Pancake lenses: what are your thoughts?

[FowlersFreeTime]

General thoughts on "pancake lenses" follow and are welcome.

So as is usually the case with my greed/GearAcquisitionSyndrome I was reading an article about a lens for a competitor's system, and it got my thinking about the equivalent in e-mount. The lens in this case was the Nikon 26mm f2.8 pancake and here is the article I saw it in:

Nikon's 26mm f/2.8 is its Thinnest and Lightest Full-Frame AF Lens Ever

Super thin and light

petapixel.com

Now my knee-jerk reaction was "oh nice, I wish Sony had one of those for my camera" and that lead me down the rabbit hole of: (a) yes, they do have a lens like that, (b) why would I need a lens like that?

Here's Sony's APSC answer to that from almost a decade ago: SEL20F28

Sony E 20mm f/2.8 Lens

Buy Sony E 20mm f/2.8 Lens featuring E-Mount Lens/APS-C Format, 30mm (35mm Equivalent), Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/16, Three Aspherical Elements, Pancake Design, Rear Focus, Minimum Focus Distance: 7.9", Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm. Review Sony null

www.bhphotovideo.com

I think the lens was supposed to be decent, but it came out around the same time as the SEL16f28 which was reportedly not a good lens, so probably the 20mm couldn't shake the bad press.

Now that I've seen that a pancake lens exists... why would I want one?
Cons: it has no OSS, and I have sharper and brighter lenses in the kit bag.
Pros: packaging. This lens would make any of the E-mount APSC cameras much more pocketable.
But if the image quality isn't top notch, I doubt I would be satisfied only taking this lens with me on a trip. Is this a lens that only appeals to minimalists?

Is there an equivalent for the FE crowd?
Do you have a pancake lens, or have used one? What is your experience?

 

[Cαscαdian]

My Pentax da70 is pretty flat for the FL, but the adapter adds a 'cake to the stack!