A New Pancake Lens is Coming, the ExperimentalOptics 35mm f/2.7 for FF Cameras

A new lens got a funding campaign at Kickstarter. The ExperimentalOptics 35mm f/2.7 full frame pancake lens claims to the “Smallest Fastest Pancake Lens in the World”.

About the mount type they say “the lens has a clever combined Leica M and M39 mount to make it universally adaptable to virtually any camera (apart from SLRs), especially any mirrorless present or future“. So not Canon DSLRs, but hopefully it will work with the Canon EOS R.

The ExperimentalOptics 35mm f/2.7 full frame pancake lens, 7mm thin, 40g light, stealth, sturdy and razor sharp. This is not just an engineering achievement, it is truly the perfect lens for photographers: it puts the least amount of glass and kit between you and your world. It’s a joy to handle and operate, a beautifully crafted object in itself, and creates absolutely stunning results. Our careful choice of focal length, aperture, design and handling allow photographers to capture the world exactly as they see it and truly express their creative vision.

This is not a toy lens. It is a special piece of equipment for professionals, aficionados and connoisseurs. We spent more than two years developing and testing it, and now it’s ready. Almost, that is, because it still needs to be produced… To bring this unique, uncompromising project to life, we’ve gone on kickstarter.

It all will be handmade and, as a result, in very limited quantities only. We expect to ship a first batch of 20 lenses in 2018 and a second batch of another 20 lenses in 2019. That should make this not only the tiniest, but also one of the rarest lenses in the world.