Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Speedbooster tests

Someone should ask John Marchant about this, he designed the OLPFs and a SpeedBooster OLPF might be in his wheelhouse... probably need a new lens mount
 
From what I've been told Medium Format lenses are not as sharp as 35ff or super35 or b4 mount
 
The medium format lenses are not worse or softer in general, they only got a bigger image circle so yes if you cut out only a small fraction of the middle of that circle then yes things might be softer. but if you capture as big as it gets then its actually easier to make large lenses than small. precision is not as needed on a 70mm as on a 8mm lens for example.
 
Elsie N said:
After reading this thread by Michael Cioni I no longer consider sharpness more important than smoothness.

Numbers 5, 6, and 7 specifically.
Click to expand...

that refers to sensor technology... I assume, just in terms of lenses, the cost to make larger optical element of the same quality is proportionately more.

from what I was taught, you use Filtration to soften, but being a fan of older photography lenses I know Canon made a 85mm soft focus FD mount lens... I assume for Portrait work and a quick and dirty fix for a look that would be normally be fixed with filtration.

on the contrary I have seen movies like Oblivion and some of the posters, the images look artificially sharpened. Which to me looks grainy, which the opposite is smoother?
oblivion_ver2_xxlg.jpg
 
Björn Benckert said:
The medium format lenses are not worse or softer in general, they only got a bigger image circle so yes if you cut out only a small fraction of the middle of that circle then yes things might be softer. but if you capture as big as it gets then its actually easier to make large lenses than small. precision is not as needed on a 70mm as on a 8mm lens for example.
Click to expand...

You are right about center cropping a lens, but if it's a speedbooster, specifically a medium format lens on a full frame sensor... you'll see more

Personally, i have no idea, never tested these lenses, just going by what people have told me.
 
I haven't forgotten, if someone mad this they'd sell a ton
 
I mentioned in the "3rd Party" thread, that RED should get in touch with Metabones to make a DSMC/DSMC2 Speedbooster mount. As far as I can tell, REDs interchangeable lens mount to sensor distance is 20-21mm, whereas emount and m43 is 18mm... Surely Metabones could make one for 20-21mm (with a newly designed optical element)... Admittedly, I was thinking this was more for 5K Dragon/4K MX (as they're closer to APSC/s35 and could use ff35 lenses). That said, I can see why RED wouldn't want it; it'd likely bite into 8k sales.

I ended up getting an a6300+Speedbooster and I'm incredibly impressed with the combo. Unfortunately the A6300 is definitely the jello-king (conversely, it's also the sharpness king too), but having ~FF35 FOV and an additional stop of light across all my lenses is pretty choice! Especially for zooms.
 
Speedbooter Ultra - Updated.

Speedbooter Ultra - Updated.

I have updated the speedbooster I made with the Optics from the Speedbooster Ultra. ( latest Emount to EF unit )

I can now use a select number of nikon mount lenses at full 6KFF. I really like being able to mount nikons to this system as they small and light. Especially the Nikor Nikon E Series Pancake 50mm 1.8 is around £35. Usual results a 50mm will become a 35mm. The look and feel is wonderful, I can see myself using this on a number of projects where I need a light setup.

I ground down the optics casing and released the glass (four pieces) and re mounted them inside a Skin tone OLPF assembly. The furthest element just about touches the OLPF. I had to mod this also as the glass was a tight fit. But its nice that you can quickly remove the speedbooster unit with the OLPF.

The outer mount is still the crappy perspex one I made ages ago. The Nikon mount was from an early Metabones BMCC assembly but it works well and is easy to use. I enlarged the rear opening to accommodate the new larger speedbooster ultra. Of course used a bit of bluetak here and there to stop any movement. Be nice to have one machined though.

Nice to know there are a few people working on speedboosters for the RED epic bodies.

6k FF is nearly medium format 2 1/4. 5k FF matches full frame. I did tests with a 5Dmk3 and a 50mm cover the same area. 4K is nearly where it was before the speedbooster. I'll do some filming test tomorrow hopefully.
 

Attachments

  • redbooster_0001.jpg
    redbooster_0001.jpg
    86.2 KB · Views: 0
  • redbooster_0002.jpg
    redbooster_0002.jpg
    92.1 KB · Views: 0
  • redbooster_0003.jpg
    redbooster_0003.jpg
    91 KB · Views: 0
  • redbooster_0004.jpg
    redbooster_0004.jpg
    85 KB · Views: 0
  • A001_C300_06170C.0000123b.jpg
    A001_C300_06170C.0000123b.jpg
    101.6 KB · Views: 0
Couple of sample from the Nikor Nikon E Series 50mm. Shot at f1.8.
 

