Which lens is optically better, the 40mm pancake or the Nifty Fifty?

The 40 2.8 would be a light weight, desecrate lens. It's just fun.
The 50 1.8 would be longer but not have a full time, manual focus override, I believe.
I use the 40 2.8 on my 6D quite a lot actually, while my 50 1.4 gets little use.

Scott M wrote in post #16656577
The 40mm pancake's best asset is it's small size. It's the only lens I know of that I can easily fit in my pants pocket and not even know it's there. I do that when we walk around the zoo - I have a 100-400L mounted on a 5D3, and can carry around something wider easily.

I agree! i see ppl say that all the time. You can carry it as a backup or spare lens in your pocket. Makes sense....BUT what do you do when you decide to use it? Where do you put your giant lens that was on your camera? I know it doesnt fit in your pocket...lol

EOS-Mike wrote in post #16655175
What I'm really interested in is color and pop. Getting both color and contrast right makes such a big difference. If both are good at this, I'll likely go for the 40mm.

If you want good colors, stay away from the 50/1.8.
Microcontrast on the 50/1.8 is low wide open, but ok once you stop down to f/2.8.
You get what you pay for.

I never used the 40/2.8, so I cannot say whether that lens is any better.

BlakeC wrote in post #17409361
I agree! i see ppl say that all the time. You can carry it as a backup or spare lens in your pocket. Makes sense....BUT what do you do when you decide to use it? Where do you put your giant lens that was on your camera? I know it doesnt fit in your pocket...lol

Well, in my case I hand the 100-400L to my wife to hang onto while I use the 40mm pancake, then remount the 100--400L on the camera when finished and slip the pancake back in my pocket. I'm not sure what other people do.

My copy of the 40 pancake is optically superior than my 50 1.8 even when I stop the 50 down to 2.8. From the reviews I've seen the general conclusion seems to be that the 40 pancake is optically superior than the 50 1.8 in all regards.

40mm pancake every day and vastly better built imo
Metal mount.
Sold my 50 1.8. Whrn I got the pancake.
Very useful on a ff if space is tight.
Only non L i will buy.
Thought I had lost it and bought another. Says it all.

One thing that is ALWAYS not considered in these threads-is the fact that the 40mm F 2.8 pancake is very close to the 43mm focal length of the full frame sensor. Dr Dre will chime in of how crappy the 40mm lens is, but I think a totally sensor size normal lens is a great thing.. I love the 40mm lens on my 5 D2 for this reson-43mm is the natural normal focal length-it makes for many great photos. 27mm is the normal length on a crop sensor-the 24mm is too small-a 28 mm is a bit longer than perfect. This allows for many great photos at a budget price.

the 40mm pancake is probably better optically than the 50L, 85L, and 135L. It terms of optics, it's top notch, however it doesnt make it a better lens. IMO, the 1 1/3 stop and 10mm is a lot to overcome when it comes to DOF.

a super reliable AF nifty fifty would be my pick of lens to use over the pancake. I havent used either for a while, but generally tended to use the nifty more since it's pretty good wide open, and that extra stop and some is a lot in DOF and low light.

Have you consider the 50mm art?

Heya,

I think you're splitting hairs, either way. They're very similar. Also, just comparing color and contrast isn't going to give you a big picture here. Context matters. Is this for studio work? Or outdoors in natural light? In the studio, I'd take the 40. In natural light, take the one that has the aperture you need. They're optically too similar. You either need F1.8~2.8, or you are ok with F2.8 as the maximum. Both have good contrast & color. It's not worth comparing at that level. You either need the aperture or not. If you don't absolutely need the aperture of the 50 F1.8 II, then I would go for the 40 F2.8. It's better built, it's focus is smoother and silent (but slow), and it's focus is pretty accurate, it's sharp wide open. The 50 F1.8 II is sharp wide open (copy variation exists, but most of them are sharp), very sharp stopped down a stop, build quality is questionable (tapping the front of this lens is a problem), tends to have dodgy autofocus as it hunts around in poor light and generally isn't the most accurate AF lens (generally needs to be focus bumped in poorer light). You could compare bokeh if that matters, where the 50 doesn't win for most.

Very best,