Tag Archives: MFT

Accessories, Announcements, Camera News, Development, Featured

Chronos Camera m43 Lens Adapter with Speedbooster Support!

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The two existing Chronos cameras, the 1.4c 720p at 1502fps & the Chronos 2.1 -HD 1t 1080p 1000fps are identical when seen from the outside but very different inside as they contain different sensor and memory boards. However one constant is that both use the C mount as the default for lens adapters. The camera usually comes with a Canon EF or Nikon F mount adapter depending on the buyer preference which screws on the C mount thread and allows for support of classic lenses from Macro to telephoto. 

One request from the community has been the support for other lens mounts like Micro 4/3ds which lets you adapt a variety of lens mounts and the much coveted speedbooster adapters which allow a 1 f-stop improvement in light gathering for micro 4/3ds systems. Today Krontech, the company behind the Chronos high-speed camera is introducing a passive Micro 4/3rds adapter for both the Chronos 1.4c and 2.1-HD and uses the body screw terminals near the lens thread mount to place a solid connection that allows such lenses. → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Accessories, Firmware/Software, software

Metabones Updates Adapter Firmware!

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Metabones speedbooster m43 Ultra

Metabones the company that brought you the speed booster and one of the first to offer electronic lens compatibility including AF for Canon lenses on mounts like Sony E Mount and Panasonic/Olympus micro 4/3rds has updated the firmware on these to have better overall compatibility with AF modes on newer cameras.

Slow motion shooters on Sony, Panasonic and other slow motion capable cameras are big fans of these adapters and speed boosters because it allows compatibility with their Canon EF glass collection. Furthermore the speed boosters enable wider field of view and an extra stop of light which is always needed when shooting high speed footage.

The firmware fixes some AF Native vs Green compatibility issues that propped up in the previous update for Sony users. The new update defaults to the standard green mode as the Native did nothing to improve features or performance.

Other Important info for the update: “Users of Sony’s contrast-detect AF and early phase-detect AF cameras are advised to configure your adapter to “Advanced” mode using the procedure in the User Manual section of our web site (http://metabones.com/article/of/green-power-save-mode) to get a significant AF performance improvement. In addition, we have made “native” AF-C slightly better and added C-AF support for Olympus OM-D E-M1, although an AF-C performance bottleneck remains in the lens’ inability to execute a series of fine maneuvers with minimal latency as commanded by the camera body.”

Download link for Firmware updates:
Select your product from this page according to your mount and follow their instructions. 

Be sure to follow the instructions precisely as you update the firmware. If you are unsure how to do it; contact their support team here for guidance. Also check the video below by The Camera Store TV regarding these adapters in action.

Metabones Speed Booster Hands-On Field Test by  TheCameraStoreTV:

Full Press release for the firmware by Metabones Below:

Vancouver, Canada, June 30, 2016: Metabones® thrives on constructive criticism by the community and the press, and customer feedback was the driving force behind the fastest phase-detect autofocus (PDAF) across the widest selection of EF-Mount lenses on the Sony phase-detect trio (A7 Mark II, A7R Mark II and A6300) through a series of incremental firmware improvements last year, a feat that still held just as true with the release of “native” AF firmware last week. This accomplishment was the cornerstone of Metabones’ “Ubiquitously Fast Autofocus” vision, providing the broadest range of mirrorless cameras with fast still-photo single-AF when using adapted EF-mount digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) lenses. It began with fast AF on Panasonic launched in tandem with the 0.71x EF-MFT Speed Booster ULTRA last July, followed by fast AF on the Sony phase-detect trio and Olympus cameras last year. An EF lens on A7 Mark II, A7R Mark II or A6300 focused so quickly that it was virtually indistinguishable from a genuine Canon DSLR under some use-case scenarios. Nevertheless, Sony’s contrast-detect AF cameras such as A7S Mark II and early phase-detect cameras such as A6000 still took seconds to lock using an EF lens, and that remained the final frontier to conquer before we could lay claim to be ubiquitously fast. With Metabones “native” AF firmware, these other cameras got an order-of-magnitude boost in AF performance. “Native” AF was also an order-of-magnitude faster than Sony A-mount lenses on Sony LA-EA3 adapter on these non-phase-detect and early phase-detect Sony cameras. With the “native” AF firmware release, “Ubiquitously Fast Autofocus” was fait accompli and our vision had become reality.

