{"id":98999,"date":"2018-06-12T12:05:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T17:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=98999"},"modified":"2018-06-12T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T17:05:06","slug":"should-you-film-pancake-lens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/should-you-film-pancake-lens\/","title":{"rendered":"Gear Basics: Is Filming with a Pancake Lens a Viable Option?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is a pancake lens, and should you be using one? In this write-up, we cover everything you should consider before attaching one to your camera.<\/h2>\n

When you’re first\u00a0getting into filmmaking, the sheer amount of basic information you need to learn can be overwhelming. You may spend weeks learning how to capture audio correctly, only to discover that different microphones will have different polar patterns and capture sound differently \u2014 and the process starts over. The same goes for lenses. On a fundamental level, it can be easy to trip over\u00a0something as simple as the terms for a lens. You can have a tilt-shift prime lens or a telephoto zoom lens with macro capabilities. If you\u2019re new, it will get confusing quickly. Pancake lenses are no exception.<\/p>\n

“Pancake” is the colloquial term-turned-commercial name for short-barreled lenses. They are usually no longer than 35mm, rarely\u00a0over 40mm in focal length, and will commonly sit at f\/2.8, but you can find faster lenses on the market (the lens in the cover photo is a 20mm f\/1.7). In regards to price point, they sit on the edge of the budget-friendly market, averaging about $200.\u00a0The faster and better-built pancake lenses will, of course, increase the price and land at the bottom end of the intermediate market.<\/p>\n

\"Gear<\/p>\n

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How will it change my images?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So, what exactly will a pancake lens do to your image? Will it flatten the image?\u00a0Will there be\u00a0a sweeping barrel distortion? No. A 20mm pancake lens will produce the same image as a 20mm full-sized lens (minus the disparity in the quality of the lens elements). A pancake lens is, for all intents and purposes, just\u00a0a thin lens. That’s it. A short-barreled lens. It can be a thin prime, such as a\u00a0Canon 24mm, or a small zoom, like the Olympus 14-42mm. But\u00a0it will not alter the way\u00a0that light travels through the lens to the sensor. Very few companies market short-barreled lenses as pancake lenses. The B&H listing may reference the lens as a pancake shape, or Amazon presents a variety of lenses\u00a0when you\u00a0search for “pancake lens,” but you’ll often find that the majority are not titled as such.<\/p>\n

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Can I use One For Filmmaking?<\/h3>\n

The quality of the pancake lens comes down to brand and glass. They are, after all, budget lenses, so\u00a0don’t expect world-class glass. Further, the electronic functions like the autofocus and aperture changes are going to be clunkier than you’d see with a higher-end lens.<\/p>\n

That said, how are these as filmmaking lenses (there’s nothing to say that you can’t use them as such). In fact, the following travel video\u00a0is the product of a pancake lens, and it looks beautiful.<\/p>\n