Yes, you heard right. The newly announced Fotodiox Excell +1 speedbooster (reminiciant of the Metabones Speedbooster) will allow you to mount your Nikon F and Canon FD glass to your MFT body while optically adjusting for crop-factor and giving you a whole extra stop of light. At an introductory price of $160 the Fotodiox blows the Metabones, which sells for between $400 to $600, out of the water and you can get that extra stop of light on a budget.
While I have no expereince shooting with a converter like this, I know many photo and video guys who swear by the Meatbones products, it'll be interesting to see how this will stack up against the current king-of-the-hill system. At well under half the price of an equivalant Metabones setup, this is a pretty intriguing converter. This cute little peice of kit will definitly end up finidng its wan into many diferent photographers' and videographers' bags, perhaps mine included.
Below is a chart detailing the focal length conversions of a reference 50mm f/1.4 lens on various bodies.
[Via Anthony Thurston @ SLR Lounge]
What are your thoughts on this newcomer system? Do the price and specs intice you enough to give it a shot?
Wow super excited for this and a great price tag.
Interesting! I have a few Canon FD mount lenses that I still used on my Canon film cameras. I wonder what it would be like to use my Spiratone 400mm f6.3 lens on a micro 4/3. The 400 uses an FD T-mount adapter. I don't know how the Excell adapter will work in stopping down the lens since I have to manually close the aperture.
Have to wait for the reviews. The first Speedbooster clone from Fotodiox (yep, this is not the first) was simply terrible - they renamed it to "Light Cannon Soft Focus Adapter" to move the stock.
I wish they made one of these for APS-C sensors that would give you an extra stop and bring the focal length back to 1x.
imagine using this with a Mitakon f0.95 50mm on a apsc sony mirrorless.
Is this only for micro 4/3 cameras, can this be used on a Canon ASPC or Canon full frame? I would like to mount a FD on a current canon dslr... also can you post the link to where we can buy this... thanks again
Hi there, Tony. This is only for MFT at the moment. Here's to hoping they make an APS-C in the near future. There are links for both the Nikon F and Canon FD above (they're in the first paragraph right under the video). :)
Just ordered one, hope it's as good as a Metabones Speedbooster.
Drop me a line once you give it a shot! I'd love to hear how you like it man.
Well... got it a week ago..... short story : it sucks ;)
This is super nice. will this work on a Nikon d7000? do you ship here in the Philippines? can you give me an idea how much it would cost including S&H?
Looking forward hearing from you. Hava a nice day.
Thank you
Hi Ronnie! No, this model is just for MFT or micro four thirds cameras, not an APS-C (or DX) like your D7000. You'd have to check with a camera store about shipping to you.
Will this work on my Nikon D300?
Nope! Right now they're only making them for MFT bodies. Don't worry though, if they do roll out a DX version we'll keep you posted.
they lost all credibility when they said you can get an extra stop. that simply defies basic physics. you can't get more light than can come through the lens. shame on fstoppers for plugging this garbage.
F-stop is a ratio of focal length to diameter of the entrance pupil. The Excell +1 is changing the focal length of attached lens and that's how the f-stop will be changed as well.
To help you visualize it: the same amount of light that went through the lens before, will be "focused"(changed size of the imaging circle) on smaller area.
Fotodiox gets a lot of flak for being cheap, but they make pretty decent products. I recently bought one of their OM-Nikon F adapters, which contains a glass element. At $30 with free returns it wasn't a huge financial risk and it's surprisingly sharp - definitely nice to be able to adapt my vintage 85 and 17 to my D3. Fotodiox can be hit or miss but I wouldn't write them off right away.