Prototype Metabones Speed Booster equipped NEX 7 *VS* full frame 5D Mark III – 1st comparison shots
Speed Booster at 35mm F1.0 on the Sony NEX 7
Both of these shots were taken with the same lens at 24mm
One is not a full frame camera! Guess which?
This is a very simple test just designed to show you that the image from the Metabones Speed Booster on a NEX 7 really does seem to match the appearance of a real full frame camera in terms of every characteristic.
The field of view is almost identical with the same lens, despite it being paired with two very differently sized sensors. Now you can think in terms of a full frame camera when purchasing 35mm photographic lenses for your mirrorless camera.
Indeed the amusing thing is that even looking with the naked eye at the sensor in the NEX 7 through the Speed Booster adapter, it looks full frame sized. An optical illusion.
The stills above were taken with the NEX 7 and 5D Mark III (NEX 7 top frame, 5D Mark III bottom). I’ve used the Sigma 24mm F1.8 on both cameras wide open, with identical compositions shot in the same position.
The Speed Boost effect on aperture is highly evident too. On the NEX 7 the camera reports the maximum aperture as F1.3 and it is certainly brighter. The difference in exposure that the Speed Booster brings allows me to shoot at ISO 1600 on the NEX 7 where ISO 3200 is required on the 5D Mark III. The focal length is reported as 16.8mm. I find it better to ignore the 0.71x optical reducer maths since nearly everyone thinks happily in terms of full frame field of view anyway (a 24mm is a 24mm, and wide).
Depth of field is as shallow on the NEX 7 as the 5D Mark III despite the difference in sensor size. You can see that by the out of focus point of light in the background of Olympus camera sitting on my desk in Sample 2 below. The position of the camera, the focus point, physical aperture and angle of the lens were as close as I could get them on both shots. There’s no compensating for any differences in sensor size going on here. You can swap between APS-C and full frame like they are the same, with the same lens.