Lens Expanders & Reducers - FF>S35 and S35>FF - Reviews

[Zack Birlew]

Hi, everybody, after noting in the Laowa Proteus 2X Anamorphic thread about their use with Laowa's own 1.4x Full Frame Expander to work on FF35 cameras, I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a post about the use of lens expanders and reducers to jump back and forth between Super 35mm and Full Frame 35mm projects as there are several old and new options currently on the market today for allowing the use of virtually any PL cinema lens available.

To date, I personally haven't had to use an expander or reducer as I have opted for Nikon F or Canon EF mount options up to this point, although I am now looking at PL lenses more than ever, especially as a cross-platform investment as there are many mirrorless mounts that are even being adopted by high end cinema cameras but even though not every one offers an adapter for every lens, all of them have at least one PL mount solution for use on high end professional works. With Canon RF mount and Sony E mount in particular, we have focal reducers to consider not only for Canon EF but also other lens mounts as well and other mirrorless standard mounts may become more prominent over time so regardless of camera, it would be good to know more beyond the few one sentence store reviews.

So, I am turning to my fellow REDUsers to ask if anyone has had experience using expanders and reducers on their productions and to ask what brand, model, and lens combinations they used and how the experience was in order to help others figure out best practices and to find what solutions to aim for in case their productions require such setups. To note, there are a few specialty options for using B4 video lenses and Medium Format lenses on S16, S35, and FF35 formats so any information on those would be helpful as well. So, what was your experience(s) and how did everything turn out? Any comments, help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Zack Birlew]

Since there hasn't been any submissions as of yet, I should mention at least my experience with the Kipon Baveyes Speedbooster for Medium Format!

Pros Summary: The speedbooster does everything I could want it to do, I have the Mamiya 645 to Sony E version, and with adapters for my Pentacon Six Zeiss Jena and Pentax 67 lenses, it gives and gives. The image is sharp and I don't notice any weird warping or bokeh issues like some early Full Frame speedboosters in the past. Kipon's optics have certainly made sure that their speedbooster gives that Medium Format look on Full Frame with my Sony A7S and I'm sure it will continue with any future E-mount compatible cameras.

Cons Summary: The M645 to E copy that I have is an earlier model with a little locking tab for M645 lenses but this tab often gets pushed but doesn't lock without getting some pliers to pull the outer push tab out. The lenses and everything stays in firm but it just doesn't lock right 99 percent of the time, however, I know that in most cases it just isn't an issue and if I'm moving the camera I'll just have to get out the pliers. Kipon has since made a better locking version so this is only a nitpick for early version adopters or people that might find them secondhand. Also, I've tried time and again with different lenses but the cap seems to be around 300mm as far as compatibility goes before it's straight up porthole vignette, much like with my M645 500mm, but that's not too bad as medium format telephotos aren't for everybody. While the adaptability of Mamiya 645 is nice, I still feel like I need to get a Pentax 67 model if I'm using Pentax 67 lenses or whatever other make of lenses, like Pentax 645 or Contax 645 which are also offered, as adapters are nice but there's a principle to the thing and collecting a whole set of Kipon's adapters would be a great resource when choosing lenses. Despite these small technicalities, I would happily use the Kipon Baveyes speedbooster again and again when I need that Medium Format zest to my images.