A pancake lens is a colloquial term for a flat, thin camera lens assembly (short barrel). The majority are prime lenses of a normal or slightly wider angle of view, but some are zoom lenses.
A pancake lens is a colloquial term for a flat, thin camera lens assembly (short barrel). The majority are prime lenses of a normal or slightly wider angle of view, but some are zoom lenses.
Pancake lenses are primarily valued for providing quality optics in a compact package. The resulting camera and lens assembly may even be small enough to be pocketable, a design feature which is usually impractical with conventional SLR bodies and lens assemblies. Pancake lenses can be very short and flat because they do not need large amounts of optical correction, i.e. extra lens elements.
The problem arises when such lenses have too short a focal length to fit in front of the retractable mirrors used in reflex cameras. In such a situation, a pancake lens focuses in front of, rather than on, the focal plane (film or light sensor) of the camera. This has necessitated the design of retrofocus lenses that refocus the image farther back, which is why such lenses are longer and bulkier than their "pancake" equivalents.
Pancake-style prime lenses are generally simpler to manufacture than pancake zoom lenses like Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 due to the general lack of an internal micromotor and fewer image correcting elements, allowing for a thinner profile. Because of this limitation, pancake zoom lenses are much less common.
While there is no specific size and weight in defining a pancake lens, most are light-weight and no more than a few centimeters in length. This varies greatly depending upon the lens' build quality, focal length, and maximum aperture.
In the 1960s and 1970s the Nikon GN lens was a notable example, while in the 1970s and 1980s pancake lenses were used in compact single lens reflex (SLR) cameras. [1]
Throughout the 2010s, the design has seen a resurgence due to the growth of the mirrorless interchangeable-lens digital camera market. Pancake lenses have increasingly become lighter and feature thinner profiles than years past. An extreme example of this trend would be the Pentax DA 40mm F2.8 XS, released in 2012 and measuring only 9.14 millimetres (0.360 in) long.
A body-cap lens is an extreme type of pancake lens that is designed to both protect the camera internals as a body cap normally would, yet still allow the user to take photos. These lenses are manual focus only and generally have no more than a couple of optical lens elements, no image correcting elements, a very-slow fixed aperture, an extremely thin focusing ring (if any), and a retractable lens element cover. Due to this compromise in design, body-cap lenses generally suffer from numerous image quality issues such as heavy vignetting and poor image sharpness.
Examples of body-cap lenses include the Olympus 9mm F8 Fisheye and Olympus 15mm F8 for Micro Four Thirds and the Fujifilm XM-FL 24mm F8 for Fujifilm X-mount. [2] [3]
Panasonic released a manual-focus lens for the L-Mount that is nearly the size of a body cap, but it does not have a retractable lens cover: the Lumix S 26mm F8.
This is a list of autofocus prime lenses designed for mirrorless cameras that measure less than 30 millimeters in length — limit one per brand and focal length combination.
In 2024, Viltrox released the thinnest autofocus pancake lens ever produced for full-frame sensors: a 28mm F4.5 lens that is only 15mm thick. It is closer in size to a body-cap lens than to other pancake lenses.
| Model | Lens mounts | Focal length [a] | Aperture | Aperture ring | OIS | Weight | Length | Release year | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.0-type ("1-inch") | |||||||||
| Samsung 9mm F3.5 | NX-M | 24mm | f/3.5 | No | No | 31g | 13mm | 2014 | Discontinued |
| Nikon 10mm F2.8 | 1 | 27mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 77g | 22mm | 2011 | Discontinued |
| Samsung 17mm F1.8 | NX-M | 46mm | f/1.8 | No | Yes | 55g | 28mm | 2014 | Discontinued |
| Panasonic 14mm F2.5 II | MFT | 28mm | f/2.5 | No | No | 55g | 21mm | 2014 | Current |
| Olympus 17mm F2.8 | MFT | 34mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 71g | 22mm | 2009 | Discontinued |
| Panasonic 20mm F1.7 II | MFT | 40mm | f/1.7 | No | No | 87g | 26mm | 2013 | Current |
| Samsung 10mm F3.5 Fisheye | NX | 15mm | f/3.5 | iFn | No | 72g | 26mm | 2013 | Discontinued |
| Sony 16mm F2.8 | E | 24mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 67g | 23mm | 2010 | Current |
| Samsung 16mm F2.4 | NX | 24mm | f/2.4 | iFn | No | 90g | 24mm | 2011 | Discontinued |
| Leica 18mm F2.8 | L | 27mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 80g | 21mm | 2017 | Discontinued |
| Sony 20mm F2.8 | E | 30mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 69g | 20mm | 2013 | Current |
| Samsung 20mm F2.8 | NX | 30mm | f/2.8 | iFn | No | 89g | 25mm | 2010 | Discontinued |
| Canon 22mm F2 | EF-M | 35mm | f/2.0 | No | No | 105g | 24mm | 2012 | Current |
| Nikon 26mm F2.8 [b] | Z | 39mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 125g | 24mm | 2023 | Current |
| Fujifilm 27mm F2.8 WR | X | 41mm | f/2.8 | Yes | No | 84g | 23mm | 2021 | Current |
| TTArtisan 27mm F2.8 | E, X, Z | 41mm | f/2.8 | Yes | No | 88g | 29mm | 2022 | Current |
| Viltrox 28mm F4.5 | E | 42mm | f/4.5 | No | No | 60g | 15mm | 2024 | Current |
| Canon 28mm F2.8 [b] | RF | 42mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 120g | 25mm | 2023 | Current |
| Samsung 30mm F2 | NX | 45mm | f/2.0 | No | No | 85g | 22mm | 2010 | Discontinued |
| Nikon 26mm F2.8 | Z | 26mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 125g | 24mm | 2023 | Current |
| Viltrox 28mm F4.5 | E | 28mm | f/4.5 | No | No | 60g | 15mm | 2024 | Current |
| Canon 28mm F2.8 | RF | 28mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 120g | 25mm | 2023 | Current |
This is a list of autofocus zoom lenses designed for mirrorless cameras that measure less than 33 millimeters in length.
