Full-Frame Look on EOS M – Metabones EF to EOS M Speed Booster ULTRA 0.71x

News

by Jeff LochMay 14^th, 2019

Metabones, a company that is known for making premium, innovative lens adapters, has just released their new Metabones EF to EOS M Speed Booster ULTRA 0.71x. This adapter allows you to mount full-frame Canon EF lenses on Canon EOS M cameras, while “increasing” the native aperture of the lens by one stop and reducing the crop factor by 0.71x. Let’s take a look at it! 

Canon EOS M Cameras

Initially launched in 2012, the Canon EOS M line of cameras never really drew too much attention. Many EOS M cameras were launched, like the EOS M/M2/M3, the M10 that we reviewed, and the latest EOS M50, which is currently the top-of-the-line camera of this ecosystem. The EOS M50 is a pretty decent camera, it features a 24.1MP CMOS APS-C sensor, and can record in 4K UHD at up to 25 frames per second, and in 1080P at up to 60 frames per second. It’s not the most excellent camera of all time, but if you are looking for something compact and intuitive, it can get the job done.

Image credit: Tinh Khuong

The real problem with EOS M cameras is the lack of quality native lenses. There are only four zoom and three prime lenses available in EF-M mount. Also, with the launch of the new line of EOS R mount cameras, I doubt Canon will continue to develop any new glass for the EOS M line. So – here comes Metabones with their new Canon EF to EOS M Speed Booster ULTRA 0.71x.

Metabones EF to EOS M Speed Booster ULTRA

Metabones is famous for making quality lens adapters. Back in 2013, they were the first to introduce an EF to E-mount “Speed Booster” adapter with a lens inside to reduce the crop factor of the camera and even more, increase the aperture of the lens by one stop.

This new Metabones EF to EOS M Speed Booster ULTRA 0.71x is no different. It will reduce the 1.5x crop factor of EOS cameras down to 1.07x and make your lens one-stop faster. For example: it “converts” a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 into the field-of-view of a 17-50mm f/2.0 on an APS-C sensor and a Canon 50mm f/1.2 to a whopping 35.5mm f/0.9 field-of-view.

It is compatible with all full-frame Canon EF lenses. Also, it is compatible with EF-S lenses, but you’ll need to modify your glass, which may result in vignetting. When using the adapter, most of the features of the camera and lens are natively supported, like image stabilization and autofocus, except lens aberration correction. The EXIF metadata is changed to reflect the faster aperture and shorter focal length.

Image credit: Metabones

The Speed Booster ULTRA uses an advanced 5-element/4-group optical design by Caldwell Photographic Inc. that, according to Metabones, helps to “achieve extraordinary optical performance with improved corner sharpness, distortion and reduced vignetting.”

Pricing and Availability

A few adapters are already available if you want to mount EF glass on an EOS M camera, from companies like Canon, Commlite, Fotga and so on. But none of these adapters can do what the Metabones Speed Booster does. Only Viltrox has a Speed Booster for EOS M, but we don’t know about its quality as we haven’t touched it yet.

The Metabones EF to EOS M Speed Booster ULTRA 0.71x is available right now for $479.

What do you think of this new Metabones Speed Booster adapter? Do you use Canon EOS M cameras? Do you already own some Metabones lens adapters? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments!