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Metabones Announces New Speed Booster: Conflicting Reports Over What It Actually Does

Chris Gampat
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01/14/2013
2 Mins read
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Last Updated on 01/14/2013 by Chris Gampat

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Metabones has announced something that has rocked the industry today; but there is conflicting information on what the adapter actually does. First off, it’s called the Speed Booster. So far it works for Fuji X series and Sony NEX series cameras. Hang tight Micro Four Thirds users, they promise that compatibility will come soon. Their product pages list the stats, which you’ll see after the jump. But something doesn’t add up here.

Tech Specs

Specs pulled from the Metabones page for the Canon EF to Sony NEX listing

Features:

  • Increase maximum aperture by 1 stop.
  • Increase MTF.
  • Makes lens 0.71x wider.
  • Optics designed by Caldwell Photographic in the USA (patent pending).
  • Electronic integration of aperture diaphragm, controlled by or from the camera body.
  • Partial autofocus support for late-model (post-2006) Canon-brand lenses.
  • Powered by camera body. No external power source required.
  • The tripod foot is detachable and compatible with Arca Swiss, Markins, Photo cam ball heads.
  • High performance 32-bit processor and efficient switched-mode power supply.

Now Here’s the Weird Part

Andrew over at EOSHD is saying that the adapter will make a 24mm f1.4 lens adapted to Sony NEX act like a 24mm but gain an extra stop of performance: making it nearly an F1 lens. This means that you’ll get full frame performance on an APS-C sized sensor.

We’ve also ready on Phillip Bloom’s website that it turns a 50mm lens full frame lens into a 35mm equivalent.

Personally, the latter doesn’t make sense as that means that it’s designing a totally new imaging circle whereas Andrew’s explanation basically takes what’s there are projects it onto the APS-C sensor.

We tried sending an email to Metabones with no luck; but hopefully someone will clear up the confusion.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.