EF to BMCC 2.5K Speedbooster - How do you like it?

Hey folks. I just picked up a BMCC MFT. I'm looking to get the metabones sb for the BMCC, but wanted to hear your experiences. The threads I searched didn't seem to have much user experience..more so tech specs.

Do you find the aperture dial cumbersome? Can you set the aperture and then unplug the mini usb power to conserve battery?

I have the BMPCC and the EF to BMPCC specific Speedbooster, so I fully understand the benefits of one, but wanted to hear some user experiences with the BMCC 2.5k one.

Thanks!

I have used both the Nikon and Canon versions of the BMCC Speedbooster and I'd say the Canon one is somewhat annoying to use. I didn't personally buy it, as I had the Nikon one first, but my friend had a bunch of Canon still lenses he wanted to use so ended up getting the Canon one.

The external power cable that has to hang off it and be plugged in to a V-Mount or whatever is just annoying. I'm always worried I'm going to bump it and snap it off inside the port or something. Even with it tied down pretty well...Got the V-Mount power cable, the EVF SDI cable, Monitor SDI cable, maybe power cables for the EVF of Monitor, etc...Ends up being very "snaggy" if you're not careful.

I wish someone made some kind of small usb thumb drive type of battery for it or something so you didn't need the cable, but I think its a little late in the game for that...too bad they didn't just do something like that from the get go. There is a sort of flat spot with two tapped screw holes on either side of the USB port, but I've never seen any use for this...maybe I missed a cable clamp accessory or something?

Or better yet, too bad BMD didn't just provided a powered MFT mount on the BMCC...

The electronic switch that changes the aperture is pretty slow and sometimes unresponsive...but I guess it gets the job done. Probably the same on the Pocket Camera one.

Then on the other hand you could go with the Nikon adapter...built in aperture ring, F-mount...which could be good or bad depending on what lenses you have...but the focus is "backwards" and there is no option of using powered lenses if you want for stabilization and stuff, so there is that...Also, very few "cinema" style lenses...

There is the EF mount BMCC, but thats losing the whole Speedbooster thing so thats a non starter.

The BMPCC has the powered MFT mount but its obviously only 1080p...not a huge jump from 2.5K, but still...then the pocket sized body, no touch screen, fiddly buttons, borderline useless screen, removable battery, but barely lasts 30 minutes, etc.

There's gotchas with whatever combo you go with...if you don't mind having a cable hanging off your rig (and you must pretty much must have a rig to mount a battery) then the Canon one is fine. You could take the cable off after you set the aperture I guess, but if you're out and about filming, taking cables on and off to just change aperture is pretty annoying IMO. On a tripod, set up and locked down, maybe not quite so annoying.

Thanks for the detailed response, Shane. It seems your observations/experience confirms my suspicions about the Speedbooster.

Although it doesn't have a speedbooster lens element in it, I might try for the Aputure Wireless Focus thingy http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... focus.html

The power is provided in a wonky looking apparatus, but at least it'll give me aperture control as well as powered IS

I just finished up using one for a documentary project the last several months as well as several smaller projects and I think it's absolutely great. Image quality is outstanding- sharpness, etc is retained where as the Speedbooster I use for Canon FD (as well as the lenses, lets be honest) have to be stopped down more than I'd like.

Yes, have an external power source dangling from your rig isn't the most elegant solution but there's also manual lenses as well. And the fact that it works on the Pocket using the electronics is an added bonus for folks like me that switch between both depending on the shoot.

On our next big shoot, I plan to rent the CP.2s and use them through the BMCC EF Speedbooster. As someone who previously owned the EF BMCC, I can't recommend the MFT BMCC / BMCC specific EF Speedbooster combo enough.