Best pancake lens for NX1100?

TJL LTFF wrote:

Caleb PM wrote:

Unless I'm mistaken, a "pancake" lens is a fixed focal-length lens that is fairly compact (right?).

There are 3 NX pancakes: 16mm, 20mm and 30mm. I enjoy all three, but use the 30mm the most. The 45mm is really good but it is twice+ the size of the other 3.

Can anyone recommend a sharp lens that is not too expensive?

Don't know what expensive might mean to you, but the 30mm is the sharpest of the 3.

Let me add that I would use this lens for pleasure photography (outdoors).

I use my 30mm a lot for the outdoor shots - it has excellent resolution corner to corner from f/4 and narrower. I leave mine at f/5 or f/5.6 for almost all outdoor shots. And if I need wider, and don't have the 16 or 20mm with me, I will shoot 2 or more overlapping photos and stitch them together in post-processing.

Can I also use a prime lens for macro shots?

Not by itself; there are adapters that can turn it into an ok quasi-macro.

That's true, actually, with the 30 couldn't you get to just about 1:1 true macro with the tubes? But the working distance would be.... unworkable and focusing would be a giant pain. But I don't think he's looking for a true macro, "My macro shots are never very close -- always about 18 to 24 inches away." The minimum focus distance of the 30mm is "Minimum Focus Distance, 9.84" (24.99 cm)."  according to B&H, so the actual distance shouldn't be an issue for him.  The magnification ratio though might be much less than he expects, but to get a better magnification ratio at the same distance he would need a longer focal length and in the NX lens case be giving up the compactness of the pancake design.

OP: Maybe you could post a few photos showing how much macro you're looking to get, let us also know the distance and which lens you used.