Pancakes

I hadn't intended to have my most recent gear transaction include the RF 28mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens. But it did. This is the third copy of this lens I've had, most recently over the summer of 2024. I traded it in with some other lenses when I picked up my prior copy of the RF 28-70mm f/2.8 lens.

I'd like to say I'll hang on to this lens for an extended period. It's a very interesting design and the end result is pretty impressive. You can watch a tear down video showing the design of the lens here. Note the concave front element in the diagram below. You don't see that very often.

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM diagram

Camera/lens combinations which have the angle of view of a 28mm lens on a full frame, or 35mm film size, sensor are having their time in the sun. Main cameras on smart phones are generally this focal length equivalent. 

Ricoh makes a crop sensor camera with a built in 28mm equivalent lens in both color and black & white only versions. Leica has a series of full frame cameras with incorporated f/1.7 28mm lenses also in both color and black & white only models. More interesting to me is the Fujifilm GFX100RF with an f/4 lens which has a medium format sensor but lacks image stabilization. The design of these lenses are all pancake like to varying degrees. 

My version, with a full frame body with image stabilization and the f/2.8 pancake lens, seems a very respectable alternative. In comparison to the Leica Q series, the f/2.8 is slower than f/1.7 but the body has some better features like a 1/8000 sec. maximum shutter speed versus 1/2000. Advantages versus the GFX100RF include an f/2.8 rather than f/4 lens and image stabilization. Plus, I already have it.

Here is my now current kit with the pancake lens on the R6 Mark II.

And here are some scenes from my first outing with the combination in downtown Troy, NY this morning.

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/4, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

28 Again

The RF 28-70mm f/2.8 IS STM lens arrived late last week and I've been out with it a couple of times. Looking back at past blog articles about my former copy of this lens I noticed that a lot of the images I chose to include were at the 28mm focal length. 

It's generally accepted by reviewers that the wide end of this lens is its weakest performance. A comparison with Canon's 28mm pancake lens from The Digital Picture appears to bear this out. 

Having traded in my 24mm and 45mm lenses when I picked up the new zoom lens, I was without a small option as the new zoom is as large as the 85mm f/2 lens. The logical conclusion is that I need another copy of the 28mm pancake lens. I have a place for it in the Case Logic Kontrast DSLR bag I'm using for the rest of the gear and I have a small Lowepro bag which just fits the R6 Mark II with the pancake lens. 

Here are some photos from the new zoom lens.

Old Champlain Canal
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 37mm, f/4, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

Old Champlain Canal
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 61mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

Oakwood Cemetery
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/6.7, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 39mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

General George Thomas Grave
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 50mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

While I Wait [Again]

My 2026 gear plan collapse means that until the RF 24-70mm f/2.8 STM lens arrives, hopefully later this week, I have only the RF 85mm f/2 lens. I know that the 85mm lens will see far less use than the zoom once it arrives, but something longer than 70mm is necessary and the close focusing and f/2 aperture of the 85mm lens elevates it over other options. Plus, I already have it.

A day trip to the southern Adirondacks yesterday resulted in some images from Beecher Creek in Edinburg, Saratoga County, and Northampton Beach State Park on Great Sacandaga Lake in Fulton County. 

This state park, and the "lake" in general, is a MAGA boater magnet in summer but it's a nice place off season. There are both B&W and color galleries on the website in the NY State Parks folders.

RF 85mm f/2, f/16, 1/4 sec., ISO 50

RF 85mm f/2, f/16, 1/8 sec., ISO 100

RF 85mm f/2, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 85mm f/2, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 85mm f/2, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100