Street & Travel Photographers are in love with tiny gear that weights little but still delivers good quality results. Pancake lenses are right at home in this kind of gear category.

Those who look for the smallest possible Cameras with decent image quality should check out our comparison list with 31 Large Sensor Prime Lens Cameras.

With few exemptions pancake lenses are constructed as prime lenses with a single focal lenght. Most of them are based on simple optical formulas and use only few glass elements. This saves weight and allows them to be much thinner than an average sized prime lens. On the other hand, because of the reduction they appear to be more prone to optical aberrations such as fringing. Nonetheless, when used correctly a pancake lens can still provide exceptional, sharp image results!

Together with a nice sized camera body a well picked pancake lens has the potential to become the “everyday”, “always on” lens. Something street and travel photographers seem to long for in the long run.

Pancake Lens definition

To sort out the sheep from the goats we looked at a broad set of lens sizes and decided to call it a pancake lens when it is less than 30mm thick.

Pancake Lens Comparison List

The table below lists over fifty interchangeable pancake lenses, basic characteristics including FoV, Aperture, Available camera mounts, weight, lenght and links to (video) reviews.

• Sort the entries alphabetically or numeric by clicking on a Column Title.
• Filter out results by entering text in the Search Box in the tables top right corner. Enter “Full Frame” and only Full Frame compatible lenses will be displayed.

Manufacturer	Name	FoV	FoV (FF equiv.)	Compatible Sensor	Aperture	Mount(s)	Focus	Weight (g)	Height (mm)	Picture	Reviews	Shop	Lens Features
Asahi Pentax	Takumar Fisheye	18mm	18mm	Full Frame	f/11	M42 (screw mount)	MF	098 g	12 mm		Review on Pentaxforums	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Fixed Focus
Avenon Rebranded as: Kobalux, Pasoptik	Wide	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/3.5	M39 (screw mount)	MF	099 g	17 mm		Review on cameraville
Canon	LTM	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	M39 (screw mount)	MF	160 g	20 mm		Mini Review on 35mmc Review on legacycamera
Canon	EF STM	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Canon EF	AF	260 g	22 mm		Review on Imaging Resource	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Chinon	Auto Revuenon	45mm	45mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Pentax K	MF	110 g	19 mm		Review on Pentaxforums	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Contax Zeiss	Tessar T*	45mm	45mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	M42 (screw mount)	MF	090 g	19 mm		Review on Photography Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Cosina Rebranded as: Vivitar & Porst	Cosinon Auto MC	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.5	Pentax K	MF	110 g	20 mm		Review on Pentaxforums Discussion Thread on MFlenses
Fujifilm	Fujinon XF R	27mm	40mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Fuji X	AF	078 g	23 mm		Review on Findingrange Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Fujifilm	Fujinon XF R WR	27mm	40mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Fuji X	AF	084 g	23 mm
Fujifilm	Fujinon XF	18mm	27mm	APS-C	f/2	Fuji X	AF	116 g	40 mm
Industar	50-2	50mm	50mm	Full Frame	f/3.5	M42 (screw mount)	MF	065 g	25 mm		Review on Vintage Camera Lenses Video Review	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Industrar	69	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	M39 (screw mount)	MF	064 g	21 mm		Review on Imagination-works
Konica	Hexanon AR	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/1.8	Konica AR	MF	140 g	25 mm		Review on The Weekend Lens	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Leica	Summaron	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/5.6	Leica M	MF	195 g	18 mm		Review on macfilos
Leica	Summicron-C	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.0	Leica M	MF	126 g	22 mm		Review on 35 MMC	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Leitz	Hektor	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/6.3	M39 (screw mount)	MF	110 g	13 mm		Info on ldtomei
Minolta	Rokkor-X	45mm	45mm	Full Frame	f/2.0	Minolta MD	MF	125 g	25 mm		Review on ERPhotoreview Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Minolta	Auto Rokkor TD	45mm	45mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Minolta MD	MF	127 g	15 mm		Discussion Thread on Photo.net Photo Examples on Big Big Lens	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
MS Optical	Perar	17mm	17mm	Full Frame	f/4.5	Leica M	MF	060 g	10 mm		Review on Japan Camera Hunter	Buy on Japan Exposures Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
MS Optical	Super Triplet Perar	21mm	21mm	Full Frame	f/4.5	Leica M	MF	055 g	05 mm (folded)		Review on 35 MMC	Buy on Japan Exposures Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
MS Optical	Super Triplet Perar	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/4	Leica M	MF	055 g	05 mm		Review on Leica Liker	Buy on Japan Exposures Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
MS Optical	Apoqualia-G	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/2	Leica M	MF	070 g	05 mm		Review on Japan Camera Hunter	Buy on Japan Exposures Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Neewer	E	28mm	42mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Sony E	AF	102 g	29 mm		Video Review by Arthur R Customer Reviews on Amazon
Nikon	Nikkor	10mm	27mm	CX	f/2.8	Nikon 1	AF	077 g	22 mm		Review on Photographyblog
Nikon Nikkor	Ai-P	45mm	45mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Nikon F	MF	120 g	17 mm		Review on Ken Rockwell	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Olympus	M.Zuiko	17mm	34mm	m4/3	f/2.8	mFT (m4/3)	AF	071 g	22 mm		Review on Photography Blog Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Olympus	Zuiko Digital	25mm	50mm	m4/3	f/2.8	mFT (m4/3)	AF	095 g	24 mm		Review on Imaging Resource Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Olympus	E.Zuiko Auto-S	38mm	38mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Olympus PEN F	MF	070 g	14 mm		Info on Allphotolenses
Olympus	AUTO-S ZUIKO OM	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.0	Olympus OM	MF	140 g	25 mm		Info on Mir Review on Photography Review	Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Panasonic	Lumix G	14mm	28mm	m4/3	f/2.5	mFT (m4/3)	AF	055 g	21 mm		Review on Imaging Resource Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Panasonic	Lumix G ASPH	20mm	40mm	m4/3	f/1.7	mFT (m4/3)	AF	100 g	26 mm		Review on Imaging Resource Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Panasonic	Lumix G Vario	12mm-32mm	24mm-64m	m4/3	f/3.5-f/5.6	mFT (m4/3)	AF	070 g	24 mm		Review on Ephotozine
Panasonic	Lumix G Vario X	14mm-42mm	28mm-48mm	m4/3	f/3.5-f/5.6	mFT (m4/3)	AF	095 g	27 mm		Review on Imaging Ressource
Pentacon	Prakticar MC	50mm	50mm	Full Frame	f/2.4	Praktika B	MF	160 g	27 mm		Discussion on Zeisskonveb (in German)
Pentax	SMC-DA Limited	21mm	31mm	APS-C	f/3.2	Pentax K	AF	119 g	25 mm		Review on Photozone Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Pentax	SMC-M	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Pentax K	MF	110 g	18 mm		Review on Casual Photophile	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Pentax	SMC-DA Limited	40mm	60mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Pentax K	AF	090 g	15 mm		Review on Photozone Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Pentax	SMC-DA XS	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Pentax K	AF	052 g	09 mm		Review on Imaging Resource	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Pentax	SMC-FA Limited	43mm	43mm	Full Frame	f/1.9	Pentax K	AF	155 g	27 mm		Review on Pentax Forums Review on Ephotozine	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Auto Focus Manual Focus
Pentax	SMC-DA Limited	70mm	105mm	APS-C	f/2.4	Pentax K	AF	130 g	26mm		Review on Pentax Forums Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Ricoh	XR Rikenon	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/3.5	Pentax K	MF	055 g	19 mm		Review on Medium		Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Ricoh	XR Rikenon	45mm	45mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Pentax K	MF	052 g	19 mm		Review on mannyquinto
Samsung	EX-F10ANW	10mm	15mm	APS-C	f/3.5	Samsung NX	AF	072 g	26 mm		Imaging Resource Review		Auto Focus Manual Focus
Samsung	EX-W16NB	16mm	24mm	APS-C	f/2.4	Samsung NX	AF	072 g	24 mm		Review on Photozone Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Samsung	EX-W20NB	20mm	30mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Samsung NX	AF	089 g	24 mm		Review on Photozone Review on The Phoblographer	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Samsung	EX-S30NB	30mm	45mm	APS-C	f/2.0	Samsung NX	AF	081 g	22 mm		Review on Photozone Review on Imaging Resource	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Sony	SEL16F28	16mm	24mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Sony E	AF	070 g	23 mm		Review on Imaging Resource Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Sony	SEL20F28	20mm	30mm	APS-C	f/2.8	Sony E	AF	069 g	20 mm		Review on The Phoblographer Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Auto Focus Manual Focus
Sony	PZ OSS	16mm-50mm	24mm-75mm	APS-C	f/3.5-f/5.6	Sony E	AF	116 g	30 mm		Review on Ken Rockwell
Voigtlander	Color Skopar SL II	20mm	20mm	Full Frame	f/3.5	Canon EF Nikon F Pentax K	MF	205 g	29 mm		Review on Photozone Video Review		Aperture Ring Manual Focus
Voigtlander	Color Skopar LTM	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/3.5	M39 (screw mount)	MF	163 g	26 mm		Review on 35mmc
Voigtlander	Color Skopar SL II	28mm	28mm	Full Frame	f/2.8	Canon EF Nikon AI-S	MF	180 g	24 mm		Review on ePhotoZine
Voigtlander	Color Skopar P II	35mm	35mm	Full Frame	f/2.5	Leica M	MF	134 g	22 mm		Review on 35mmc Video Review
Voigtlander	Ultron SL II	40mm	40mm	Full Frame	f/2.0	Canon EF Nikon F Pentax K	MF	200 g	24 mm		Review on F-Stoppers Video Review	Buy on Amazon Find on Ebay	Aperture Ring Manual Focus