“Native” was an informal term referring to a different version of the lens communication protocol which unlocked extra features such as direct manual focus (DMF), Eye-AF (A7 series), fast contrast-detect AF (faster for all Sony cameras except the phase-detect trio), continuous video AF, zoom position and focus distance display. Metabones did not make any representation of further performance improvement for the Sony phase-detect trio of cameras from “native” AF. Quite on the contrary, our previous announcement stated that “native” AF might have lower performance than the original “Green” mode phase-detect AF, which had been the fastest since last year. There was no performance regression in the sense that the user could configure the adapter to have the old behaviour (“Green” mode) back with a simple procedure. Hindsight being 20/20, switching the default mode from “Green” to “Advanced” was a mistake, and we apologize to affected A7 Mark II, A7R Mark II and A6300 owners who were inconvenienced by this change. Based on your input, we are releasing a new Metabones App 2.4 (E-mount v52) with the default mode reverted to “Green” again. V52 cannot be safer to install because no new features are activated and there are no changes in operation without you first opting in. Users of Sony’s contrast-detect AF and early phase-detect AF cameras are advised to configure your adapter to “Advanced” mode using the procedure in the User Manual section of our web site (http://metabones.com/article/of/green-power-save-mode) to get a significant AF performance improvement. In addition, we have made “native” AF-C slightly better and added C-AF support for Olympus OM-D E-M1, although an AF-C performance bottleneck remains in the lens’ inability to execute a series of fine maneuvers with minimal latency as commanded by the camera body. Metabones App 2.4 is available immediately for download from Metabones’ web site. We will continue to listen to your feedback as we have always been, because your input sets the direction of our future development efforts on “native” AF technology using adapted DSLR lenses.

 

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Accessories, Camera News, Reviews

Kipon MFT to EF Adapter v2.5 Review!

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KiponReviewv25
NEW Update: Kipon has released Firmware 2.5 fixing a lot of adapter issues. Scroll below for new info!

This mount adapter converts Canon EF and EF-S lenses to a micro four thirds mount and permits electronic aperture, auto focus and image stabilization on lenses that support it. Cameras that use a MFT mount like the GH4 and Olympus OMD can now use Canon glass with all the features bundled with the lenses.

We are doing a full review of the Kipon MFT to EOS EF Autofocus Lens adapter that will be evolving over the coming weeks and months due to compatibility that may change and improve in the future. The following is a first impressions and v2.5 firmware performance that can you get out of it in it’s current state.

First Impressions:

The adapter arrived over the weekend and while it came from China it was pretty quick with only about a 9 day wait.  Packaging was good and adequate. The price paid was $298 on eBay from one of the vendors that sell these other places like Adorama sell it here for $309 which is very good also with the piece of mind of an easy return if necessary. Adorama link here!

The build quality is solid with what appears to be all metal construction. Color is pure black with no hints of chrome except for the lens release latch. The space tolerance on the mount is solid with no noticeable play in between the camera and the adapter and very minor play depending on the lens attached from the adapter to the lens, this is normal as lenses may vary widely when it comes to build tolerance. It has a tripod mount in the adapter very similar to those used on the metabones speedbooster and adapters.

 

There is a micro USB port close to the lens release latch that looks to be included for the possibility of firmware updates.  We contacted Kipon about this and other issues with the adapter and will update this review when we hear back from them. 

We used the Panasonic GH4 with both firmware 2.0 and 2.2 to test the adapter. It blends in well with the camera and it is sturdy enough to handle a large lens like the Canon 400mm f5.6 USM L  which has one of the fastest autofocus mechanisms in the EF mount.

One Problem we noticed is that when you attach a lens to the adapter there is no re affirming locking sound as present in other adapters.  Careful examination showed that it is clicking in place but the sound is barely there.  It is better to have a click sound that is easy to recognize while changing lenses in the field. It is no detriment to the adapter performance wise but it is annoying not to be able to have assurance that a lens is locked in place properly unless you twist back to check.

The lens focused on targets far and close easily by using the GH4’s built in contrast Autofocus.  Changing the target to shady places did increase the focus time or even cause the focus to give a few false positives. An AF false positive is confirmation of focus when the image is out of focus.  This probably has to do with the way the adapter tricks the GH4 and other m43 cameras to autofocus with a Canon EF lens.

Within a few minutes a warning message came to the screen that attachment to the lens failed. This usually occurs by having play in between the lenses and mount and or dirty contacts.  Contacts were cleaned and it made no difference, also lens play was a non issue with the 400mm L lens, it had no play at all.

Our best guess is that the adapter is somehow not supplying power to the lens as consistently as a real EF camera and the message will pop up randomly.  It occurred a few times with the lens but nothing to extreme.  Get used to this if you have this adapter, it will come up when you least expect it.

The AF speed was ok around 1 to 2 seconds depending on the target sometimes 1/2 second or 1/4 second when the lens travel was small. Accuracy was pretty good but hardly something you can use for action or sports photography.  The speed is not fast enough to compete with the m43 native lenses on the GH4 with it’s extremely fast AF or Canon or Nikon cameras with Phase AF for that matter. If you wanted to replace your camera body with a GH4 or similar and use your Canon lenses for action this is not the adapter you are looking for.

