I also have a 6D and a 5D Mk III. I have ZERO interest at this time in Sony's FF offerings. I'm hedging my bets on Canon over the long haul. Too much investment in glass and cameras to change and I don't see a need to.

The a6000 serves a "niche" for me. I use it almost exclusively at Disney Parks for its size and convenience. I have several camcorders but my VG30 is the closest thing I have to a "Serious" camcorder, hence; my interest there.

I guess my take-away so far is that nobody's using them. That surprises me unless it's total snake oil. I would think people would be falling on top of themselves to get one. I know I am if it works as advertised, and I'm only a rank amateur.

Thanks!

I have a friend that uses a speedbooster on his NEX-6, and he really enjoys it.

The speedbooster will reduce the focal length, widen the FOV, and increase the t-stop and f-stop by 1 stop. Does this make it 'full-frame'. Not quite, but you get a full frame FOV and gather 1 stop more light.

The big downside is that you're adding a good amount of optical elements between the sensor and the lens, and some degradation of optical quality is inevitable.

Maybe it's just me misinterpreting the internet, but your response seemed a little rude to me

WilsonFlyer wrote in post #17684232
1) They serve a completely different purpose. The price doesn't bother me if they do what they claim to do and do it well. My question was do they.

No, your question was:

WilsonFlyer wrote in post #17684232
1) Why would anybody want to ever buy a "normal" EF-->Nex converter? ... Where's the market?

I gave two good reasons that some people would want a normal converter rather than a speedbooster, mystik610 later gave a third. Just because it doesn't make sense for you doesn't mean that there's no market for it. Maybe these answers don't apply to you, but they answer your question. I guess I was expecting to see a response more like:
"Oh, now I get why other people might buy normal converters, but those don't apply to me so I'll get the speedbooster"

So ... back to your actual question

WilsonFlyer wrote in post #17684232
I would think people would be falling on top of themselves to get one

The reviews I've read of the speedbooster were quite good. You seem the be the target market and should get one right away. Everyone that has an A6000 and doesn't mind spending $650 on an adapter should totally get one. I just think that's a fairly niche market. If I had an A6000 I would get a speedbooster; but I decided on an A7 instead, so I just got a normal adapter.
For people with less money to throw around Mitakon Zhongyi also makes a version (they call it a "turbo adapter") for $149, but I think the optics and build quality are inferior to the Metabones.

Other thoughts on the speedbooster:
- Crop sensors normally look at the center of the image, which is where most lenses are the best. Using the speedbooster brings in the edges of the image where there is often less sharpness and more CA
- Your lenses give you approximately the standard full-frame FOV; this means they get wider, and lose reach at the long end. If you like wider this is a good thing, but if you want more reach this is a bad thing.

I used one on my a6000 and Canon FD glass. It works well. I've never tried it with autofocus lenses- I understand it works, but not nearly as fast as native autofocus does.

I also used a normal converter when I wanted to go long- sometimes people want the FOV bonus that a crop sensor provides.

The only negative drawbacks I've seen was from earlier models- you tended to get a sensor reflection when shooting into direct light. That seems to have been improved in newer models.

For the second question- the sensor size doesn't change. You aren't recording any more data with the adapter attached than you were without it. You are getting the larger image that can be captured by the full frame lens reduced in size, that will still cover the crop sensor.

Here's metabones explanation-

http://www.metabones.c​om …oster%20White%2​0Paper.pdf

Thanks to ALL of you. that all makes perfect sense.

I can see a use for both adapters in different situations.

mystik610 wrote in post #17684762
I have a friend that uses a speedbooster on his NEX-6, and he really enjoys it.

The speedbooster will reduce the focal length, widen the FOV, and increase the t-stop and f-stop by 1 stop. Does this make it 'full-frame'. Not quite, but you get a full frame FOV and gather 1 stop more light.

The big downside is that you're adding a good amount of optical elements between the sensor and the lens, and some degradation of optical quality is inevitable.

This, though the degradation is pretty much not even visible from my experience.

I had the Kipon BavEyes reducer for my X-E1 ($300) and it was fantastic. I had it in EF to XF mount and used all my EF adapted vintage lenses on it, all of them worked well with it, the telephoto lenses in particular were very good.

If I get another APS-C camera I'll probably pick up the even cheaper Zhonghi/Mitakon "lens-turbo" instead, those mostly have good reviews, though some people report blue flares in certain lighting (something I never observed with the Kipon reducer).