Nikon has come out with the first real pancake lens for FF mirrorless.  It's considerably smaller than anything available for FE mount (though the Samyang 35mm f2.8 comes close). It seems like it would make a good companion for a compact body such as the A7C to give a pocketable kit.It is also a bit lower in price than Sony's 24mm 2.8G.

I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshots

Would love this lens. Would slightly prefer a 28 to a 26, but would jump on this at that price (depending on performance).I saw that Tamron patented a 35/3.5 pancake - hoping that will come out this year and be amazing...

dth29 wrote:I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshotsIt may not have the ultimate in sharpness, but the Nikkor version is certainly not bad.  As far as image quality is concerned, this can be used in dim conditions with high ISO, e.g., for street photography.   It would give much better image quality in terms of detail and noise than any smartphone.

SamKnopf wrote:dth29 wrote:I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshotsIt may not have the ultimate in sharpness, but the Nikkor version is certainly not bad. As far as image quality is concerned, this can be used in dim conditions with high ISO, e.g., for street photography. It would give much better image quality in terms of detail and noise than any smartphone.It apparently really noisy to focus though according to Rocco’s review.  I know as I shoot Nikon as well and browse those forums it is causing much debate on what it offers over their own 28mm 2.8 on Z mount.  Other than size and some IQ improvements.  Cost is so high though!!

Sony has two pancake lens already. They are E mount, but APS-C, so you can use them, but they will auto-crop - still, you’ll get 26Mp on an A7RV, or 21Mp on an A1 - probably fine for a snapshot.I don’t know what happens if you disable the crop - maybe bad vignetting? If you are keen you could try.

No.

AlephNull wrote:Sony has two pancake lens already. They are E mount, but APS-C, so you can use them, but they will auto-crop - still, you’ll get 26Mp on an A7RV, or 21Mp on an A1 - probably fine for a snapshot.I don’t know what happens if you disable the crop - maybe bad vignetting? If you are keen you could try.But many people have only 24mp cameras, and don't want a cropped 10mp photo from an APS-C lens. The most fitting body for a pancake lens is the compact A7C, which is only 24mp.The fact that Sony already has two APS-C pancake lenses wouldn't justify a decision not to make an FF one. Those lenses were introduced before FF cameras existed.  Why should customers who bought an FF camera be told to buy an APS-C lens if they want a pancake?

Never heard of such concern over a half an inch and a few feathers in weight.

SamKnopf wrote:dth29 wrote:I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshotsIt may not have the ultimate in sharpness, but the Nikkor version is certainly not bad. As far as image quality is concerned, this can be used in dim conditions with high ISO, e.g., for street photography.if that was the priority you could get the samyang 24/1.8, for $400.they both have crappy stepper motors, which seems to be standard at this low end.that samyang 35/2.8 is $239 (!) at b&h right now, and it only weighs 86g, although when they say "limited supply at this price" it usually means returns that might be defective in some way.i see no reason for e-mount to try and duplicate the weak overpriced lens options that z-mount has.

If I was a Nikon shooter, I'd buy their 26mm and their 40mm because that is what is available for Nikon.As I am a Sony shooter I have bought the 24mm & 40mm G's.The fact they aren't pancakes doesn't bother me.  They are very light as it is but not being pancakes also allows the aperture ring and function button  and I use both.So overall I prefer Sony's offering and if were using Nikon I'd be envious of the aperture ring.  I think you can configure the control ring on the Nikon to function as an aperture ring but there is not on-lens aperture scale so that makes it less useful.Then of course 26mm isn't quite as wide as 24mm so there is that as well.

MILC man wrote:SamKnopf wrote:dth29 wrote:I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshotsIt may not have the ultimate in sharpness, but the Nikkor version is certainly not bad. As far as image quality is concerned, this can be used in dim conditions with high ISO, e.g., for street photography.if that was the priority you could get the samyang 24/1.8, for $400.they both have crappy stepper motors, which seems to be standard at this low end.that samyang 35/2.8 is $239 (!) at b&h right now, and it only weighs 86g, although when they say "limited supply at this price" it usually means returns that might be defective in some way.i see no reason for e-mount to try and duplicate the weak overpriced lens options that z-mount has.I already have a Samyang 24/1.8.  It's a pretty good lens, and it's not huge, but it's not really pocketable.   There are some occasions (e.g., weddings) where I like to bring along a camera, without attempting to look like a pro and carry around a huge bag with me.  A wide angle pancake lens that can be slipped into a suit coat pocket can come in handy in such a situation to complement whatever zoom or longer lens I bring.

