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Speed booster for NEX

Slingers

Active member
Every day I like coming in here and getting to see Vivek's great shots on a wide array of lenses. Now Taylor's added some more great shots and to top it off Brian is adding his thoughts. I have been telling everyone about the speed booster and think it is a fantastic idea.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Nice test pictures Vivek! The 85/2 definitely looks great.

Here are a couple more from this weekend w/the Macro-Elmarit 60.
Nice Taylor. I have been looking at your images from the SB + 60 Macro combo.
Very nice skin tones in the street musician shot. :)

FWIW, the short macros (pretty much from any maker) of 50-60mm FL are usually optimized for a magnification of 1/10X and the longer ones- 90-105 FL range for 1/5X. This applies to unit focusing lenses and does not hold true for floating elements design.
 
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Vivek

Guest
An Infrared snap.


Untitled by Vivek Iyer, on Flickr
Hacked NEX-C3, Speed Booster, Olympus OM 85 f/2, Effective f/2, ISO200, 1/160s, Hoya R72, Infrared capture

It is very difficult focus wide open in IR as the DOF scales are even narrower in IR. So, I had to stop down one stop.

The Speed Booster has no ill effects (hot spots and such) in the near IR region. :thumbs:
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member

A couple of lenses (Nikon F mount) that do spectacularly with the SB on a NEX are the Nikkor 20/3.5 AiS and the Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5. I will post some samples later.

I also briefly checked the PC Nikkor 28/3.5. Full shift in any orientation is no problem at infinity. With full shift (from normal), the speed drops by ~1 stop-not unexpected.

I'm very curious to see your results with the Vivitar 90/2.5. I've got the prescription for the this lens, and on-paper it does extremely well with the SB except in the extreme corner. The Vivitar 90-180/4.5 should work better in the corners because its exit puil distance is reasonably short, and it doesn't change during zooming or focusing.

... and I for one am very curious to see your results with the Nikon PC-Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 especially since I have one put up for sale at the B&S board at the moment :angel:
 

mazor

New member
Incredibly compact and balances very well.


Untitled by Vivek Iyer, on Flickr
NEX-6 Sigma DN 30/2.8
oo ooo, I see a f1.4 penf lens there, is that the 40mm f1.4? I have one, and it is a joy to use.

All these amazing speed booster shots, is really making me super envious and the desire to get one gets stronger, just need to save up more $$$. Also I want the adapter to use phase AF on sensor for the likes of nex6 and nex5r.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Every time I mount a lens via the Speed Booster and make pictures that becomes the new favorite of mine. I am going to have a very difficult time to even decide on a "standard" 50 to use. Today I had the Summicron R 50/2 ( and an Olympus OM85/2 and a Vivitar S1 90/2.5) to shoot the Chinese new year festivities in the Hague. I have uploaded a big bunch of photos here:

Speed Booster - a set on Flickr

I will probably post a few later.

Oh, the SB is simply awesome!

One other interesting factoid- the NEX-6 lasted for >460 shots on a single charge! All manual lenses. No review. Only RAW captures.
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Hi Vivek,

Congratulations for all your lenses that work well with the MSB.
Thanks for sharing your tremendous work.

I finally got a Leica Vario-Elmarit-R 1:2.8-4.5/28-90 ASPH.

My first test images with a regular adapter are here:
Re: Metabones Speed Booster - Vignetting with Tele-Lenses: Sony NEX Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

With the MSB are here:
Re: Metabones Speed Booster - Vignetting with Tele-Lenses: Sony NEX Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

One really has to look at the included full resolution images to see what's going on.

One thing I noticed with that lens and a regular adapter on the NEX-7 is that I can focus with 90 mm, change focal length to 28 mm, and the lens is still in focus.

However, with the MSB focus dramatically changes as I go from 90 to 70 to 50 to 35 and finally to 28 mm. In order to focus for 28 mm focal length, the distance scale on the lens is completely off.

Vivek, have you noticed a similar behavior with any of your zoom lenses? Thanks.

With best regards, K-H.
 
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Vivek

Guest
K-H, I am at a loss to understand how such a joyful experience for me is not the case with you. :confused:

These are the zooms I have tried:

1. Canon EF 28-80 f/3.5-5.6 IV
2. Vivitar Flat Field zoom 90-180 f/4.5
3. Nikkor (AiS) 35-70 f/3.5
4. Nikkor (AiS E series) 75-150 f/3.5
5. Leica 75-200 f/4.5

None of them show any corner softening problems at all. It is remarkable that barring the Vivitar zoom, none are unique. All behave well.

I also tried a Hoya 80-200 zoom (OM mount) I had with one of my OM bodies (I had never used it before though!) that was down right horrible with weird distortions. I am pretty sure it is down right horrible on its own.