More EF lenses:

So we liked the performance on the 400mm 5.6 L and had some more Canon EF glass lying around to test.

EF 100mm f2.8 Macro USM lens:  This is a fairly common lens in the EF world and one that should pose no problem for the adapter.  Right off the bat we encountered trouble.

The camera twitched and the screen started lowering the light levels and upping them again with a random pattern. Pressing buttons or dials seemed to do little difference. We had it in Manual Photo mode and a fully open aperture with a shutter of 1/80th.  The iris opened and closed crazily and focus started to hunt without half pressing the shutter.  Taking the battery out and turning off the camera/re-attaching the lens made no real difference.

What seemed to fix it was a change to Video mode.  For some reason the lens works well in video mode with AF, aperture and normal operation, but in photo mode it goes haywire. AF in video mode works pretty close to what you would expect from video on the GH4, a little slower than native lenses but perfectly acceptable.

on to more lenses we went with the 70-300mm EF IS USM

This lens has been out there a while but it is still relevant as a good lens today. However the adapter hated this lens. The only thing that worked was the image stabilizer in photo or video mode and the aperture in video mode only. It never auto-focused and while the motor tried it could never move the ring.  We think this lens requires a voltage higher than what the adapter may provide. It could be other reasons but no way of knowing with no documentation or feedback from Kipon yet.

As it turns out it was all downhill from there, we provide the following table with the compatibility of the adapter with the lenses we had in hand as of June 8th 2015.  This may change in the future with a firmware update.

As you can see it is a hit and miss and hardly what you could call a dependable piece of gear.  The fact that it works fine on the 400mm L lens tells us that the adapter is not defective but the actual firmware has a ways to go to offer full compatibility with the large range of EF lenses. “This list has been heavily changed with firmware v2.5 see below”

We threw in a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC lens in the mix and it was a horror show. The only thing that work was the iris aperture in video mode. AF failed and all sorts of flickering in the image preview occurred along with no image stabilization engaged.  This IS mode VR for Tamron works by half pressing the shutter before capture or by being engaged at all times in video mode.  None of this worked in this lens.  It seems the further you stray away from Canon lenses the harsher the results with this adapter.

In contrast the Metabones speedbooster adapter which lacks any Auto Focus capability works fine with Aperture and image stabilization on all the lenses tested.  If metabones offered autofocus it would be a dream adapter but as of yet that is not the case for micro four thirds and Canon speedboosters.

In the end we are unable to recommend or claim failure of this adapter at this time.  It feels that it was rushed to market without adequate testing and compatibility.   It needs a lot of work to get to a level where you might feel comfortable to use it on any mission critical work.

If you are not fond for experimentation you should pass on this adapter.  It could very well work on other lenses but it may not.   The good news is that a USB port is in there for future patches most probably which may fix and improve the hardware over time.  This is a good decision and something metabones has been doing for years.

Update 6/9/2015:  Word from Kipon regarding our questions: “Thank you very much for your information, we will improve this adapter in future, the adapter has a USB port probably to be able to improve compatibility via firmware, we will upload the update process link in our website.

Best Regards “

Update 6/24/2015:  Kipon has added a lens compatibility List based on their own testing.    It leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully it will have a download update soon to improve compatibility across more lenses.

You can find the list here:

http://kipon.com/en/articledetail.asp?id=81

Update 9/15/2015:

 Kipon has added firmware 2.5 for the Kipon MFT to EOS EF adapter and has improved response for AF, camera/lens compatibility issues and more. 

You can find the update here and you will need a Micro USB cable to perform the update.  It does it very quickly and we had no issues updating.

New Firmware 2.5 new results from our testing:

FW 2.5 Notes: As you can see a lot of improvement has been made and the adapter now works flawlessly with many of the lenses.  A few exceptions like the Tamron 17-50 DI II 2.8 VC  has good aperture support but focusing works sometimes and others it does not.  Also VC or IS in this lens will not turn on in any mode. This lens has to be said works perfect on Metabones adapters with latest firmware and VC works aswell.

The 38-76mm Canon for some reason focuses in continuous mode in photo mode and can become a nuisance, its an old lens but the video mode is more stable. This lens will not focus fast or very accurate on any mode but works.

Big surprise was the 50mm 1.4 as it now works mostly but still focus is hit and miss and you need to close the aperture to f4 or more to get real focus confirmation. However iris and focus works.

The 70-300mm EF IS USM had the most improvement with  Excellent performance at all zoom ranges across the board very close to what it feels on a Canon body and IS works great also.

Lost of good and many improvements across the board we now feel more comfortable taking this adapter for real shooting situations and or paid gigs.  Test your lens collection in advance!

