Canon 'FD' to NEX - Speed Booster / Focal Reducer

[Christopher Young]

Interesting observations.

Can only say I have been using a Zhongyi Lens Turbo on a bunch of Minolta Rokkor MD mount lenses both prime and zooms on an FS700 and have never seen this 'blue spot' issue. Since reading these posts I tried a variety of shoot / lens / light combos and cannot replicate the issue at all. Maybe it just works well with some brands of lenses and not so well with others.

The major problem with this lens turbo adapter is it is too short in length to maintain parfocal zoom tracking with known parfocal lenses. After measuring and calculating the correct flange back distance and then shimming the front mount of the adapter for the correct back focus distance it now performs 100%. Hitting infinity at the end stop and tracking focus throughout the zoom range.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[James Manford]

Received my LensTurbo speed booster literally 30 minutes ago.

Good sturdy adapter with a nice high quality looking glass inside.

Done a quick test on my NEX 5N on a tripod facing my PC keyboard in a room with 1 window. Test was done at f3.5 @ ISO100. My lens is a constant f3.5 macro zoom lens by Canon in FD mount.

Any way, enough talking ... see for yourself and turn the quality up to high definition.

Sony NEX 5N + f3.5 Canon FD Macro Zoom Lens + Zhongyi LensTurbo Speedboster TEST - YouTube

I am very happy with this purchase! Glad I went for it in the end.

[Chris Harding]

Come on James - give us a little more than a keyboard!! Glad you are happy so far but it would be nice to see what it does on some people shots indoor and outdoors and some general low light and high light shots too. Especially on your EA-50 rather than the NEX5

Hopefully you will take a wander around inside and outside today ...It's only 8:15pm here so in the UK it's a little after 2pm so you should have lots of stuff to shoot in various lighting ??

I would also try shooting in bright light (It is Summer there!) and see if you get the weird blue light ...I would also try some indoor shots and purposely shoot something like a bright table lamp and see if that causes the blue piece in the middle too. For reference if you use the EA-50 give a comparison too and the speed rating using the same shot with and about and the gain/iso increase/decrease. That would be neat!

Chris

[James Manford]

I'll get round to doing a proper 'non-scientific' test on the EA50 this weekend.

The nex 5n was next to my PC so I quickly done a test on that to see if the image does look brighter and if the image gives me more view at the same distance. So far it looks very good. I pointed it at a bright light source as your right it's sunny here today but didn't see any blue tinge. I think it all depends on what lens your using so don't get me wrong if I throw on a different FD lens I may get the blue tinge.

[James Manford]

BAD NEWS

The chinese Zhongyi / Mitakon Lens Turbo DOES NOT FIT my VG20 or EA50! but fits my NEX 5n!?

I have purchased a M42 mount in the past that didn't fit my VG20 due to the pieces that slot in to the mount being too thick.

This lens turbo has the same problem! It was tight when trying to turn, so I didn't force it ... last thing I want to do is break the mount on my EA50 or VG20.

Now i'm back to square one! Need to find a way to lower the f stop on my FD lenses for use with my EA50 :-(

I will be contacting the seller for a refund as he didn't say it's not compatible with the EA50 in the auction description on ebay.

[Gabe Strong]

I'd be very careful buying the Metabones if I was you. Both the regular 'smart'
adapter and the speed booster exhibit some strange behavior. Mine suddenly won't
communicate with lenses that it used to control just fine. Suddenly it freezes the
camera up and you can no longer control iris. Have seen enough others having the same
problems that I don't think it is a coincidence. They have had me return it twice to update
the firmware, but that has not helped.

[Craig Marshall]

GOOD NEWS!

James, if you are referring to the Lens Turbo not fitting your VG20, please do not refer to it as a 'speed booster' as I think you'll find that term is a trademark of Metabones.

The Metabones 'Speed Booster' does not have this problem. The Metabones will fit your VG20 (and presumably EA-50) if you set it up correctly. Setting up the back focus of any well designed optical product is a standard procedure. (eg: broadcast spec ENG lenses)

The Metabones products are factory supplied with the back focus arbitrary set and you need to adjust it to suit your camera. Mine arrived as a tight fit on the VG20 too so here's the procedure:

1) simply unscrew the little grub screw on the rear connecting ring
2) using the black metal surround, rotate the rear glass element clockwise approximately two full turns back inside the chassis.
3) fit the 'Speed Booster' to your camera
4 fit your FF prime lens to the speed booster (eg; a 50mm)
5) open the iris as wide as it will go
6) rotate to focus ring to infinity.
7) check distant object are in focus
8) adjust the rear glass element +/- one quarter of a turn either direction until distant objects are in focus.
9) once correctly set, re-tighten the grub screw.

