I am rather new to these 4/3rd cameras, I've been shooting with Canon dSLR and MF digital for the past decade and am looking for a smaller camera and the 6300 seems great. Are there any lenses for this that are similar to the Canon Pancake lenses? I mostly shoot with primes and am not looking for a zoom option.
Additionally, If i wanted to mount the canon 24mm Pancake, do the adapters allow for Autofocus? And if so, does it work realistically? or is it just better to use a SONY lens that is built for this system?
Thanks for taking time with my newbie questions!
The 4/3rd cameras are the first mirrorless cameras that were available. But the Sony 6300 is an APSC format with a bigger sensor (crop factor 1.5 instead of 2). Because of this you would get a better IQ at high ISO with the Sony 6300 than with and Olympus OMD, but the lenses will also be bigger and heavier than their MFT counterparts. Also the MFT aka micro-four-thirds cameras are produced since longer than the Sony Nex/alpha 6xxx and there are two players producing lenses for a single mount and sensor size. This means there are a lot more lenses available for MFT than for Sony Nex. There are three pancakes for the Sony E-Mount (16mm, 20mm and 16-50mm) and as far as I know they are not too well regarded (I think there is a zoom and a prime). here is a link to DPreview :
Side by Side Comparison: Digital Photography Review
For MFT there are three pancakes primes : Panasonic 14mm F2.5 (equivalent 28mm on full frame), Olympus 17mm F2.8 (equivalent 34mm on FF but not really well reguarded), Panasonic 20mm F1.7 (an extremely sharp lens highly reguarded); there are also at least two pancakes zooms offering standard focal lengths, something like 14-42mm, but contrary to the primes they have somewhat slower max apertures and aren't very well reguarded). Really, if you want small lenses, the MFT/fourthirds format is better, even the normal lens remains small compared to Sony E/Nex lenses.
There is another forum dedicated to MFT bodies here. And you can choose between the bodies of two different manufacturers and cross mount the lenses if you want.
There is a Metabones Smart Adapter v. IV that allows AF for E-Mount bodies. They perform extremely well with the Canon A7rII, but it is a little early to know how they work with the new coming A6300; it will probably imply a firmware update for the adapter (the last version comes with an USB plug for this). On the A7r it was rather slow because only Contrast Detect was available. The game changed with the A7rII because it has an hybrid AF (can use both PDAF and CDAF). For my needs the Canon lenses are working perfectly and are fast. But they aren't as fast as on a Canon body, especially for Continuous AF and tracking. If you are into action or sport photography, then it isn't enough. Also in lower light, the AF performance diminish. But for landscape, architecture, slow moving subjects, portraits it is satisfying. Running children however may be a bit more challenging.
Also : what is a pancake on a Canon body is no more a pancake after you have added the adapter (the adapter is as big as the lens due to the short flange distance). My 40mm F2.8 pancake looks as big as the 35mm FE 2.8 lens once I have added the adapter.