Compact Micro Four-Thirds (M43/MFT) Pancake Lenses

Pancake lenses are a perfect match for smaller MFT camera bodies, making them some of the most pocketable, and compact, interchangeable lens cameras.

M43 sensor size is 17.3 x 13 mm with a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is 93.6% larger than a "1 inch" sensor, and 32.3% smaller than a Canon APS-C sensor. This is only important because it means that technically it should only ever need smaller lenses than an APS-C camera - but sometimes third-party manufacturers adapt larger lenses to the smaller M43 mount.

Contents

1. Micro Four-Thirds Pancake Lenses
2. List of All Auto-focus M43 Lenses by Length & Weight
3. MFT Pancake Body Cap Lenses (BCL)
4. Photos of Compact Micro Four Thirds Setups

I don't think there's a hard definition of what the maximum length of a pancake lens is, but around 30 mm has been my personal limit on pocketability, and even that pushes it... depending on your pockets.

My personal favourite at the moment is the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7, but I've yet to give other lenses a good run (work in progress).

Micro Four-Thirds Pancake Lenses

From left-to-right: Panasonic 20 mm f/1.7, Olympus 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ, and the Panasonic 14 mm f/2.5.

Currently, there are really only 6 pancake lenses with auto-focus available - if we don't count multiple model versions. Note that this is the retracted length for zooms, and only internal focus lenses will not change their length during use.

• Panasonic Lumix G 14 mm f/2.5
  
  
  Length: 21 mm protrusion, versions I & II
  Notes: internal focusing
• Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17 mm f/2.8
  
  
  Length: 22 mm protrusion
  Notes: When focusing, inner barrel extends up to an extra 5 mm
• Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ
  
  
  Length: 22.5 mm protrusion
  Notes: Extends up to 48 mm total length when zooming
• Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32 mm f/3.5-5.6
  
  
  Length: 24 mm protrusion
  Note: Extends up to 40 mm total length when zooming
• Panasonic Lumix G 20 mm f/1.7 II
  
  
  Length: 25.5 mm protrusion, versions I & II
  Notes: Inner barrel extends up to an extra 3 mm when focusing
• SGImage AF 25 mm f/1.8
  
  
  Length: 31 mm protrusion
  Notes: internal focusing

List of All Auto-focus M43 Lenses by Length & Weight

Below is a table of M43 auto-focus lenses sorted by length, which is how long the lens protrudes from the camera body when installed. It'll give you an idea of what is the most compact lens combinations.

NOTE: Mobile users please rotate your phone to landscape to view this as a table.

MFT Pancake Body Cap Lenses (BCL)

I have excluded these manual focus body cap lenses (BCL) mainly to keep the list AF friendly, but also, all BCLs do not have close to the same optical quality as the above AF lenses. They are definitely the most compact option though, and they are fun lenses to play with if you are okay with their limitations.

Note that all Body Cap Lenses have a fixed aperture.

Brand	Model	Length (mm)	Weight (g)	Notes
Olympus	BCL-1580 15mm f/8.0	9	30	Manual focus lever Zone focus Plastic
Olympus / OM System	BCL-0980 9mm f/8.0 Fisheye	12.8	30	Manual focus lever Zone focus 140° diagonal fisheye Plastic
7artisans	18mm f/6.3	10	51	Fixed infinity focus Metal
7artisans	18mm f/6.3 II	15	58	Manual focus Metal

Photos of Compact MFT Setups

A silver Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2 camera with a Panasonic 14 mm f/2.5 lens attached to it, for a 28 mm full frame equivalent view. The total weight of this combination is about 324 grams, including battery and SD card. This compact combination of camera body and lens is very pocketable.

A white Olympus PEN E-PL6 camera with a Panasonic 20 mm f/1.7 II lens attached to it, for a 40 mm full frame equivalent view. The total weight of this combination is about 410 grams, including battery and SD card. The white rubberised MCG-4 grip has been removed from this camera.