Note: you may need to apply an ND filter or raise the shutter speed so your image is correctly exposed whilst adjusting the back focus.

FYO, I'm using the 'passive' C/Y to NEX version of the Speed Booster to connect my Carl Zeiss prime lenses to the NEX VG20 and NEX 5N. Other brands of 'focal reducer' may or may not have a back focus adjustment.

[Chris Harding]

Hi James

That is indeed a bummer plus it's highly unlikely you will buy a Metabones after all the hassles Steven had with it. I think the Chinese adapters simply don't have the correct tolerances to fit all Sony cameras. The FOTGA adapter I bought also wouldn't fit onto my EA-50 ...I think just poor engineering as both my German Novoflex adapters go onto the camera like they were a lens..smooth as silk and accurate and no gaps or play...beautifully machined and made!!

Maybe you just should do what I'm doing and get a decent manual adapter and get a few faster lenses. Do you use the Canon zoom on other cameras?? You could also sell that to fund a faster lens as Canon's seem to fetch a better price too!

Chris

[James Manford]

@Craig

Amended my post to highlight it's the Lens Turbo I was referring too and not the Metabones.

On the Lens Turbo, I don't see any way I can rotate the connector ring to make it fit. I just think as Chris mentioned it's just a poorly machined adapter that doesn't fit the WHOLE NEX range although the descriptions in all the Lens Turbo auctions claim it does!

As previously mentioned I bought a poorly machined M42 to NEX adapter a while ago, that didnt fit my VG20 or EA50 but fit my NEX 5N. They must of used the same template for this Lens Turbo.

They need to realease one that fits the EA50 and VG20! or Metabones needs to come out with a FD to NEX adapter.

@Chris

I want a faster lens but I just don't know what to get without spending ridiculous amounts of money.

The FD lenses I have are really sharp and have been compared to the 'L' series by Canon.

I really thought I finally found a solution with this lens turbo ... well I did, if my main camera was my NEX 5N, but no, its the EA50 that remains my main work horse so I need an adapter that fits that!

[Chris Harding]

Hi James

Again..bummer!!

I found that the first lens I bought (Sigma 24-70 F2.8) was not wide enough on the EA-50 for weddings..If the priest decides to walk towards you you just cannot go wide enough to be practical so I ended up with the Tamron 17-50 which is certainly fast enough for Church ceremonies and has enough reach at 50mm for the couple's vows . I'm quite sure something from Canon in the 17-55 range at F2.8 would be perfect with the standard adapter but pricey!!! My favourite is still my Tokina F2.8 11-16 ...it is way, way sharper than the Sony lenses and absolutely brilliant and it ends up on the second cam almost always. I was also looking at the bank balance and contemplating a longer Tokina but shucks they are pricey but very very sharp lenses!! Seriously forget about having any auto function ..the EA-50 handles exposure with a dumb lens on the camera very well indeed ..all you worry about is focus (now and again I have to stop down if I'm going outside and the shutter speed screams up to 1/6000th ..I'm using Nikon mounts so my adapters have an iris ring on them (manual) ... Take a look at a few Tokina Canon mount lenses in the 17 -500 or 55 range they are really good and 3rd party lenses for Canon are usually way cheaper than Nikon mounts too!!

Chris

[Erik Wittbusch]

I'd like to mention the Canon 17-55/2,8 IS again, as it was called above.

I am using and testing it for 4 weeks now and it will be my main lens on my forthcoming documentary. I use it with the metabones Smart Adapter II on the EA-50 and I am very happy with this combo.

I will use it for 2 documentaries in germany and bosnia this year. I like the range of the 17-55 and the image stabilizer works like a charm too. I use it wide open or stopped down to f4/f5,6 and I like the quality it gives me much more than the sony kit lens does. It is not really a cheap combo - but I will begin filming in two weeks. No time for experiments left. I'm still testing different profile variations but I like what I can get right now...

[Tom Van den Berghe]

mitakon lens turbo. Still doesn't fit the nex-ea50? This post wasn't updated anymore. I was interested in this adpater because the speed booster is much more expensive.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Tom Van den Berghe

mitakon lens turbo. Still doesn't fit the nex-ea50? This post wasn't updated anymore. I was interested in this adpater because the speed booster is much more expensive.

Don't waste your money.

[James Manford]

Stick to the genuine article, it is worth every penny.

[Tom Van den Berghe]

thx, for the answer. I will go for the metabones. So if resume correctly:

you get fullframe (wider) lens. A 24mm lens becomes a real 24mm lens.
You gain some light, better in low light.
And the blurry background (DOF) ? That's going to be also more blurry with the metabones?