| Model | Lens mounts | Focal length [a] | Aperture | OIS | PZ [c] | Weight | Length | Release year | Availability | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wide | Tele | Wide | Tele | ||||||||
1.0-type ("1-inch") | |||||||||||
| Samsung 9-27mm F3.5-5.6 | NX-M | 24mm | 73mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | No | 73g | 30mm | 2014 | Discontinued |
| Nikon 10-30mm F3.5-5.6 PD | 1 | 27mm | 81mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | Yes | 85g | 28mm | 2014 | Discontinued |
| Nikon 11-27.5mm F3.5-5.6 | 1 | 30mm | 74mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | No | No | 80g | 31mm | 2012 | Discontinued |
| Panasonic 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 | MFT | 24mm | 64mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | No | 70g | 24mm | 2013 | Current |
| Olympus 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ | MFT | 28mm | 84mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | No | Yes | 93g | 23mm | 2014 | Current |
| Panasonic PZ 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 | MFT | 28mm | 84mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | Yes | 95g | 27mm | 2011 | Current |
| Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 | E | 24mm | 75mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | Yes | 116g | 30mm | 2012 | Current |
| Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 II | E | 24mm | 75mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | Yes | 107g | 31mm | 2024 | Current |
| Samsung 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 | NX | 24mm | 75mm | f/3.5 | f/5.6 | Yes | Yes | 111g | 31mm | 2014 | Discontinued |
| Nikon 16-50mm F3.5-6.3 | Z | 24mm | 75mm | f/3.5 | f/6.3 | Yes | No | 135g | 32mm | 2019 | Current |
This is a list of autofocus prime lenses designed for mirrorless cameras that measure between 30 and 38 millimeters in length.
| Model | Lens mounts | Focal length [a] | Aperture | Aperture ring | OIS | Weight | Length | Release year | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.0-type ("1-inch") | |||||||||
| Nikon 18.5mm F1.8 | 1 | 50mm | f/1.8 | No | No | 70g | 36mm | 2012 | Discontinued |
| Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7 | MFT | 30mm | f/1.7 | No | No | 115g | 36mm | 2014 | Current |
| DJI 15mm F1.7 | MFT | 30mm | f/1.7 | No | No | 115g | 36mm | 2015 | Discontinued |
| Olympus 17mm F1.8 | MFT | 34mm | f/1.8 | No | No | 120g | 36mm | 2012 | Current |
| Fujifilm 18mm F2 | X | 27mm | f/2.0 | Yes | No | 116g | 34mm | 2012 | Current |
| Samyang 24mm F2.8 [d] | E | 24mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 93g | 37mm | 2018 | Current |
| Samyang 35mm F2.8 [d] | E | 35mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 86g | 33mm | 2017 | Current |
| Sony Zeiss 35mm F2.8 | E | 35mm | f/2.8 | No | No | 120g | 37mm | 2013 | Current |
 |
| Name | Type | Format | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canon EF 40mm F2.8 STM | Prime | Full frame | 22.8 millimetres (0.90 in) |
| Canon EF-S 24mm F2.8 STM | Prime | APS-C | 22.9 millimetres (0.90 in) |
| Industar-22 51mm F3.5 | Prime | Full frame | 21.0 millimetres (0.83 in) |
| Industar-50 52mm F3.5 | Prime | Full frame | 20.0 millimetres (0.79 in) |
| Industar-69 28mm F2.8 | Prime | Half frame | 13.5 millimetres (0.53 in) |
| Konica Hexanon AR 40mm F1.8 | Prime | Full frame | 27.0 millimetres (1.06 in) |
| Neewer E 28mm F2.8 | Prime | APS-C | 29.0 millimetres (1.14 in) |
| Nikon 45mm F2.8 AI P | Prime | Full frame | 17.0 millimetres (0.67 in) |
| Nikon 50mm F1.8 E AIS | Prime | Full frame | 28.0 millimetres (1.10 in) |
| Nikon Auto GN Nikkor 45mm F2.8 | Prime | Full frame | 20.0 millimetres (0.79 in) |
| Olympus 25mm F2.8 ED | Prime | Four Thirds | 23.5 millimetres (0.93 in) |
| Olympus E. Zuiko Auto-S 38mm F2.8 | Prime | Half frame | 14.0 millimetres (0.55 in) |
| Olympus Zuiko Auto-S 40mm F2 | Prime | Full frame | 25.0 millimetres (0.98 in) |
| Pentax DA 21mm F3.2 | Prime | APS-C | 25.0 millimetres (0.98 in) |
| Pentax DA 40mm F2.8 | Prime | APS-C | 15.0 millimetres (0.59 in) |
| Pentax DA 40mm F2.8 XS | Prime | APS-C | 9.14 millimetres (0.360 in) |
| Pentax DA 70mm F2.4 | Prime | APS-C | 25.4 millimetres (1.00 in) |