Attachments

  • RED_FF_ 130.jpg
    RED_FF_ 130.jpg
    94.3 KB · Views: 0
  • RED_FF_ 129.jpg
    RED_FF_ 129.jpg
    97.5 KB · Views: 0
I like the colors of your shots. Do you get focus at infinity?
Could you send us an R3D to play with and to see it in 6k?
Pat
 
Hi Patrick, Yes I get infinity. For this larger speed booster ultra compared to the older one from the BMCC you do need the OLPF behind the element in the OLPF modified case. Without the filter in that position then you wont get infinity. I have now put the Lowlight OLPF in place of the Skintone I had in yesterday. If you just hang the speed booster and olpf in the aperture with out the housing you don't get the slight vignetting in the corners, so its a trade off for now. If I have ever time to made a custom inset and slightly larger OLPF I will do so.
There is very minimal gap between the rear lens element and the speed booster in the housing. Everything is as tight as possible to try and cover most of the edges.

I'm happy for now and will be using a music video coming up soon. For normal commercial work I may bring along to test but will most probably swap back to the standard setup.

Here are a few samples. .R3d and Jpegs https://we.tl/v9fqG8C2f8 The wide is a nikon 35-70 push pull. Thats vignettes heavy in the corners. Sweet spot lenses for this setup so far are the 50mm Nikon 1.8, the Nikon 35mm 2 and the Nikon 28mm 2.8. I have the same lenses without mounts so I can lens whack on a nikon mount.
 
Last edited:
Interesting stuff James.
Do you think a nikon mount could be done in a small serie with the speed booster lens? A chaep way of acchieving VV framing with lower 6k data to handle...
But at the end you have to put some sharpening anyhow to get it somehow sharp. I wounder if a sharper OLPF could be used as the system naturally takes some aliasing out due to lower speedbooster lens quality (?).
Pat
 
Patrick Tresch said:
Interesting stuff James.
Do you think a nikon mount could be done in a small serie with the speed booster lens? A chaep way of acchieving VV framing with lower 6k data to handle...
But at the end you have to put some sharpening anyhow to get it somehow sharp. I wounder if a sharper OLPF could be used as the system naturally takes some aliasing out due to lower speedbooster lens quality (?).
Pat
Click to expand...

Don't see why not. But one would have to be careful as it would need to reach beyond the OLPF housing. Just done some test between 4.5k and 5k on the red is normal 35mm Full frame. On the old Speedbooster I was using (first gen unit when speedbooster came out) I did away with the OLPF and just used a IR cut filter. It did show signs of aliasing though. With this Sony speedbooster Ultra the front element is too large to fit through the aperture of the camera body where the OLPF assembly goes so that means I have to use the fairly thick OLP filters to achieve back focus. As removing the OLPF means you have to set the speedbooster back further so really I need it in. Of course you could use optical quality glass and IR cut coating at the same thickness to defract enough to swap them out.

After trying both I prefer the slight edge off total sharpness as to me it more aesthetically pleasing. I need to actually machine a few housings for different speedbooster glass options.

Having spent the weekend on this setup I'm finding it very hard to take the speedbooster out. It's like a new camera. - Apologies for any gibberish, way to much scotch, it is fathers day and all.
 
What about using a BMPCC speed booster (which has a much smaller rear element)?

maxresdefault.jpg


It looks like it might be small enough to fit into an unmodded OLPF cavity... Granted, it likely doesn't cover much larger than ~4k (if that), but it's a .64x and allows for as low as ~f/0.7 (whereas the regular ones are .7x/f0.9)... Personally, I'd be using a speed booster more for FOV than resolution anyway, and having FF35 FOV redcode raw would be pretty radical regardless of resolution... Extra 1 2/3 stop would be pretty great too.

End of the day, I'd imagine the less you have to hack/mod the camera, the better. If using the smaller speedbooster was more plug&play, I'd rather that than leaving the sensor compartment open to the elements.
 
BMPC the Circle of Confusion would too small, he's using a Emount to EF mount, because the Sony E Mount is s35... and you can use s35 glass up about 24mm...

Just for Note, the E-mount Flange distance is different than Red's Lens to Sensor/OLPF and why the OP removed the OLPF to use the adapted Metabones Speedbooster on a Red Epic Dragon.


Would be interesting if someone at Metabones saw this and created a Speedbooster for for S35 with the OLPF built into it
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top