After falling out of fashion for a while, all of a sudden we've been hit with a wave of pancake lenses.
In the last few months we've seen the Kase AF 24mm f/3.8, the Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 Evo, the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 arriving in new mounts, along with the “most requested lens of all time”, the Lensbaby Twist 28.
Right now it feels like everybody (well, except Nikon) is making pancake primes for mirrorless systems – but why is this happening all of a sudden? The answer, I think, is simple: compact cameras.
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Mike and I tackled this subject on the latest Bokeh Face podcast (embedded below), and it really feels that the wildfire-like popularity of compact and point-and-shoot cameras has made everyone hungry for smaller setups and pocketable lens profiles.
Tiny Micro Four Thirds cameras like the Olympus PEN E-P7 can be paired with lenses like the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 II or the Olympus Fisheye Body Cap 9mm f/8 and instantly become smaller than compact cameras.
Slap a Samyang Remaster Slim on Sony's A6700 and you've got a pocket-friendly APS-C camera. Heck, add the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 to the Lumix S9 and you've got a full-frame powerhouse that's the same size as the Lumix L10 compact!
ABOVE: Watch our pancake lens discussion (teed up to the start of the chat)
Mike made a point about the Fujifilm X-E5 which, paired with the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR, effectively gives you a setup the size of the Fujifilm X100 VI compact – but one that also enables you to change lenses.
"When the X-E5 came out, I was like – aww yeah – X100 VI? Who gives a darn about that any more? That's redundant now, as far as I'm concerned, cause you can basically have it as an interchangeable lens camera."
If you think this is all coincidence, and that nobody has noticed the trend, you'd be mistaken.
"The combination of a pancake lens and the camera body creates a very elegant package. We therefore believe there is potential for a future range of pancake lenses,” said Fujifilm's Jun Watanabe, head of product planning for the X series.
In other words, pancake lenses are here to stay. All we need now are more similarly small mirrorless bodies – and for Nikon to learn a couple of pancake recipes.
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