Update – More About The Metabones Speed Booster (Guess Which Is The FF Cam!)

Update: According to Japanese site dc.watch.impress the Metabones Speed Boost adapter will be on sale in Japan at the end of January 2013.

Update2: click here to read Metabones' white paper about the Speed Booster adapter. 30 pages of tech talk.

More About The Metabones Speed Booster. EOSHD did some simple but effective tests with Metabones' amazing Speed Booster adapter (we reported here). In short: the Metabones Speed Booster makes a lens wider and faster. Sounds like voodoo? It isn't, just clever engineering. To give a visual aid to what the adapater promises to deliver, have a look at the following two images. Only one was shot using a full-frame DSLR.

Did you guess which pic was shot with the full-frame camera? Both pics were shot using a Sigma 24mm F1.8 (price & specs). The top one using a Sony NEX-7 (price & specs), the bottom pic using a Canon EOS 5D Mark III (price & specs)

As you can see the field of view is as good as identical. Quoting EOSHD: “The Speed Boost effect on aperture is highly evident too. On the NEX 7 the camera reports the maximum aperture as F1.3 and it is certainly brighter. […the] “depth of field is as shallow on the NEX 7 as the 5D Mark III despite the difference in sensor size.“

I agree with the following statement: “This is a groundbreaking product for photographers and cinematographers alike.” The EOSHD post has more samples to check and an exhaustive description on how this wonder thing works.

A synthetic description how the adapter works: “If your sensor is smaller than full frame, shrink the image that the lens throws to fit over it. That is the principal behind the Metabones Speed Booster which essentially gives you the full frame look and a brighter image all at once…“

With this adapter:

• A 24mm wide angle like the Canon 24mm F1.4L becomes a 24mm wide angle on the Sony FS100 (price & specs), with the same shallow DOF and field of view as on the 5D Mark III

• A F1.2 aperture on a Canon lens becomes F0.90, a significant 1 stop brighter image in low light

• Depth of field becomes shallower – the same as it would be on full frame

[EOSHD via Fujirumors]