davidsmeaton.com

I thought I knew a lot about photography, but I was completely taken by surprise when some photographers started talking about pancake lenses. What is a pancake lens? Jessica, Jeju Island.

Photographers are strange people. Sometimes photographers like big lenses, sometimes they like the smallest possible lenses. The smallest lenses available are commonly called pancake lenses because they’re flat, like a pancake.

For quite a while, pancake lenses had fallen out of favour in photographic circles. A little while ago Olympus released a pancake lens for its new DSLR cameras. That kicked off a surge in renewed interest in pancake type lenses.

Why are they so popular? Well, the biggest reason is that they’re small. One benefit of their size is that the lenses are light and easy to carry. However the biggest benefit is that the small, flat lens makes the camera much more discrete.

Pancake lenses are popular amongst street photographers for this very reason. A long lens is quite obtrusive. Pointing it at someone can attract their attention or make them aware of the camera. Since photographers want to capture people in natural situations, a big lens is too noticeable. A pancake lens makes the camera appear much smaller and less obvious. It allows a photographer to remain unnoticed while taking photos of people.

Pancake lenses are usually short range prime lenses. Most pancakes are between 35 and 50mm in length and around f1.8 to f2.8 maximum aperture. These apertures are important and one of the biggest benefits of prime lenses - because it means the lens is fast and sharp.

Often, pancake lenses will be manual focus, due to their small size - autofocus pancakes are rare indeed.

The other important aspect is image quality. Short prime lenses are a playground for bokeh; out of focus area. Bokeh is important to photographers because it determines the aesthetics of any area beyond the camera’s depth of field settings. If a lens is poorly designed, it will not render out of focus areas very well. The bokeh will look harsh and flat. A good prime lens will produce great bokeh, much better than most zoom lenses.

The resurgence in popularity has resulted in a number of companies developing pancake lenses. Nikon and Canon both have new pancake lenses hitting the market. Panasonic and Olympus have already released lenses with various mounts. There are also a number of third party lens makers who have pancakes; the two most popular being Zeiss and Voigtlander.

The only real downside to pancake lenses is their price. Usually, a pancake will be two or three times the price of a similar standard prime lens. The higher cost is due to the engineering required to make the technology work in a ‘flat’ lens.

With photography’s recent surge in popularity, camera makers have been outdoing each other to make newer and better equipment. This will probably result in companies also developing many more lens types. Nikon have already released tilt shift lenses to appeal to architect photographers. It’s likely that there will be more pancake lenses on the market in the next few years.

For now, it’s probably not worth owning a pancake lens, unless you want to practice your manual focusing. Save your money and invest in some good standard prime lenses, such as a 50mm f1.8.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

cherry angioma - now i finally have an explanation for the red spots that have been appearing on my body. i’ve probably got about 15 or so in total. i was quite aggravated tonight and decided to finally look it up.

it turns out that cherry angiomas are common and quite harmless … the older you get, the more likely you are to get them. they affect every race and ethnicity, as well as both genders.

it’s something of a relief actually. i was starting to think it was some kind of blood problem … and i’d also entertained the thought that they were caused by some kind of bug here in korea. so, as long as they’re harmless, i don’t really care too much.

the camera industry has gone insane over the past 12 months. nikon and canon are releasing new bodies at ridiculous speeds, full frame cameras are setting all new standards in photography, and olympus has committed itself to a 2/3rds system in cooperation with other camera companies.

then along comes leica with a completely unexpected announcement: their new S2 camera will have a larger sensor, in a weatherproof slr body. this is astonishing news. the sensor size is 30×45mm and produces 37.5 megapixels. we’re talking medium format photography here, with leica producing an slr sized camera that can compete with hasselblad’s medium format cameras.

leica’s new S2 body

you can read the full press release details at dpreview.com, or read about leica’s new 50mm f0.95 prime lens, the fastest in the world. leica have also released details of three prime lenses, and more lenses are expected to be announced soon.

update: another link lists the price at around US$30,000.

thanks to ryan for the heads up!

this news is a few weeks old, but it shows how busy i’ve been … that i would miss the release of new nikon products.

nikon traditionally release a body and at least one new lens at the same time. in keeping with that tradition, nikon have released the new D60, to replace the D40 and D40x. nikon also released an upgraded lens - the 18-55mm base lens, now with VR. the new lens isn’t much in terms of surprises … the standard consumer base lens with vibration reduction and a few minor upgrades … but the D60 promises to be a power packed little camera, by including a lot of features from its D300 big brother, including vibration sensor cleaning.

of course, the D60 will become nikon’s new entry level camera, and with the 18-55mm VR as its standard lens, it will be a kick ass little rig.

in terms of technology, my D200 is starting to look like an old camera. however, unless i accidentally drop it into a lake, i’ll be sticking with my beloved D200 for quite a while. i envisage my next camera will be whatever follows the D300 … possibly a D400 … which will be 3-4 years away. but i never cease to be astounded how quickly dslr cameras are upgrading these day.