Picture comes from here. Click for a larger version.
You can always count on the Chinese to come up with something cheaper, though not always better. When the Metabones Speed Booster came out, I wondered why no one else had done it before. Surely, the design is not something new. Focal reducer has been around for decades. But I knew as soon as the Speed Booster come on the market, the Chinese version won't be far behind, and now there is the Lens Turbo, an alternative to the Speed Booster.
Specs for the Lens Turbo:
Multiplier: 0.726
Optical Construction: 4 elements in 4 groups with 1 ED element.
Note: Not compatible with all lenses. The Lens Turbo adapter is thinner than a normal adapter. Some lenses with rear element protrudes more into the mirror chamber may not fit, and the aperture lever for the MD version may hit inside of the adapter, preventing the lens from mounting properly.
According to Dr. Liu, designer of Lens Turbo, its design is different than the Speed Booster. He said that Speed Booster concentrates the light more in the middle of the frame, and his design distributes light more evenly across. From early sample pictures, the speed gain seems dependent on focal length; the gain is less than a full stop in some cases. Some softness wide open. It's pretty safe to say that Lens Turbo is not as good optically as the Speed Booster, which is understandable. The difference in price is more than double. Also, Lens Turbo does not have any kind of electronic contacts; it can not control the aperture of EF lenses.
If you are interested, here is a thread in Chinese, talks about the user experience with the Pentax version of the Lens Turbo. If you don't read Chinese, you will need to translate it. Another thread by the designer of the adapter is here, also in Chinese.
I think this is a good start for the Chinese adapter. Competition is good for consumers. Hopefully both the Lens Turbo and Speed Booster will improve, and lower prices soon. Better yet, I hope there will be more high quality focal length reducers to come on the market.
EcoCabs - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 92mm f1.6 Projection Lens. Click for larger.
nice one ... been looking at these. Thanks for posting
ReplyDeleteI am hoping for better quality adapters, and one with electronic control for EF lenses.
Deletegood news, I am wondering where and when is the FD one for sell? cheers
ReplyDeleteThey already have the FD version, but have a limited trial run. Not sure when they will become available. They are planning a dozen mounts and currently, PK, MD, FD are already available.
DeleteI am sorry for stating the obvious, but you realize that Metabones is a Chinese company? So it's not the case of the Chinese copying the West/Japan etc like you seem to suggest.
ReplyDeleteWho says a Chinese company can not copy another Chinese company's designs? Besides, I didn't imply one copies the other, as I said in the article. Focal reducers are nothing new. It's just a matter of who thinks of getting it to market. The Metabones and the ZhongZi adapters have different designs, so it's not really a copy.
DeleteFair enough, but with all the talk of "cheap Chinese copy" I thought it was another one of those racist swipes. Glad I misunderstood and that wasn't what you meant.
DeleteI never said anything about cheap Chinese copy. I said you can count on the Chinese to come up with something cheaper. Most people don't know any better. Without cheaper alternative from China, we would still be paying $300 for a M42 adapter from some Japanese company.
Delete