Back at NAB 2015 Aputure previewed an in production lens adapter (Micro Four Thirds to Canon EF lens) that is also a speed booster and wireless follow focus. It was originally called “DEC Pro” and we had the pleasure of testing the now called “DEC LensRegain” upfront and are very impressed by how it performs.
Compared to the original DEC the LensRegain is a great development. The main difference is the increase in aperture by 1 stop thanks to the x0.75 focal reduction. What does that mean? The field of view is wider which is useful when shooting with wide angle lenses and the depth of field will be shallower. Especially when it comes to using the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and the Panasonic GH4 those two things have always been a big downside.
The follow focus works great especially with Canon L lenses like the 24-105mm F/4 or the 70-200mm F/2.8. So far all lenses could be controlled with the DEC LensRegain. Focusing worked as well as the control of the aperture/t-stop. Because of the focal reduction the aperture will be displayed differently. Instead of F/4 it will show F/2.8.The lenses need to be electronic and need to have auto focus. The focus pulls are very smooth and can be done fast or slow depending on how hard the trigger on the grip is being pushed to the left or right. The A and B button on the grip and can be used to set marks and to pull focus precisely. The red start start/stop button is a record button. To use it the control box needs to be connected with the camera via a LANC cable to trigger the recording. T-stop, focal length and battery life are displayed on the OLED screen of the grip. When zooming with a zoom lens the displays almost show the change in mm in real time.
The grip and the control box can be charged via Micro USB. The lens adapter itself doesn’t need to be charged because it’s connected with the control box on its left side.
The control box has a display on the side to show the current focal length in mm and the aperture. Below is a picture of the control box.
Currently the DEC LensRegain can only be used on MFT cameras and with Canon EF lenses but a Sony E-mount to EF lens adapter is in development.
How does the DEC LensRegain compare to a Metabones Speed Booster? We use the dedicated BMPCC MFT to Canon EF lens Speed Booster adapter from Metabones almost every day and we couldn’t imagine not using it until we tried the DEC LensRegain. It’s the same tool but even better or let’s say more versatile because it also can pull focus which might not be a big deal for some people but it is for us. It makes it much more interesting than other lens adapters. The only downside of the LensRegain is that the grip is necessary to change the aperture because it can’t be changed on the camera itself. Also the aperture is not displayed on the camera’s screen but on the screen of the control box and the grip. But that would only be an issue if you don’t want to pull focus anyway which is not very likely to happen.
Below are the specifications from Aputure:
Written by Moritz Janisch