Canon Launches ‘Play it Safe’ Initiative, Helps You Spot Dangerous Knock-Offs

Canon recently launched a new safety initiative aimed at keeping dangerous knock-off gear out of your camera. The tag line for the initiative is “Play it Safe, Power your Canon with Canon Power,” and the company is hoping that a mix of warnings and education will do the trick and keep you from buying counterfeit “Canon” batteries and chargers.
Part one is a warning that most photographers already know:

Purchase of these products can lead to potentially dangerous results. Unlike genuine Canon products, counterfeit accessories may not meet government and industry safety standards and may overheat, smoke, melt, ignite and may cause bodily injury and property damage.

Pretty standard stuff. In addition, however, Canon USA has also added a section to its websitededicated to helping consumers identify knock-offs of the company’s most popular batteries and chargers. All of the examples (at the top and below) have the real product on the left, and a counterfeit example on the right:




Of course, this doesn’t include separately branded replacement batteries and such that you can buy at retail chains, only Canon counterfeits. Head over to Canon USA’s designated counterfeit page for more info.
(via Photography Blog)

Metabones Speed Booster Adapter Makes Your Lenses Faster, Wider and Sharper

If you read the title and thought “huh?” you’re not the only one. Hearing that an adapter can actually make your lenses faster and wider sounds a bit like photography science fiction, but it’s true and it’s getting some serious attention online — it’s Metabones’ new Speed Booster.
If you want to get into the nitty gritty details of how it works you can find the whole white paperhere. The TL;DR version, however, goes something like this:
The Speed Booster is what’s called a focal reducer (see diagram below), basically an inverted teleconverter. Where a teleconverter increases magnification, the Speed Booster has a magnification of x0.71. Because of this, more of the image and more light is able to fall onto the sensor

When you attach a full-frame lens to the adapter, it will give your mirrorless’ APS-C or MFT sensor nearly full-frame coverage out of that lens, while increasing the amount of light hitting the sensor by one stop. So a 50mm f/1.4 effectively becomes a 35mm f/1.0.

Because of the way the adapter works you’ll have to use full-frame lenses if you’re using a Sony NEX body. However, micro four thirds speed boosters are also in the works, and those sensors are small enough that you can attach EF-S or DX lenses to the other side.
The Speed Booster will cost you $600, and should be available starting sometime this month. The EF to E-Mount Speed Booster is already up for pre-order; however, speed boosters should releasing shortly for both Canon EF and Nikon FX lenses adapting to both E-Mount and Micro Four Thirds systems.

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Thanks for sending in the tip, Troy!