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"Appears" ? What seems apparent to YOU with your trollish biased mind is exactly that, and nothing more. Im not averse to feeding a troll. I come here mainly for the entertainment that you provide. Keep on keepin on !

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Pancake lenses are not a new idea.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Well then, I must be a reviewer.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

That's probably because it does not meet your shooting requirements. I'm sure you must have lenses that I would never purchase because they don't meet mine.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

The name pancake lens is but another fad name, it means nothing. In truth these are simply wide angle lenses, nothing more. Because they are wide angle lenses they are usually the last type of lens for most armature/beginners to use and more over to master.

One needs to conceptualize their application and understand their use. Once that is mastered the photographer will realize the great potential this lens type is for image making.

An excellent example is with the basic idea of a basic approach to landscape photography. As well all are taught, landscape can be organized into three regions, foreground, middle ground, and background. The simplest manner for landscape is to choose two of these and downplay or 'discard' the third area.

But what about landscapes that really only have two strong areas to them. The perfect example of this is in the West Texas Land. There the middle ground just is not often there to make strong images. A solution is to locate a rock or plant that forms the foreground of an image. Mostly then, drop down and get close to this subject. Using a wide angle lens, fill the frame with a mind to including the far distant area to give a sense of the immensity. This can also work with street images where the background is used to 'locate' the environment of what you are telling the story about. If the primary subject is a person, remember to keep the person's head in the center of the view finder to reduce distortion and as you view the scene plan one side of the frame to be cropped so the subject does not look overly centered in the frame (old film trick), and so you have subject and their location/environment welded together as a single frame story.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Love the VL Color-Skopar. Athough small, I am not certain it qualifies as a pancake lines...but who cares. By the way, what adapter did you use to mount the Nikkor lens on the Canon body?

Bill_de Loc: US

It is a descriptive term used by many, so it means something. Maybe it means nothing to you, but that's no reason to dismiss it.

Nikon uses it:

NIKKOR Z 26mm f/2.8 is a pancake prime born for the streets.

From Shotkit:

A pancake lens is a colloquial term for a lens that’s shorter than it is wide – hence looking like a ‘pancake’. Due to their compacted dimensions, pancake lenses are usually fixed focal length (‘prime’) lenses. They’re also much smaller and lighter than a regular lens.

https://shotkit.com/best-pancake-lens/

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NickGee Loc: Pacific Northwest

Why do people get all hyped up over how other people feel about pancake lenses?
Do they act this way just to be hip but don't really care and then just go back to being an ass-hat after hours of trolling others for their lens choices?

BebuLamar

I never like the pancake lenses. They look ugly. I don't think they save room or weight. I am not sure if they are sharper than regular lenses but I doubt it.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Photo-slang evolves. New "terms" are continuously added. Some words survive for ages until whatever they are related to becomes obsolete or disappears. As technologies improve and change so does the nicknames and buzzword we use to describe equipment, methods, materials, and procedures. We no longer regularly "pull prints proofs" in a darkroom. Seen a "Big Bertha " lens lately? The rapid fixer is made of Sodium Thithiosulfate Pentahydrate, Sodium Metabisulfite, and Acetic- Acid- they still called it HYPO. How about a "Turtle" based light stand? Can we use a "beauty dish" on an ugly subject? Just add acronyms, abbreviations, and more technobabble and after a while, we have a foreign language.

A "pancake lens" is kinda physically flat so it is lightweight and low profile. They are usually normal or wide-angle focal lengths.

Or perhaps they are necessary if you need to photograph pancakes, flapjacks, or latkas! Only surpassed by a "pancake camera"!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Bill_de Loc: US

I've already had dinner, but I think it will be pancakes for breakfast. I have a griddle that my mother bought at the 1939 World's Fair in N.Y.

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mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

"The name pancake lens is but another fad name, it means nothing. In truth these are simply wide angle lenses, nothing more."

That is only partly accurate. They are called pancake lenses because they are very flat. The term is not a fad, but rather an apt physical description that clearly differentiates them from other lenses. In addition, they are available up to around 50mm which I wouldn't call particularly wide angle.

BebuLamar

Yeah! Pancakes are a lot better than pancake lenses.