It sounds too good to be true, basically
a $429 adapter to make an APS-C camera perform like a full frame
camera. On the NEX-6 that's like a full frame camera that can shoot
10fps. It's designed by relatively famous (to photo geeks) optical
designer Brian Caldwell, designer of the most lusted after but hardly
ever used by real people Coastal Optics 60mm macro. It's very
well made, light years ahead of the cheap Nikon G to NEX adapters.
Metabones marketing:
Industry's best aperture ring covers a
8-stop range with half-stop markings, clearly indicating actual number
of f-stops. No more guesswork! (Patent pending).
Compatible with both Nikkor G lens
& F lens (include non-AI & AI lens mounts).
Increase maximum aperture by 1 stop.
Increase MTF.
Makes lens 0.71x wider.
Optics designed by Caldwell Photographic
in the USA (patent pending).
The tripod foot is detachable and
compatible with Arca Swiss, Markins, Photo cam ball heads.
I ordered the Speedbooster to use with a set of Nikon primes, all old
manual focus AI-S era lenses. I'd heard it didn't work perfectly with
wide angle lenses, notably causing soft corners. So I wasn't too
surprised when the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 and it didn't get along. Neither
did it get on with the 24mm f/2.8. Well, ok 28mm is on the edge of wide
and normal by modern standards, so I gave the respected 28mm f/2 a try
on the adapter. Sorry, no corner resolution even at f/11. The Nikkor-0
35mm f/2 was just as bad, if not worse. To make sure it wasn't just the
old optics, I tried the Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G with similar
results. Above 50mm things were just fine, but 35mm and below, terrible
outside of the central region.
To keep it short, if you're looking for that FX look above 50mm this
adapter works like a charm. It really shines with the Nikkor 105mm
f/2.5 AIS. On the other hand, if you want to use wider lenses and have
them still be somewhat close to their FX focal length, well, this isn't
a magic bullet. I'd hardly call it useful wider than 35mm, by the time
you stop down enough to get a sharp image frame to frame, diffraction
is robbing sharpness.
For example, here is the Sigma 19mm
f/2.8 shot wide open. Both lenses focused to infinity in the center.
100% crop from the left side
Here is the Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 on the speedbooster shot at f/4.
100% crop from the left side
Metabones Speedbooster and Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI-S @ f/2.5