What is the FW number in your NEX-7?
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Thanks Vivek.

We really have two different adapters though, in all fairness.
Before the last test I updated the NEX-7 Firmware to Version 1.02.

With best regards, K-H.
 
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Vivek

Guest
Hi K-H,

I just looked at this: http://en.leica-camera.com/assets/file/download.php?filename=file_1848.pdf

From a fleeting glance of that, it occurs to me that I would have very different results from50mm (perhaps even earlier) on. If this sounds like a riddle, i can expand on it later for you.

I highly doubt that we have two different adapters. The optics ought to be identical. I would check if the sample allows for infinity focus. If not there is a solution.

Please check the white paper and see if the descriptions match your results.

Also, just look at your sensor with the SB mounted on the camera. How does the sensor look like?

It is about 3 deg C during day time and evenin the city, after 30 mins, my fingers are frozen. I can not use gloves with a camera. When it warms up a bit (this is a flat/windy country), I will take some infinity/landscape shots. I will even put some zooms to use out of curiosity. It is a pity that I sold my 14-24 f/2.8 Nikon zoom. Although, I am sure that I can borrow one for tests.
 
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Vivek

Guest
In the mean time here are a couple of snaps from Summicron R 50/2 under totally flat, overcast light.


Untitled by Vivek Iyer, on Flickr


Untitled by Vivek Iyer, on Flickr
NEX-6, Speed Booster, Summicron R 50/2, Effective f/1.4, 蛇
 
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Vivek

Guest
Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5. Manually focused and handheld shot.


Untitled by Vivek Iyer, on Flickr
NEX-6, Speed Booster, Vivitar S1, 90/2.5, Effective f/1.8, 蛇
 

mazor

New member
vivek, love the mixed light indoor shot. The bokeh is nice and creamy. Some of those Olympus lens are definitely collectable and usable for modern sensor mirrorless. Love how with speed booster you get the real focal length of the lens, and hence get the most of the narrow depth of field these legacy lens have to offer.

I will still hold my ground though, and consider one, once they sort out the slow AF for Canon EF, and utilize PDAF sensors on the Nex 5R and Nex6.
 
The CY Contax 35-70 3.4 on Nex 5n via Canon SB vignettes at 35mm 3.4 in dim light, which is not so noticeable at 3.4 in daylight. In dim light it is much better by 8.

35mm 3.4


35mm 8


35mm 3.4


35mm 8


70mm 3.4


70mm 8


70mm 3.4


70mm 8
 

f/otographer

New member
Vivek, that is an awesome link for the Zeiss data, thank you.

A couple of requests.

First, to BrianC...any news on when the Minolta SR/MD speed booster will be available? I am champing at the bit to use one of these with my old Rokkors.

Second, can anyone do a test with the EF speedbooster and the old, discontinued EF 20-35mm 3.5/4.5? That is a great old Canon lens which is very compact and I think it would do well on the NEX in this combo. Especially with the increase in f stops. If anyone can post up some examples (pictures from the lens and photos of the lens mounted on a NEX) I would be very grateful.
 

brianc1959

New member
Vivek, that is an awesome link for the Zeiss data, thank you.

A couple of requests.

First, to BrianC...any news on when the Minolta SR/MD speed booster will be available? I am champing at the bit to use one of these with my old Rokkors.
Metabones is interested in developing a Minolta MD version, but as far as I know this is still just something that is being investigated rather than a definite product plan. The QA page on the Metabones site is pretty accurate for questions like this: Questions?

One little tidbit I have heard is that some lenses that have mechanical interference with the Speed Booster don't actually interfere with the glass, but rather with mechanical structure that holds the glass. This type of interference can probably be successfully dealt with in future versions of the SB.
 

brianc1959

New member
John, It is consistent with that lens' behavior on FF.

See: http://lenses.zeiss.com/content/dam.../contax_yashica/vario-sonnar3-4_35-70mm_e.pdf

All the Contax/Yashica Zeiss lenses data (barring the 100/3.5 Sonnar): Contax-Yashica


Is your infinity focus correct at f/3.4?
Hi Vivek:
Thanks for posting the Zeiss data sheet. Using the published exit pupil data for the 35-70/3.4 I was able to check the SB design and can verify that the SB itself won't contribute any vignetting at all at the 35mm end. In other words, 100% of the vignetting seen in John's 35mm/3.4 test shot (25mm f/2.4 actual) is due to the attached zoom lens.

The exit pupil distance of the 35-70mm/3.4 grows from 57mm to 78.6mm as you zoom from 35mm to 70mm. For an exit pupil distance of 78.6mm its possible to get a trace of vignetting in the extreme corner with the Speed Booster, but most likely the zoom lens blocks the pertinent rays before they even get to the SB so that the SB effectively contributes no vignetting throughout the zoom range.
 
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