Fuji Initial impressions - Metabones Speedbooster Nikon To Fuji x mount

My Nikon to Fuji X-mount Speedbooster on my XP1
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The adapter is well built and made of good material. All the latches have a good feel. It also has a tripod mount on the bottom. If u do not use something like the Fuji Grip adapter, the tripod mount does not allow the camera to sit flush with the surface. It is designed to work w/ the new Nikon G lenses that do not have an aperture ring. In order to use older lenses such as the AIS, you will need to set the f-stop on those lenses to max f-stop (f16 to f32 depending on the lens). There is a number detent ring on the adapter with numbers representing relative f-stop values (both full and half stops).

It works as expected. My 35f1.4 is a 35 and 50f1.4 is a 50 again. You do gain that extra stop as advertised as well. A 1.4 lens becomes a f1.0 and a f1.2 becomes a f0.95. 0.95 is the max though.

Here are a some quick and dirty shots to show the effect of the speedbooster. Forgive the crappy scene, just something to show the effects of speedbooster. I forgot to reset the Fuji m mount lens adapter info between the 50 and the 35 mm lens so please ignore that photo info about the lens in the embedded jpg photo info. All shots were taken at approximately the same location.

Nikon 35f1.4 AIS w/o speedbooster 750@f5.6
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Nikon 35f1.4 AIS w/ speedbooster 850 at approximately one stop higher aperture
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Nikon 50f1.4 AIS w/o speedbooster 850@f5.6
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Nikon 50f1.4AIS w/ speedbooster 750@ approximately one stop higher aperture
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I was using the latest fw update. It turns out that in bright enough light the focus peaking was very usable compared to my testing late last night in my study.

Will try to get some shooting in with this setup during the next couple of weeks and try to post some pictures..

Gary
 
Some shots from the Nikon 85f1.8 with the speed booster is now a 85f1.2

I really rarely shoot wide open and forgot to bring a ND filter.. At f1.2, the 1/4000th shutter speed is not fast enough on a bright sunny day by at least 2 stops even when shooting at base ISO. Anyway while walking around the neighborhood, I finally found a shot that I could take wide open..

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This one at around f4 from the 85f1.8
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From a walk around the local reservoir using the Nikon 24-85f2.8-4.. It is kind of nice having a zoom which is now a f2-2.8 due to the effects of the speed booster.

Pano crop shot at 24f5.6
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@24 wide open f2
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@85 macro mode 50% crop (don't remember the f stop)
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@85f5.6 50% crop
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@around 35f4 pano crop
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So far I am pretty happy w/ the speed booster. The XP1 is a good platform for the Nikon SLR lenses. The XE1 does not feel as well balanced in comparison. While it was nice to use the 24-85 zoom on the XP1, as I was using it today, I was reminded that the XP1 feels so much better with a fixed lenses that I plan to use in terms of weight and balance..

The older AIS lenses work fine with the speedbooster, but it is a pain at times since I cannot seem to train my hand from accidentally using the aperture ring instead of the pseudo one on the speedbooster. The speedbooster is designed to be used for Nikon G lenses and expects the aperture ring on the lens to be set at the max for the lens (f16 or better). I had mentioned before that one could tape it, but I was thinking last night a better solution maybe to use a fat rubber band. Even if it does not complete prevent the ring from moving, the difference in texture would help to indicate you have moved the wrong ring.

It is really nice to have a full stop faster speed on my lenses... but for the type of shooting I would normally do, I tend to shoot at f4 to f5.6 most of the time... But having a f1.0 lens around is quite nice even with a camera with such good high ISO. An f1.4 becomes a f1.0, a f1.8 is now a 1.2. etc...

I think the lenses I will end up using on this setup the most will most likely be the 35f2 and 50f1.4. While I was playing around. I even brought out my big honking 17-35f2.8.. what a monster on my little XP1.. I think it will stay on the DSLR side for now. :p

Cheers
Gary
 
Some shots today's walk around the local reservoir taken with the 50f1.4 AFS G using Metabones Speedbooster..

Pano crop shot about f2 (2.8 setting).
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Converted to B&W using SEP2
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Gary
 
Thanks for the report and photos, Gary. Much appreciated. What's your experience in using the speedbooster with the zoom? Reason for asking: I still have an "old" 70-210mm 4-5.6 lens that performed remarkably well on the D800E.
Peter
 
Thanks for the report and photos, Gary. Much appreciated. What's your experience in using the speedbooster with the zoom? Reason for asking: I still have an "old" 70-210mm 4-5.6 lens that performed remarkably well on the D800E.
Peter

So far I have tried a lot of my old zooms. They all worked well, but the 70-300 looked like a monster in front of the xp1. Some of the really heavy ones like the 12-24 felt nose heavy on the xp1. On a heavier dslr, it balances better.