SamKnopf wrote:AlephNull wrote:Sony has two pancake lens already. They are E mount, but APS-C, so you can use them, but they will auto-crop - still, you’ll get 26Mp on an A7RV, or 21Mp on an A1 - probably fine for a snapshot.I don’t know what happens if you disable the crop - maybe bad vignetting? If you are keen you could try.But many people have only 24mp cameras, and don't want a cropped 10mp photo from an APS-C lens. The most fitting body for a pancake lens is the compact A7C, which is only 24mp.The fact that Sony already has two APS-C pancake lenses wouldn't justify a decision not to make an FF one. Those lenses were introduced before FF cameras existed. Why should customers who bought an FF camera be told to buy an APS-C lens if they want a pancake?Who says that people are being "told" to buy an APS-C lens? I am just pointing out that Sony already has two, and you can go buy one right now if you want, and it will work. You can even try it as a full-frame lens (turn the Super-35 setting from Auto to Off) - you might get a cool vintage vignetting effect. Give it a try!Sure, you can whine about the crop giving you "only" 10Mp (my first DSLR had an 8Mp sensor; my first digital camera had a 2Mp sensor = 10Mp is plenty), but if you are using a pancake lens, you cannot be expecting huge amounts of detail anyway, so does it matter if the output is 10Mp?Sony's current focus (pun intended) is on high quality lenses, and I applaud that. Their lens design teams are turning out some superb lenses, and I don't see why Sony would want to waste one of those teams building a cheap pancake lens. As Roger C on LensRentals pointed out, it takes years for a team to take a lens design from concept to release - wasting the efforts of a highly skilled team for years so you can have a full frame pancake lens seems like a poor use of resources when they could be building something more worthwhile.

I'm happy enough with the 24/2.8 G tbh, IF someone is gonna make an E mount pancake I'd like something closer to a 30-40mm FL... But I dunno if wider is somehow easier because of the flange distance involved or whatever.Right now I pair the 24/2.8 with the Samyang 45/1.8 or a smaller TTArtisan 50/2, the 40/2.5 G wasn't that much smaller than the SY in order to make the speed sacrifice worthwhilefor me(it's sealed and better built but has no rendering advantage that I could see either). I'd be interested in an f2.8 or even an f3.5 pancake if it was an actual <1" pancake that makes it easier to slip the camera into some pockets and tight waist packs.That would easily sub in for my 45/1.8 in my most compact kit and then I could maybe bring the 75/1.8 or 11/4.5 along with said pancake and the 24/2.8. A 24 or 26 pancake w/o the 24G's feature set might not move the needle much for me but that's very subjective.

Mike Arledge wrote:SamKnopf wrote:dth29 wrote:I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshotsIt may not have the ultimate in sharpness, but the Nikkor version is certainly not bad. As far as image quality is concerned, this can be used in dim conditions with high ISO, e.g., for street photography. It would give much better image quality in terms of detail and noise than any smartphone.It apparently really noisy to focus though according to Rocco’s review. I know as I shoot Nikon as well and browse those forums it is causing much debate on what it offers over their own 28mm 2.8 on Z mount. Other than size and some IQ improvements. Cost is so high though!!Most pancakes that use unit focus (a majority of modern ones) are like that, they're movingalltheir elements together in order to focus so it's inherently noisier and slower but it seems to help with the optical design. Other small-ish lenses that retain fast AF either seem to sacrifice some speed or size, or both, which makes sense logically.

SamKnopf wrote:MILC man wrote:SamKnopf wrote:dth29 wrote:I wouldn't be interested as you have to sacrifice IQ. I would rather use my smartphone for snapshotsIt may not have the ultimate in sharpness, but the Nikkor version is certainly not bad. As far as image quality is concerned, this can be used in dim conditions with high ISO, e.g., for street photography.if that was the priority you could get the samyang 24/1.8, for $400.they both have crappy stepper motors, which seems to be standard at this low end.that samyang 35/2.8 is $239 (!) at b&h right now, and it only weighs 86g, although when they say "limited supply at this price" it usually means returns that might be defective in some way.i see no reason for e-mount to try and duplicate the weak overpriced lens options that z-mount has.I already have a Samyang 24/1.8. It's a pretty good lens, and it's not huge, but it's not really pocketable. There are some occasions (e.g., weddings) where I like to bring along a camera, without attempting to look like a pro and carry around a huge bag with me. A wide angle pancake lens that can be slipped into a suit coat pocket can come in handy in such a situation to complement whatever zoom or longer lens I bring.I love pancakes myself, I already mentioned I'd be in favor of one/more on E mount (tho I'd prefer something less wide, 28mm at least)... That being said, what do you do with the zoom in that kinda circumstance? After you take the pancake out of your pocket and mount it I mean, do you just hold the zoom with the other hand?I've taken an ILC to a few weddings and most of the time I'd just slap a single wide/normal lens on it and keep it on all night even if it isn't wide enough for some group shots... So I've used the PL25 on M4/3 and the Samyang 45/1.8 on E mount, might go for the 35GM for an upcoming one since I'm closer to the family but we'll see.I just dunno where I'd stick even those smaller lenses (let alone a zoom) if I slip on a pancake I'd pocketed. Now if we had a couple to pick from... (eg M4/3 14/2.5 or 12-32 + 20/1.7, one of the things that originally drew me to ILCs).

