Manual non-Canon lenses with Canon EF/E mount speed booster :)

[Zang]

Hi all,

Another crazy idea... Having shorter flange distance, EF speed booster could be mechanically used with a bunch of lenses from other brands. I do not think speed boosters are designed specifically to any particular lenses. They cannot be. How do you think how this combination works optically?

Cheers,
Zang

[Erik Lund]

Speedboosters are made for specific cameras, crop cameras.
Yes, they are not designed for any brand lens, only for a specific flange.

[Zang]

If speedboosters are designed specific to a flange distance then using them for different lenses may cause negative impact in image quality.

[Erik Lund]

Not so long ago we had a few posts, there I linked to a White-paper, well worth a read,,,
https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=9476.msg158878#msg158878

[Toby]

Hi all,

Another crazy idea... Having shorter flange distance, EF speed booster could be mechanically used with a bunch of lenses from other brands. I do not think speed boosters are designed specifically to any particular lenses. They cannot be. How do you think how this combination works optically?

Cheers,
Zang

As long as you mount the given lens on the speedbooster using the correct EF adapter, it should work fine, just as you could mount, for instance, an M42 or Nikon lens on a Canon EF body using the correct adapter.

[Jan Anne]

But why would you like to use a speed booster when you can already use almost all lenses out there with regular non-optical adapter rings?

Been using a Canon FD 85/1.2 for years on the Sony a7 and Nikon Z6.

[Zang]

Not so long ago we had a few posts, there I linked to a White-paper, well worth a read,,,
https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=9476.msg158878#msg158878

Thanks Eric. I think I have seen this one

I am looking for the opinion on mixing mount types on speadbooster and lenses and I don't think I found the answer in the mentioned thread.

Cheers,
Zang

[Zang]

As long as you mount the given lens on the speedbooster using the correct EF adapter, it should work fine, just as you could mount, for instance, an M42 or Nikon lens on a Canon EF body using the correct adapter.

Hey Toby, yeah I could imagine mechanically it works. Some pictures can be produced, even some nice ones I was just wondering if there is any noticeable impact in image quality

Cheers,
Zang

[Zang]

But why would you like to use a speed booster when you can already use almost all lenses out there with regular non-optical adapter rings?

Been using a Canon FD 85/1.2 for years on the Sony a7 and Nikon Z6.

It is more challenging with non-optical adapter when you go to the wide end

Cheers,
Zang

[Jan Anne]

Just use a full frame mirrorless like the Z6 and those issues with adapting lenses to cropped sensor cameras are gone plus you can use lenses as initially intended 

[paul hofseth]

Sirs,

I have several different metabones speedboosters for use  on my Pen F  MFT, but have tried to standardize on the Canon EF variety since that will allow stacking canon adapters on different lenses rather than carrying more than one sb.

This presumes that the adapters have properly plane-paralell surfaces plus proper centering. Mr Caldwell probably assumed that different lenses would differ in their distance between mount plane and focal planes , so the sbs are designed for slight adjustment of the position of the optical cell. Other focal reducers may not have the same precision and options. Recently I have been  using an Angenieux 180mm/f2,3 in Contax mount as well as an apo-telyt 180 plus an ancient 16mm fisheye in Leitz R mounts. No discernible difference in performance at 100% magnification at full opening when focussed properly.( No attempt at scale-focussing). Especially for wide-angles the dimensions of the mount-x to EF adapter is critical.

p.

[Zang]

Just use a full frame mirrorless like the Z6 and those issues with adapting lenses to cropped sensor cameras are gone plus you can use lenses as initially intended 

I wish I can afford

[Zang]

Sirs,

I have several different metabones speedboosters for use  on my Pen F  MFT, but have tried to standardize on the Canon EF variety since that will allow stacking canon adapters on different lenses rather than carrying more than one sb.

This presumes that the adapters have properly plane-paralell surfaces plus proper centering. Mr Caldwell probably assumed that different lenses would differ in their distance between mount plane and focal planes , so the sbs are designed for slight adjustment of the position of the optical cell. Other focal reducers may not have the same precision and options. Recently I have been  using an Angenieux 180mm/f2,3 in Contax mount as well as an apo-telyt 180 plus an ancient 16mm fisheye in Leitz R mounts. No discernible difference in performance at 100% magnification at full opening when focussed properly.( No attempt at scale-focussing). Especially for wide-angles the dimensions of the mount-x to EF adapter is critical.

p.

Did you have issue with infinity?

As focal-reducer reduces the flange, the second adapter also should be thinner, right?

[Toby]

I did some experiments with a Metabones speedbooster for Canon lenses to Sony E. The optical quality was surprisingly good. On very critical inspection (comparing the lens mounted on a Sony A7R2 directly with normal adapter in FF mode with lens on Speedbooster in crop mode) I found no discernible effect on optical quality in the center, and only the slightest difference in the extreme corners. If you have a purely mechanical adapter (no glass) to mount, say, an Exakta or M42 or Pentax K or Nikon lens on a Canon camera, and that adapter works well with a Canon body, you can confidently expect it to work just as well mounted on a Canon Speedbooster attached to a Sony body.

However I'm sure that not all Speedboosters are created equal: I would not expect a cheap Chinese one to perform as well as the Metabones, which IIRC costs over $500.

[Zang]

I did some experiments with a Metabones speedbooster for Canon lenses to Sony E. The optical quality was surprisingly good. On very critical inspection (comparing the lens mounted on a Sony A7R2 directly with normal adapter in FF mode with lens on Speedbooster in crop mode) I found no discernible effect on optical quality in the center, and only the slightest difference in the extreme corners. If you have a purely mechanical adapter (no glass) to mount, say, an Exakta or M42 or Pentax K or Nikon lens on a Canon camera, and that adapter works well with a Canon body, you can confidently expect it to work just as well mounted on a Canon Speedbooster attached to a Sony body.

However I'm sure that not all Speedboosters are created equal: I would not expect a cheap Chinese one to perform as well as the Metabones, which IIRC costs over $500.

Good to hear, Toby. Metabones IV can be had for around 200usd in aftermarket what is not too bad. However, I plan to stack another adapter to use Nikon, Contax/Yashica lenses with it and my concern is the infinity may not be reachable.