| Pentax FA 43mm F1.9 | Prime | Full frame | 27.0 millimetres (1.06 in) |
| Voigtlander 20mm F3.5 Color Skopar SL II | Prime | Full frame | 28.6 millimetres (1.13 in) |
| Voigtlander 40mm F2.0 Ultron SL II | Prime | Full frame | 24.5 millimetres (0.96 in) |
The term pancake lens also refers to a specific type of image forming lens used in virtual reality goggles. This type of lens uses the principle that circular polarization is flipped at reflections at optical boundaries to lengthen the light path across the lens. This enables shortening the distance between the eye and the screen, therefore making the goggles more compact. [4]
A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.
The Four Thirds System is a standard created by Olympus and Eastman Kodak for digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) design and development. Four Thirds refers to both the size of the image sensor (4/3") as well as the aspect ratio (4:3). The Olympus E-1 was the first Four Thirds DSLR, announced and released in 2003. In 2008, Olympus and Panasonic began publicizing the Micro Four Thirds system, a mirrorless camera system which used the same sensor size; by eliminating the reflex mirror, the Micro Four Thirds cameras were significantly smaller than the Four Thirds cameras. The first Micro Four Thirds cameras were released in 2009 and the final Four Thirds cameras were released in 2010; by that time, approximately 15 Four Thirds camera models had been released by Olympus and Panasonic in total. The Four Thirds system was quietly discontinued in 2017, six years after the final cameras were released.
An autofocus (AF) optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus on an automatically or manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication. Autofocus methods are distinguished as active, passive or hybrid types.
A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that combines the optics and mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor.
Sigma Corporation is a Japanese company, manufacturing cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan. Although Sigma produces several camera models, the company is best known for producing high-quality lenses and other accessories that are compatible with the cameras produced by other companies.
A kit lens is a "starter" lens which can be sold with an interchangeable-lens camera such as a mirrorless camera or DSLR. It is generally an inexpensive lens priced at the lowest end of the manufacturer's range so as to not add much to a camera kit's price. The kit consists of the camera body, the lens, and various accessories usually necessary to get started. A kit lens can be sold by itself outside of a kit, particularly the ones that are moderately expensive; for instance a kit lens included in a prosumer camera kit is often marketed as an upgrade lens for a consumer camera. In addition, retailers often have promotions of standalone low-end camera bodies without the lens, or a package that bundles a body with one or two more expensive lenses.
A bridge camera is a type of camera that fills the niche between relatively simple point-and-shoot cameras and interchangeable-lens cameras such as mirrorless cameras and single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs). They are often comparable in size and weight to the smallest digital SLRs (DSLR), but lack interchangeable lenses, and almost all digital bridge cameras lack an optical viewfinder system. The phrase "bridge camera" has been in use at least since the 1980s, and continues to be used with digital cameras. The term was originally used to refer to film cameras which "bridged the gap" between point-and-shoot cameras and SLRs.
Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure.
Lens speed is the maximum aperture diameter, or minimum f-number, of a photographic lens. A lens with a larger than average maximum aperture is called a "fast lens" because it can achieve the same exposure as an average lens with a faster shutter speed. Conversely, a smaller maximum aperture is "slow" because it delivers less light intensity and requires a slower (longer) shutter speed.