Pancake Lens – Best of Summary

Widest & Longest Pancake Focal Lenght

From the comparison data we summed up the number of available focal lengths (Full Frame equiv.) and plotted the chart below

• The pancake lens with the widest focal length is the Samsung EX-F10ANW 10mm f/3.5. The FoV is 15mm (Full Frame equiv.)
  Note it is a Fisheye lens!
• The pancake lens with the longest focal length is the Pentax SMC-DA Limited 70mm f/2.4 is. The FoV is 105mm (Full Frame equiv.)
• The typical field of view for a pancake lens is between 40mm and 45mm – 19 out of 49 pancake lenses provide a “normal” field of view.

Fastest & slowest Pancake Lens Aperture

From the comparison of 49 pancake prime lenses we added up the number of available apertures. and plotted the chart below.

• The pancake lens with the fastest aperture is Panasonic Lumix G ASPH 20mm f/1.7
• The pancake lens with the slowest aperture is Asahi Pentax Takumar Fisheye 18mm f/11
• The typical pancake lens aperture is f/2.8. 21 from 49 pancake prime lenses have a f/2.8 aperture.

Lightest and thinnest Pancake Lens Body

• The lightest pancake lens is the Pentax SMC-DA XS 40mm f/2.8. It weights 52g only.
• The thinnest (non-folded) Pancake Lens is the MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 28mm f/4. Its lenght measures only 5mm.

Pancake lens not listed?

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