7Artisans has a new 18mm F6.3 pancake lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras

From the Priory of Sion, they are symbols that if spun in the right sequence unlocks the Da Vinci code.

That looks like fun. Price is right too.

I'd call that a body cap lens rather than a pancake. Similar cost/size to the OEM protector.

perfect for photobooth application. use this on a canon EOS M5 connected to surface pro tablet. Might have to shim out the lens a mm to get the focus to be 3 feet at default. Looks like that is possible after the front sticker is removed.

i bet the reviews will prove it is just as good as the kit lenses at 18mm.
remember prime lenses are often sharper than do everything zooms.

Great now we can have cheap mobile quality photos from mirrorless cams!

I think what is more needed is a decent and fast 18mm for APS-C...love that 28mm equiv FOV.

I bought my wife the 9mm f8 Olympus lens cap fisheye lens when she had m4/3. Took a day trip to SF a couple of years ago and had more fun with that lens than I have had in a long while. Using defish software, I got two radically different images from each shot. It had three manual focus settings and a slider lens cover, and as long as you picked the right one....it took darn good photos.....can't blame a lens for user error....

Pretty much shot with it all day and had lots of fun and got lots of memorable shots. so.....make this a 9 or 8mm f8 for Fuji X and I am in....27mm not so much.

OMG it's so boring sitting here in a lockdown with nothing better to do to pass the time than comment about a clock-face on a bloody lens.

It's got so bad that I spent half an hour micro-adjusting AF on my DSLRs for all my lenses, even though I knew before I started that it wasn't necessary.

Kind of pointless on some cameras where the grip is deeper than the lens, if compactness is your goal.

Fixed focus, fixed aperture - what is the bloody point of this lens?!

Who knows if it's any good. But in a world where people pay $200 for a Lensbaby, this pancake is almost certainly worth the money.

is this a clock face or a pancake lens? ..silly looking but maybe good

love pancake .....hate bad design

Is it just me?
I prefer the look of the rear of this lens
rather than the front! Simplicity people,
it may hide the low price of this lens! 😊

no no, i want AF pancake zoom with range from 10-100 F0.95, not that crap!

Trying to make it look like a clock face, very funny...and this isn't exactly Miyazaki's approach either as Miyazaki would push for speed at the expense of resolution and field curvature. This is far slower, and without focus mechanism or aperture blades.

i think i will use my phone instead as will have better results as it has AF as fixed focus with 18mm and f6.3 WILL NOT get everything in focus from 1.1 feet ..using a depth of field calculator if 1.1 feet as a nere limit was in focus far limit wild only be 18 inch away ...i am guessing the pint of focus in realty is much further away and 1.1 feat is nowhere near in focus in realty

Unlike some here, my budget is very low. I have 5 7artisans lenses. All from Amazon Warehouse, all well under $100. I find the 55mm F1.4 remarkable the others all very useable. I appreciate what 7artisans do for folks like me. I am a creative photographer not a pixel peeper. This may be a reasonable budget buy for some wanting some fun in their life.

69 you say...I like that number 😏

Who buys this junk?

It's always some marketing trick with them like a f1 aperture, 'APO description, Leica fonts and styling or similar, but realistically it's a soft lens with loads of aberration, woeful build quality and nonexistent after sales support.

Some people will fall for the easiest tricks.

Having said that, the 28 f1.4 was what I'd describe as OK if you're on a budget and don't mind if the lens falls apart a few years out.

Yes, I have tried all of their releases.

I wish somebody would make an APS-C equivalent of the Olympus 9mm f8 fisheye bodycap lens. It's a lens that is actually useful. But when you get into wide/standard field of view, there are already small lenses that do it much better.

I think I’ll keep my Sony 20mm 2.8 pancake.

This lens will have the same field of view and almost as good image quality as your cell phone.

Too bad it was not a 15mm F5.6 lens, even if 25% larger and more expensive. That would have been very interesting to me, if IQ was excellent.

I need a body cap for my A7riv. I think this will do ;)

Love the markings. Tesla take note

Fixed focus and fixed aperture brings one great advantage: the lens is a complete no brainer. Everything from 35cm to infinity will be in focus. The comments here sound like groans but there are a few possible use cases:

>video lens: action cameras have this sort of lens. Not needing to pay attention to focus is actually fun to work with.
>rather epic travel lens. It weighs almost nothing and has no noteworthy physical dimensions plus it will make any camera a no-brainer to use.

I wouldn't expect a great quality lens but if it's at least decent I'd consider buying.

I'd rather cough up for something like the EF-S 24mm f2.8 if I wanted pancake lens

Still waiting when someone releases the crêpe lens.

"retailers for $69"

I wouldnt pay $1 for it.

Does a cuckoo call on the hour?

Does the designation "UFO lens" indicate that its performance is so bad that owners will hurl it into the stratosphere?

If fixed-focus, really too bad, because even rudimentary focus would make it much more versatile as a "body-cap" walk-around lens. For instance, for hiking, it should be set fairly distant, for street use you'd probably want it much closer. Yes, there's depth of field, but best focus on any lens is still at one distance for any one shot.

Given it's from China, they probably could have given it a crude helicoid for $10 more. Maybe even just $5 more.

Some questions:

What is the clock numbering for? Only to confuse?

Is it fixed focus?

Is it fixed aperture?

I love it. This company is manufacturing interesting lenses. (Not my kind of lens, but I like what the company is trying)