Metabones Says its New EF-X Adapters Deliver Autofocus Performance Never Seen Before

After a long quiet period, Metabones is back with its second big announcement in just a couple of months. This time, Metabones unveiled refreshed versions of its EF-X Speed Boosters and Smart Adapters.

In June, Metabones unveiled upgraded EF-MFT adapters that promise near-native autofocus performance. In a similar spirit, Metabones claims its new EF-X adapters; Metabones says that its TruePDAF Technology delivers phase-detect autofocus performance “to a level never seen before with an adapted lens on a Fujifilm camera.”

Metabones has announced four new products: the EF-X mount T Speed Booster Ultra 0.71x II+, EF-X mount T Smart Adapter II+, EF-X mount T Cine Speed Booster Ultra 0.71x II+, and the EF-X mount T Cine Smart Adapter II+.

TruePDAF was initially introduced on the upgraded EF-MFT adapters released earlier this summer, and it relies upon a library of lens profile data of over 100 Canon EF-mount lenses. When used on a Fujifilm X Series camera with PDAF, including X-H series, X-T2 and newer, and X-Pro2 and newer, a TruePDAF-compatible lens delivers optimized phase-detect autofocus. Compatible lenses are listed on Metabones’ website.

As Metabones is quick to note, though, a lens does not need to be one of the TruePDAF ones to benefit from the new adapters. Other lenses can still take advantage of PDAF on Fujifilm cameras, they just aren’t guaranteed to be as quick.

As for the four new adapters, it is worth taking a closer look at the Cine Speed Booster Ultra one in particular. This adapter uses a five-element, four-group optical design to reduce the crop factor of mirrorless Fujifilm X cameras from 1.5 times to 1.07 times, thanks to its 0.71x magnification factor.

“Speed Booster Ultra makes very effective use of exotic materials at the furthest limit of glassmaking technology, and as a result is well corrected for use with virtually all full-frame SLR lenses regardless of exit pupil distance,” Metabones explains.

“Thus, the Speed Booster Ultra performs extremely well with professional-grade f/2.8 zoom lenses such as the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms by Canon to produce 17-50mm f/2 and 50-142mm f/2 high-speed zooms, respectively. Similarly, high-speed fixed focal length lenses such as a 50mm f/1.2 will be transformed into a 35.5mm f/0.9 lens with excellent contrast and resolution from the center all the way to the edges of the image.”

The company adds that Fujifilm’s industry-leading 40-megapixel APS-C cameras will take the best advantage of its adapter’s quality.

The Metabones EF-X T mount T Cine Speed Booster Ultra 0.71x II+ is the most expensive of the new quartet, arriving in September for $699. The EF-X mount T Speed Booster Ultra 0.71x II+ is $649, and it lacks the Cine version’s positive-locking mechanism. Metabones says this mechanism prevents the lens from moving during focusing or zooming.

The EF-X mount T Smart Adapter II+ and EF-X mount T Cine Smart Adapter II+ will be $399 and $449, respectively, and lack any optics. They are just smart adapters and don’t boost speed or magnify. As with the Speed Boosters, the Cine version has a positive-lock mechanism.

Users with the original Metabones EF-X adapters can contact the company to learn about an upgrade path to the new II+ version. This upgrade requires swapping out an internal circuit.

Image creditsMetabones