Kipon recently launched an active EF to Micro Four Thirds lens adapter that may prove to be one of the most useful tools for MFT shooters who own Canon glass. Until now, the Metabones Speedbooster has been your best choice when it comes to adapting EF lenses to MFT bodies, but this new adapter from Kipon is giving you more bang for your buck.
As many of you know, the Metabones Speedbooster is a very powerful adapter that not only provides electronic control of EF lenses on MFT bodies, but also effectively makes EF lenses faster and wider. In other words, if you use a 50mm lens on an MFT camera and do a 2x crop, you will typically capture a 100mm equivalent image. However, with Speedbooster, the crop is reduced to 1.6x (very close to the Super 35mm crop of 1.5x), and your 100mm equivalent lens now becomes a full-frame 80mm lens. Not to mention it stops faster which is amazing!
That’s all well and good, but the Speedbooster also has some drawbacks… namely autofocus – which is a big problem with current EF to MFT Speedboosters.
You might be thinking – I shoot film projects and don’t need autofocus. This is probably true. Personally, I rarely use autofocus, but sometimes I need to use the autofocus feature on my camera even if I’m shooting manually. For example, if I’m shooting in a live environment, I might switch the camera to autofocus mode before rolling to quickly lock focus into place, then switch it back to manual mode so that I can make the appropriate focus pulls while recording . I don’t always do this (rarely in fact), but in this case it’s nice to know I have the option. I also shoot a lot of stills, and those of you still photographers out there know how important autofocus is to many types of photography.
That being said, the Speedbooster’s Achilles heel has always been its autofocus system, which is practically unusable because it’s too slow. This is something most of us have just learned to live with since many of us rarely need to use autofocus, but at the same time it does prevent us from maximizing the use of EF glass as we would with a native camera.
And then there’s Kippen…
Unlike the Speedbooster, Kipon’s new EF to MFT adapter isn’t a focus reducer (meaning your shots will still crop), but it does have a better, faster autofocus system. You can use autofocus on EF lenses almost as smoothly as with native MFT glass, which can be a lifesaver in some situations. For MFT stills photographers using Canon glass, this adapter is a no-brainer as it will open up a range of possibilities that didn’t exist before. But it’s also amazing for videographers, especially those who cover live events, sports, or other fast-paced content.
But Kipon doesn’t have Speedboost You say… yes, that’s certainly a drawback compared to the Metabones Speedbooster, depending on how you look at it. But really, these two adapters should be treated as separate tools. I don’t necessarily think it comes down to choosing one or the other, but having both in your kit.
Often when a new product like this comes out, we look for alternatives. But in my opinion, the Kipon adapter is a tool that should be used in addition to the Speedbooster, not as a replacement. In other words, if you need a 50mm lens to act as a telephoto lens for photography in bright environments, use Kipon. It will give you fast autofocus and a decent 100mm equivalent focal length. But on the other hand, if you’re shooting video with the same lens in a small space without a lot of light, put it on a Speedbooster and call it a day. By using two adapters in series, you can effectively turn every lens you own into two lenses, which is very helpful if you shoot a variety of materials.
I’m sure Kipon will in time release a version of their adapter that has some kind of focus reducer built in… but for now at least they’ve got the price under control. The Kipon adapter retails for about $285, which isn’t bad at all considering the Metabones EF to MFT adapter (not the speedbooster version) costs about $400. you should see it Pop up on their website And it will be published on eBay in the next period of time.
That’s it for now. Taking a quick look at this little kit, I think it will be of great help to many of us MFT shooters who own Canon glass.
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