This article details lensesfor single-lens reflex and digital single-lens reflex cameras. The emphasis is on modern lenses for 35 mm film SLRs and for "full-frame" DSLRs with sensor sizes less than or equal to 35 mm.
The Micro Four Thirds system is a standard released by Olympus Imaging Corporation and Panasonic in 2008, for the design and development of mirrorless interchangeable lens digital cameras, camcorders and lenses. Camera bodies are available from Blackmagic, DJI, JVC, Kodak, Olympus, OM System, Panasonic, Sharp, Logitech Mevo and Xiaomi. MFT lenses are produced by Cosina Voigtländer, Kowa, Kodak, Mitakon, Olympus, Panasonic, Samyang, Sharp, Sigma, SLR Magic, Tamron, Tokina, TTArtisan, Veydra, Xiaomi, Laowa, Yongnuo, Zonlai, Lensbaby, Venus Optics and 7artisans amongst others.
This article discusses the cameras – mainly 35 mm SLRs – manufactured by Pentax Ricoh Imaging Corp. and its predecessors, Pentax Corporation and Asahi Optical Co., Ltd.. Pentax must not be confused with Pentax 6x7 or Pentax 67 which are 120 medium format 6x7cm film cameras.
Pentax lenses were first badged as Takumar. The Takumar branded lenses were well respected for their line of Super Takumar, which designated the high performance coating applied to the lens as well as the optical formulas used to make them. The majority of the industry at the time was still satisfied with the variations of the "plumb" coating process and later some of the two and three layer processes as well. Asahi Pentax soon introduced the Takumar Super-Multi-Coated line of lenses which was a 7 layer process as the industry had just caught up with similar forms of 5 layer multi-coated optics. Eventually Asahi Optical and Pentax slowly shifted much of their lens production under the Pentax name and transitioned some of the successful designs that were first introduced under the Takumar name to use Asahi/Pentax badging as well as beginning to use the "smc" abbreviation. Eventually the Asahi partnership disappeared and the Pentax name became solely used. Pentax lenses saw many feature changes to answer the market, such as: incorporating "Auto-Aperture" with the M42, the light weight and compactness with the 'M' series, Aperture Priority overrides with the 'A' series, and Auto-Focus with the 'F' series. Modern Pentax lenses for digital SLR cameras have seen the elimination of the aperture ring completely as found on Pentax DA and D-FA series lenses. They use the Pentax KAF mount. All of these lenses have an autofocus feature, either operated from the camera body or from an internal SDM motor. Pentax compatible lenses are also made by third-party companies.
The Samsung NX-mount is the lens mount used on NX series mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras by Samsung. The mount was first implemented in the Samsung NX10, and Samsung initially referred to the NX line as 'hybrid digital cameras', citing their combination of attributes of both DSLR and compact cameras.
A mirrorless camera is a digital camera which, in contrast to DSLRs, does not use a mirror in order to ensure that the image presented to the photographer through the viewfinder is identical to that taken by the camera. They have come to replace DSLRs, which have historically dominated interchangeable lens cameras. Other terms include electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens (EVIL) cameras and compact system cameras (CSCs).
The Sony α NEX-5 is a digital camera launched on 11 May 2010. It is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with the body size of a larger model fairly compact point-and-shoot camera with a larger sensor size (APS-C) comparable to that of some digital single-lens reflex cameras. Its major competitors in the market are the cameras based on the micro 4/3 standard created by Panasonic and Olympus, and a few low end Canon, Nikon, and even Sony α DSLRs. The NEX-5 shoots 14.2 megapixel stills and has a 7 frame/s continuous shotmode. It has the capability to shoot 1920×1080i at 60 frame/s in AVCHD or 1440×1080p at 30 frame/s in MPEG4. The NEX-5 was replaced by the 16 megapixel NEX-5N in August 2011.
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 is a digital mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that adheres to the Micro Four Thirds System (MFT) design standard developed by Olympus and Panasonic. It was announced by Panasonic in March 2010 along with the Lumix DMC-G10. The G2 was introduced as the successor to the Lumix DMC-G1 camera, with upgrades such as 720p high-definition video recording capability in AVCHD Lite and Motion JPEG formats.
The Fujifilm X-mount is a lens mount for Fujifilm interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras in its X-series, designed for 23.6mm x 15.6mm APS-C sensors.
Zuiko is a brand of optical lenses made by Olympus Corporation that was used up to and into the Four Thirds system era. The name Zuiko (瑞光) means 'Holy Light', using a character from the Mizuho Optic Research Laboratory (瑞穂光学研究所), where the lens was developed, and a character from Takachiho Corporation (高千穂製作所), which would eventually become the Olympus Corporation.
The Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS is a variable maximum aperture standard zoom lens for the Sony E-mount, announced by Sony on September 12, 2012, and released January 2013. The lens is often bundled with various Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras as a "kit lens".