The 24-85f2.8-4 was always my favorite zoom from Nikon and the shots from it are every bit as good as what I would have expected.

Speedbooster plus the new fw update for focus peeking has really put a lot of new life into my old Nikon lenses plus given me an incredible range of lenses for the xp1.

In a way, lenses I would never have bought.. I mean my 50f1.4 is a f1.0... I would never dream of buying a Noct.. And not even Leica ever made a 35f1.0.. All due to the affects of the reducer.. If u are a low light shooter, I think the sb pays for itself pretty quickly IMHO.

Good luck
Gary
 
I would hope for an adapter for M mount lenses, but am afraid there is a technical reason why they have not done it (too short flange distance maybe). Certainly appears to be an outstanding product.

Cheers,

Antonio
 
I would hope for an adapter for M mount lenses, but am afraid there is a technical reason why they have not done it (too short flange distance maybe). Certainly appears to be an outstanding product.

Cheers,

Antonio

Exactly... There would be so very little room left w/ the optical reducing unit in place.. At inf focus, any Leica lens which normally has its rear element protrude into the body would bump into the optical element. Those that are flush w/ the bayonet mount maybe ok.

Gary
 
On a Nikon G lens without aperture ring, how do you control the aperture on the XPro1? Thanks!

Check the shot in the first thread that has a picture of the adapter on the camera. There is a adjustment ring on the adapter for aperture setting.. To use an older lens that has aperture ring, u need to set either one of the rings to max f stop whether that is f16 or whatever..and use the other ring for your adjustments.

Gary
 
Just for kicks, today I tried two DX lenses on my speedbooster setup... some very interesting results.. The two lenses were 18-200 and the 12-24. One of the known issues with a DX designed lens has been the image circle would not cover a full frame sensor. In fact someplace on the Metabones site, I think I remember seeing a warning about not using DX lenses with it. But I remember reading on a blog a long time ago about people who tried their DX lenses on the D700 and found that at the longer focal lengths of various DX zooms, the vignetting would disappear.

The 18-200 was a wash. Any visible vignetting did not go away until I got to 200mm. The 12-24 was a different story though. By 18mm the vignetting had disappeared in my quick and dirty testing. It was really bad at 12mm but at 15mm u could take a pano crop out of it with very little vignetting if at all.

Not sure when I will have time to do much more than a quick a dirty with this.. so I thought I would post what I got. All three shots were taken wide open with focus set at infinity. Results may differ once I put it through the paces but it is pretty interesting. With two zoom lenses, I essentially cover from 18-85 (12-24 plus 24-85).. w/ 15mm pano covered as well :D

@12mm - very heavy vignetting - the pano crop u could take out of this would essentially be at the 15mm setting.
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@15mm - vignetting can still be seen, but pretty easy to take a pano cut out of it
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@18mm - maybe some minor vignetting - hard to tell - not enough to worry about from the shot
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Cheers
Gary
 
Ok last dx lens that I own.. The Nikon 35f1.8 DX lens does OK with the speedbooster. There is some minor vignetting that can either be cropped out or maybe your photo SW can clean it up.

Same setup as before.. shot at infinity wide open.
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Gary
 
So here is the 12-24f4 on the speedbooster. This shot was taken at between 12 and 15 setting. I would guess slightly over 13mm. U can c the image a dust spot on the top left side area and the vignetting caused by the lens hood without there u would still get the image circle related vignetting as well. I choose this particular setting for maximum pano crop effect.

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and of course the pano crop.
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So an XPan shooting w/ the 30mm would need a center filter to cut the vignetting, which would essentially be shooting around f8 to f11 someplace if I remember correctly (would need to double check). The 30 is about 15mm in pano mode. Versus the 12-24f4 which ends up a f2.8 w/ the speedbooster and I end up getting maybe 2mm wider as well. Buying the 10-20 Fuji would give me a 15mm like the what the equiv from the 30 XPan would have been but I would not have the f2.8 max aperture thru the zoom range. Reality is that a lens this wide really does not need af at all. So I believe w/ this combo, I now have my version of a digital XPan :D.

Reality for me is that the lenses from 24 to 200mm are my most used focal lengths followed by the 21. When I am shooting a 21-40 combo. I tend to use the 21 for tight spaces, landscape, pano and crop for 24 or 28. A step back w/ a 40, it is essentially a 35. A step forward and it is a 50. A 40 can be cropped to around 70-90 fov without problems. Anything wider than 20/21, I tend to use for crop pano anyway. So being able to use my old 12-24f4 AFS DX lens for this purpose is just icing on the cake given I don't go out very often these days to shoot panoramic.

Gary
 
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