It has been revealed that Canon has designed a series of body cap pancake lenses – taking inspiration from one of the most unique lens designs pioneered by Olympus (now OM System).
While a number of third-party manufacturers, such as 7Artisans, have copied the design in recent years, the original body cap lens came from Olympus back in 2012, in the form of a fun but flawed 15mm f/8 version. However, the later Olympus 9mm f/8 Fisheye Body Cap lens has developed a cult following – including, apparently, among Canon engineers.
A body cap lens does exactly what it says on the tin: it's a camera lens with proper optical elements (unlike, for example, a simple pinhole lens) that is only marginally larger than a standard body cap. As such, your camera always has a lens on it – meaning that you can start shooting at a moment's notice, should something spur-of-the-moment happen.
It also means that you can shoot with a supremely small setup, if you want the most compact camera outfit possible. While the original 15mm Olympus lens was a fairly average performer, the 9mm version had fisheye characteristics – which offered an incentive to make using it a conscious creative choice.
So, what about the new Canon designs? As revealed by Canon Rumors, the company has patented a pair of body cap optics: the Canon RF 21mm f/5.6 and the Canon RF 23mm f/8. According to the site, the lenses are so thin that they will only protrude 5.8mm and 6mm from the camera body respectively.
Their apertures, as is pretty much a requisite for such extreme lenses, are fixed at f/8 – wide enough to ensure that a good portion of the image plane remains in focus. It is unclear if, like the Olympus lenses, there will be a focus rocker to switch between close-up and midrange shooting.
Obviously the two focal lengths are so similar that Canon is only likely to bring one of them to market – if, indeed, either one of them make it past the drawing board stage. Given that the company already makes a Canon RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro lens, I would assume that the 21mm body cap would be the most obvious choice to become a retail product.
As a huge fan of the original Olympus 9mm body cap, I would love to see something similar come to the RF mount – especially for cameras like the Canon EOS R100 and R50, which would be perfect for such a pocket-sized lens!
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Take a look at the best Canon RF lenses on the market right now, and if you love super-slim optics then check out some of the best pancake lenses for all formats.
