Now that the honeymoon period has passed, do you feel that the pancake lenses are the gamechanger they were expected to be? Early reviews raved about the clarity of the lenses but some people have reported issues with eyestrain, godrays, blooming, mura (black smearing), etc. Have you experienced any of this? Are the trade-offs worth it to you?
I don’t know of many options approaching “pancake” thickness for the Fujifilm X-Series other than the aforementioned (manual focus) TTartisan 25mm f2, the Fujifilm and TTartisan 27mm f2.8’s and the Fujifilm 18mm f2. (I suppose the 23mm f2 on any X100-series camera would count, but the entire X100 range all the way back to the original is absurdly overpriced right now.) Leica M-series ...
The 27 pancake isn’t the sharpest but it does give you some good bokeh and I find that with the 40mp you still get a lot of details without getting like every persons pores and peachfuzz. I also have the 16-55 WR lens which is a boss lens but its big and it’s sharp in such a way that it can look sterile in some situations.
To answer your question though, pancake lenses, especially Metas, are really a big deal. All the main issues that people have with fresnel lenses are not only no longer an issue, but a strong point of the headset.
As you’re searching and receiving recommendations, note that the term “pancake” seems to be increasingly misused. For example, lately the Fujifilm 18mm f2 is often referred to as a pancake lens, but while it’s relatively small (and I’m a BIG fan of this lens), it’s not a true pancake lens in the sense of being a thin lens that ...
The advantage of pancake lenses is that they fold the beam-path, meaning they can bend the light more over a short distance by bouncing it around. Which in turn allows larger magnification and smaller headsets.
From an experience stand point, pancake lenses are much clearer than Fresnel lenses. They don't have the color fringing and blurring at the edges Fresnel lenses do and have a massive sweet spot.
Pancake lenses or OLED display? Question Which one of those do you think adds more quality to VR gaming experience? I know OLED and Pancake lens are not mutually excluding, but:- Pico 4 and Quest 2 pro have pancake lenses while still uses LCD. It will be the same for Quest 3.- PSVR 2 has OLED, but still uses old fresnel lens.
Best Pancake lenses? I just ordered a used gm5 and I'm quite excited to get that tiny thing into my hands. Which are the best pancake lenses? I know and have the 20mm 1.7, is the the 14mm as awesome? Are there more miniature lenses which are worthwhile?