Old Veredict: To early to call this adapter anything, we’ll keep you informed as communication and compatibility improves as Kipon has hinted at.  It shows promise and it is first of it’s kind and these kinds of issues go with the territory. The hardware is solid but the software needs work. 

New Veredict Firmware 2.5:  The adapter works much much better, you no longer have that erratic aperture and focus behavior that will force you to turn off the camera in order to get rid of it.   Most lenses are now usable but we did find a few issues that still remain to be resolved.    However the adapter is now much more usable and we can recommend it if you can live with the remaining issues.  We encourage Kipon to continue firmware development and improve the lens list compatibility.  However Metabones with their latest update has almost no issues and while it is more expensive it allows AF and aperture control with IS enabled even on many Sigma and Tamron lenses.   If you have the Kipon adapter however this is good news as their engineers are fixing issues and are making it more dependable every day!

Leave your comments below if you have success or compatibility issues with this adapter on your camera/lens combination. HSC-

Announcements, Camera News, Development, Hi Speed Phone Video, Media Showcase

Z E1 120fps HD and 4k in Tiny Package!

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ZCamE1

The Kickstarter project Z  E1 has been funded over 4x their initial goal and now proceeds to build the cameras based on a Micro 4/3 sensor and an extremely small GoPro-like camera body that does 4k video and up to 120fps HD video in an upcoming  software update; the camera form factor is ideal for drone aerial photo and video. It promises professional video and photo quality with no compromises in an incredibly small body which would be close to what Olympus attempts with the Air A01 or DxO with the One. The camera does have a 2.5″ inch Screen on teh back but also relies on a 200-300ms response time over wifi which is short for little lag. The Interface is iOS and or Android and are already available for download on these platform stores for remote shooting.

ZCAM E1 Spec Sheet:

“We have several challenges to face being the first non-Japanese company to develop a 4k interchangeable camera system. Our experience with the latest A9 chip from Ambarella has been a major asset. Cooperation with Panasonic to embed their sensor and lens into E1 has helped us to finalize the product. ” ZCAM

From the statement above you can get a lot of insight into what the camera is built on and what kind of components make it breathe. It is a GoPro A9 chip with a Panasonic sensor MN34230 “still capture it’s 2x crop. For video mode, it’s around 2.34x 35mm crop; they do claim a perfectly acceptable quality at ISO 6400 and up to 102,400 ISO for extreme low light.  The Dynamic range as their specs is now 10 stops with a possible 11 stops with a future wide DR update.

They can reach those high ISO numbers due to their proprietary noise reduction ” Advanced 3D noise filters using motion compensated temporal filtering (MCTF ) technology reduces noise and jitter.” As to the effectiveness of the technique compared to other traditional sensor noise reduction methods remains to be seen.  It does sound encouraging.

Z  E1 Kickstarter Campaign Video:

The auto-focus performance is claimed to be excellent and the video quality even at night to be professional in nature.  The creator worked on the GoPro and this is a version of a technology refined and improved by a bigger sensor.  The mount is an active MFT compatible with Panasonic and Olympus lenses which makes it ideal for these system owners and those who do not want their expensive GH4, OMD or GH3 MFT camera to be lost in a drone crash in land or water.

The camera looks like a GoPro Extreme with a real lens mount, they have also been working on a waterproof case that may or may not be released in the future.  Even if this is realeased it will probably be limited to short lenses like a 14-42 or pancakes like the 20mm f1.7.  You cannot understate the importance of a large sensor camera with an underwater housing for all sorts of activities. Add to this that the 4k looks to be great in quality and it may very well become a diver  or sports camera of choice.

What about Slow Motion?

As a slow motion choice the Z E1 only real meaningful frame rate will be the 720p HD mode at 120fps in a promised upcoming update. As to the quality we expect it to be a windowed portion of the sensor. It would have been great if this little camera could do higher frame rates at full HD.

There are Kickstarter kits still available on their campaign page if you might be interested in getting one of these for your work. Be it a crash cam or a drone cam on steroids in a tiny package, the trend of smaller and more powerful minimalist cameras continue but that doesn’t necessarily mean that quality has to suffer as it is proposed on the Z Camera E1.

We wish this group of entrepreneurs much success and if they release future models we hope they take some time apart for higher resolution slow motion video. Small cameras are growing up and the Z E1 seems to be a pinnacle in the current state of transition.

For more information about the Z E1 visit their Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2081787381/e1-camera-4k-uhd-interchangeable-lens-camera

Disclaimer: We have no relationship with Z Camera ; the E1 or any of their future products. If you decide to buy one be advised that as with many Kickstarter campaigns there is a the risk of non delivery. HSC informs and covers high speed options of low cost and we do not recommend any purchase. We do the homework and you decide.