If there's a competition for the thinnest pancake lens, this recently released lens from SG-image would take some beating. At just 14mm thick, the new SG-image 18mm F6.3 will barely protrude further than a typical camera body cap, and it only measures 60mm in diameter, with a low 78g weight.
This is an APS-C lens with mount options for Sony E, Nikon Z, Fujifilm X and Micro Four Thirds cameras. Despite its tiny size, somehow six lens elements have been squeezed inside, arranged in four groups and including two high refractive index elements.
Read more: the best pancake lenses
The lens is available in black and silver color options, so it'll look the part on cameras like the Fujifilm X-M5, Nikon Z fc and OM System OM-5. A lens hood is also included. The lens looks similar in style and operation to the OM System 9mm F8 Fisheye body cap lens, but with a more versatile focal length and a rectilinear image format.
As you might imagine for a lens so small, there are some compromises here: the aperture is fixed at f/6.3, and focussing is manual only, but you do get a distinctive focus lever to make the process more interesting, and this also opens the built-in lens cap. Although there are no pictures showing the full lens mount, I doubt it'll have any electronic contacts. If so, there won't be any lens data recorded in an image's EXIF information.
But I can forgive these omissions, as the SG-image 18mm F6.3 has a super-low retail price of 9,900 yen (approx. $64/£51/AUD$101), making it quite a bargain if you're after a cheap, wide-angle creative lens.
