In another article about Blackmagic releasing test footage for the surprising Super 35mm Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, we speculated that the Panasonic S1H is likely its nearest competitor. But with a full frame sensor, the S1H might have had a slight advantage when it comes to the field of view. Well, fast on the heals of the BMPCC6K hitting the market, LucAdapters closes that gap announcing a MagicBooster lens adapter that brings full frame to the Pocket Cinema Camera's 6K sensor. But when will it be here?
The Magicbooster is not an adapter ring that attaches to the camera body, but is a group of lenses that fits inside the camera, becoming totally invisible to the naked eye, keeping all the original camera controls. In this way there are no delays or compatibility problems.
While not an adapter per se, the Magicbooster fits deep inside the BMPCC6K, in between the sensor and the lens mount. It reduces the focal length, giving users a full frame field of view, without affecting the speed of the lens mounted to the camera. In fact, it gives those lenses a slight boost in speed of about a stop. LucAdapters also claims a 1.1 crop factor and full compatibility with all Canon full frame EF mount lenses. Luc says that the MagicBooster will not benefit APS-C lenses, however, which will cause some vignetting at the corners of the image due to the increased image crop.
Users install it by removing the mounting ring, and the IR filter glass (using the filter removal suction cup), then drop in and screw taut the LucAdapter MagicBooster and then replace the IR filter. Then screw the mounting ring back on. Very simple, and not a lot of tiny parts to keep track of, but you may end up with a few extra parts at the end since the MagicBooster will replace them in the camera. No word on if this would void your warranty, though, so I would have a professional do it.
Check out the video below:
To be fair, the video above shows how to install a Magic Booster onto a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro, but the design concept is essentially the same. Price for the LucAdapter MagicBooster is about $783 (USD) / €699, but DIYPhotography reports that the "current price" is about $684 / €610, or 12% off.
I was unable to confirm this, however, since clicking on the link leads to LucAdapter's website which looks like it's being redesigned and has no information on it at the moment. Right now, the best source for information looks to be LucAdapter's Facebook page, which also references a draft Kickstarter campaign. But even that is listed as only being for "feedback" right now.
If I had to guess, LucAdapters was just as excited as we were about the BMPCC6K and decided to put out a quick teaser that they would be working on a MagicBooster for the BMPCC6K. If that's the case, I don't know if they've got any engineering done yet. I'm OK with that, though, since they have a track record with Blackmagic and the URSA Mini.
Only time will tell. But if it's just a simple adapter redesign, it could be pretty soon.
Source: DIYPhotography
