ny32182

I'm hoping to up my lens game a little bit before vacation this summer.
I have a Canon M50 Mark II.
Should I get a "speed booster" device like this and use EF lenses:


Or should I go with the native lenses?
Right now I just have the included kit lens.
Thanks for any thoughts.

Nitro-C5

Honestly I had to actually look up what a "Viltrox" and a "speed booster" are as I had never heard of either before. That said you may get a few different answers based on experience. The only time I have ever used an adapter is when I switched from my Canon EF full frame bodies to the full Canon Mirrorless (RF lenses) using the Canon made adapter and it works pretty much perfectly...if you are using a Canon lens. Let me expand.

If I used one of my Sigma Art lenses (very high quality EF lenses) with the EF to RF adapter I would at every once in awhile some weird focus hunting/inaccurate. That does make sense abit if you think about it. When using and adapter you are putting another piece of technology between your lens and your body giving it another chance to malfunction...when that adapter and/or lens is from another 3rd party manufacturer it amplifies potential problems even more.

All of that said, I think it comes down more to what body you are going to use long term, how many EF lenses do you currently have, and if you are going to continue to expand and/or stick with that camera body (or mount system). I would make your decision based upon that criteria. Also depends on what you shoot and how important is that quality to you. For example if you are more of a hobbyist and you are shooting say landscapes, which is pretty much the easiest form of photography that is not taxing on equipment...then I would likely just use the adapter and be done with it.

For me it was a little bit clearer. Mirrorless Camera Bodies are superior to DSLR in every way except one (black out frames on high speed shots) so I knew I would make the switch with FF Mirrorless going forward. The first thing I did was sell off most of 3rd party lenses that had an EF mount. When I am getting paid for shoots, I cannot be nervous about whether or not the lens is going to nail focus. I still have a few 3rd party and Canon EF lenses but I have been slowly replacing with RF glass. Nothing is going to be better than a native lens for quality, performance and critical focus...it just depends on how much that is worth to you.

ny32182

Thanks Nitro!

Just something I want to make sure that 1) I understand correctly and 2) you noticed at all given the product in the link above is new to you: My understanding of the difference between a speed booster and adapter:

Speed booster: Has two functions; first is a physical adapter for the lens to body interface. Second, it also has a lens in it that puts the entire "full frame" image size generated by the EF lens onto the smaller sensor in the body and therefore doesn't crop but rather reduces resolution of the final saved image vs. what you would get with a full frame body. I assume one more piece of glass the light has to go through adds that much more potential to degrade the image in some way or another?

Adapter: It is just a physical adapter (with no lens in it) that places the EF lens centered over the smaller sensor in my camera body. The image will therefore be cropped vs. what the same lens would do in a body with a full frame sensor.

The rest of your comments make general sense; if you throw a 3rd party item between the camera and lens, the possibility exists that undesirable operation or performance degradation could occur.

Unfortunately I don't really have a "plan" moving forward, but it seems the EF lenses are extremely common, and the EF-M which my body uses are possibly already discontinued? So I'm looking to not get into a dead end basically, and if I ever get a new body, would like to be able to use any additional gear bought now.

Nitro-C5

Thank you for the additional information. After researching I do understand there is a difference. I was referencing not so much the product itself but more of the (potential) compatibility issue and communication when you put a 3rd party piece of technology between the lens and the body.

I did do a little more research on DP Review.com about "Speed Boosters" in general and this is what I found (NOTE: not the same brand but will still give some good info: https://www.dpreview.com/articles/26...-speed-booster

Their summary is below. It looks to be a viable option if AF is not of chief concern. So its looks to be useful when you can get a good quality wide angle EF lens and not using AF.

Summary

There's a lot to be excited about with a product that so transforms lens behavior and addresses such a long-standing issue for photographers who long for the wide-angle and light-gathering performance of their older full frame lenses on their newer APS-C body. Image quality is very impressive, with results that compare exceptionally well against a full frame sensor. You do pay a small price in terms of corner softness and CA.

The biggest remaining challenge, however, with the Canon EF to Sony NEX mount is AF speed, a direct consequence of pairing a PDAF-optimized lens on a CDAF sensor. And to their credit, Metabones makes it very clear that AF performance is going to lag far behind what you'd get by using the Sony NEX's conventional AF system.

This does effectively make the Speed Booster an even more niche product, as it's best suited for manual-focus shooters. We'd be keen to see a camera manufacturer license this now-proven technology and offer this optical quality and near-full-frame performance mated with an effective AF system. But for now, we tip our hats to Metabones for releasing a product that accomplishes what many had thought nearly impossible.