travelinbri_74 wrote:Would love this lens. Would slightly prefer a 28 to a 26, but would jump on this at that price (depending on performance).I saw that Tamron patented a 35/3.5 pancake - hoping that will come out this year and be amazing...I'd be all over a 28 and would replace my Sony 24/2.8 G with it, a 26 might tempt me less if it makes more optical sacrifices, the 35/3.5 interests me greatly since it'd almost replicate the M4/3 pancake I've enjoyed using the most. If the 35/3.5 has a good MFD I'd preorder the thing despite already having a 35/1.4, 45/1.8 & 50/2 (mf).

AlephNull wrote:SamKnopf wrote:AlephNull wrote:Sony has two pancake lens already. They are E mount, but APS-C, so you can use them, but they will auto-crop - still, you’ll get 26Mp on an A7RV, or 21Mp on an A1 - probably fine for a snapshot.I don’t know what happens if you disable the crop - maybe bad vignetting? If you are keen you could try.But many people have only 24mp cameras, and don't want a cropped 10mp photo from an APS-C lens. The most fitting body for a pancake lens is the compact A7C, which is only 24mp.The fact that Sony already has two APS-C pancake lenses wouldn't justify a decision not to make an FF one. Those lenses were introduced before FF cameras existed. Why should customers who bought an FF camera be told to buy an APS-C lens if they want a pancake?Who says that people are being "told" to buy an APS-C lens? I am just pointing out that Sony already has two, and you can go buy one right now if you want, and it will work. You can even try it as a full-frame lens (turn the Super-35 setting from Auto to Off) - you might get a cool vintage vignetting effect. Give it a try!Sure, you can whine about the crop giving you "only" 10Mp (my first DSLR had an 8Mp sensor; my first digital camera had a 2Mp sensor = 10Mp is plenty), but if you are using a pancake lens, you cannot be expecting huge amounts of detail anyway, so does it matter if the output is 10Mp?Sony's current focus (pun intended) is on high quality lenses, and I applaud that. Their lens design teams are turning out some superb lenses, and I don't see why Sony would want to waste one of those teams building a cheap pancake lens. As Roger C on LensRentals pointed out, it takes years for a team to take a lens design from concept to release - wasting the efforts of a highly skilled team for years so you can have a full frame pancake lens seems like a poor use of resources when they could be building something more worthwhile.It's not that black and white IMO, the Nikon 26/2.8 pancake is being billed as a more premium option and going for nearly the same price as the so called cupcake Sony 24/2.8, it just has a slightly different design goal... Sacrificing some AF speed to get the length <1", some people would prefer one or the other but it wouldn't be a drastic change of strategy for Sony (other than the fact that they've prioritized AF speed on everything lately, down to kit lenses).

mferencz wrote:Never heard of such concern over a half an inch and a few feathers in weight.I can see why people don't think it matters one iota, and I can also see why that 1/2 is everything for others. It makes the camera much easier to squeeze into some small and tight bags or pockets when the lens length is much closer to 1" than 2", even if in larger bags it's totally moot. Some people just like being able to scale their scale their kit down/up that way, you don't have to be a fan of it but you don't have to be in shock and disbelief over it either.

SamKnopf wrote:Nikon has come out with the first real pancake lens for FF mirrorless. It's considerably smaller than anything available for FE mount (though the Samyang 35mm f2.8 comes close). It seems like it would make a good companion for a compact body such as the A7C to give a pocketable kit.It is also a bit lower in price than Sony's 24mm 2.8G.I shoot with both Nikon and Sony but 26mm is not my favorite focal length so I don't care if that's a Nikon or Sony, if I buy a Pancake lens, i will only buy the Sony because on the Nikon platform I shoot with Z9 and Z7 with VG so I don't even want those tiny lens, but for my Sony platform, I use the camera only for hiking and backpacking, so pancake lens makes more sense, in general I don't care much about Pancake lens because you normally give up image quality for size, and size is never a concern for me.