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12-09-2011, 07:13 AM   #1
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Pancake lens club

We don't have a pancake lens club! What a disgrace! A camera forum of the most pancaking lens maker of all, and we have no pancake club.

Better amend this mistake asap. Hereby I institute the Pentax Forums Pancake lens club!

Next step: Define what is a pancake lens. It is supposed to be thin. But compared to what?

Pentax have four lenses that has been outright marketed as pancake lenses:

The SMC Pentax-DA 21/3.2 ltd, 63mm wide x 25mm deep
The grandpa: SMC Pentax-M 40/2.8, 63mm wide x 18mm deep
The SMC Pentax-DA 40/2.8 ltd, 63mm wide x 15mm deep
The SMC Pentax-DA 70/2.4, 63mm wide x 26mm deep

One factor in common is that they all have a physical depth less than half of their diameter. That sounds like a plausible first order rule for what a pancake lens is.

But that also declares a couple of other Pentax lenses as pancakes: M20/4, M28/2.8, M/A/F/FA50/1.7 and M/A50/2. Is that OK?

Are any of the Takumar lenses pancakes by this definition? That extremely flat fish-eye must be considered a pancake.

In K mount I know there were pancake lenses from Chinon, Ricoh (28mm and 40mm), Cosina, and more recently the Voigtlander Ultron 40/2.

There were at least one Nikon pancake lens, and several Zuiko Olympus pancakes for the OM system, as well as a Minolta 45mm pancake.

I have a Russian pancake, the 50mm industar, but there were at least also a 28mm pancake, maybe more.

And one of my favorites is the Konica Hexanon 40/1.8.

And for sure there must be lenses I don't come to think of right now.

With the arrival of the mirrorless digital cameras, a new generation of pancake lenses has been born.

So please, post your photos with pancake lenses, and of pancake lenses, mounted on Pentax cameras, or any other camera.



12-09-2011, 10:38 AM   #2
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Douglas - good idea! I'll start with a couple I've posted elsewhere in the forums...

From the Downtown Rolla, MO Summerfest 2011

Pentax-MX, Pentax-M 40mm f2.8, Tri-X @ 400 in Rodinal 1+100 (1-hour stand)

My granddaughter hiding from me, Thanksgiving 2011

Pentax-MX, Pentax-M 40mm f2.8, Fujicolor-200 Walgreens development

Both scanned with Epson V500

-Joe-
12-09-2011, 05:14 PM   #3
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Joe:

I used to have a Ford just like this one. Mine was light blue and white. I loved that car!
12-09-2011, 05:51 PM   #4
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Cross posted in Soviet lens club and Single in december. Industar 50-2 f3.5 @ somewhere between 5.6 and 8




12-09-2011, 07:25 PM   #5
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mmMMmm that looks like one yummy pancake!

Hrmm.. so a M 50 1.7 is classified as a Pancake? What about the M 50 1.4 or the M 55 1.8? Am I missing the math that you mentioned? Something about 1/4 length? *eyes spin*
12-10-2011, 03:39 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by wolfiegirl Quote
mmMMmm that looks like one yummy pancake!

Hrmm.. so a M 50 1.7 is classified as a Pancake? What about the M 50 1.4 or the M 55 1.8? Am I missing the math that you mentioned? Something about 1/4 length? *eyes spin*
Well, that is my question. What is a pancake lens? Some were marketed as such. But I tried to look at the measures of them, and a rule saying that their length has to be half their width or less (no quarter) appears to work well. Except that it would classify some tiny lenses that was never marketed as pancake lenses as such.

The 50/1.4 and 55/1.8 is thicker than the 50/1.7 and 50/2 and would not end up among the "less than half the width" pancakes. You find the numbers in the lens data base.
12-10-2011, 03:45 AM   #7
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SMC Pentax-M 40mm f2.8, grandpa pancake





01-27-2012, 02:59 PM - 1 Like   #8
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Newbie pancake.

Just bought the M 40mm for my K5. Although it does not get high review points in this forum, I really like it.

Made a User mode for it (moved the Tv dial to the back, so I can use the DOF preview for metering)



Last edited by Pontax; 01-27-2012 at 03:07 PM.
01-27-2012, 07:56 PM   #9
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I carry my K20 in my knapsack at all times and the most utilitarian lens for this purpose is the M2.8/40 as it oly protudes 5mm past the flash 'horn' with the lens cap on:

01-30-2012, 02:58 PM - 2 Likes   #10
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taken with 70/2.4 on k-r yesterday
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01-30-2012, 03:03 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Douglas_of_Sweden Quote
Well, that is my question. What is a pancake lens? Some were marketed as such. But I tried to look at the measures of them, and a rule saying that their length has to be half their width or less (no quarter) appears to work well. Except that it would classify some tiny lenses that was never marketed as pancake lenses as such.
A pancake lens is 1" deep or less. The only current Pentax pancakes are the DA 21, 40, and 70 and the FA 43mm (close enough at 1.1").
02-17-2012, 01:50 PM   #12
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you all might find this interesting... DigitalRev is good comedy for me, Kai kills me - I appreciate the humor... and he's raving about 40mm Ltd today

02-17-2012, 04:00 PM   #13
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I can't stand his smartass anti-Pentax bias. His K-r "review" was ridiculous. What's with the artificial turf on the K-5? Just another way to diss Pentax I expect.

Last edited by audiobomber; 02-17-2012 at 06:37 PM.
02-17-2012, 04:52 PM   #14
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To each their own - I could do with a little irreverence now and again, and it was refreshing to see praise heaped on the 40 ltd- appropriate for a pancake lens thread.
02-26-2012, 05:32 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by audiobomber Quote
A pancake lens is 1" deep or less. The only current Pentax pancakes are the DA 21, 40, and 70 and the FA 43mm (close enough at 1.1").
And you have a reference for that?

Either there is a well established definition in litterature, among lens designers or similar.
Or we will have to reach our own consensus.
Inches ain't even an acceptable distance measure except in some obscure corners of the world

Besides, you should at least ad the new 40mm that came with the K-01, and there appears to be another thin lens coming with it soon. And what about the Q lenses? They are probably all less than an inch just because they are small in all dimensions. A definition of "pancake lenses" must related the depth of the lens with the diameter of the lens or the mount. If not, it is a definition of very limited usefulness.
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