These are the best pancake lenses with image stabilization when you want pocket-size versatility, steady handheld shots, and crisp everyday images for travel, street, family, and café interiors—without the bulk—and here’s what to look for as you buy: prefer true retractable/collapsible designs that keep balance tidy on small bodies, built-in optical stabilization (IS/VR/OSS/OIS) or rock-solid IBIS pairing, quiet linear AF (video-friendly), useful wide ends for tight spaces, respectable close-focus for detail, and good flare control since tiny barrels often lack deep hoods; expect modest apertures and plan to stop down 2/3–1 stop for corner discipline—pancake glass trades speed for size, and stabilization lets you keep ISO sensible at dusk. Full-frame standouts (tiny with IS): Canon RF 24–50mm ƒ4.5–6.3 IS STM (true compact with effective IS; ideal travel walk-around); “pancake-adjacent” stabilized primes worth a look if you want brighter glass in a small package: Canon RF 35mm ƒ1.8 Macro IS STM and RF 85mm ƒ2 Macro IS STM (not literal pancakes, but compact with excellent IS for low-light city strolls). APS-C pocket heroes (all stabilized and truly small): Sony E PZ 16–50mm ƒ3.5–5.6 OSS (power-zoom pancake—gimbal friendly, great close-focus), Nikon Z DX 16–50mm ƒ3.5–6.3 VR (collapsible, featherlight, impressively sharp), Fujifilm XC 15–45mm ƒ3.5–5.6 OIS PZ (ultra-light with useful 15mm wide), Canon RF-S 18–45mm ƒ4.5–6.3 IS STM (tiny, stabilized day-to-day zoom), and Canon EF-M 15–45mm ƒ3.5–6.3 IS STM (legacy mirrorless pancake zoom that punches above its size). Micro Four Thirds mini marvels: Panasonic Lumix G 12–32mm ƒ3.5–5.6 OIS (credit-card small with real OIS) and Panasonic 14–42mm ƒ3.5–5.6 PZ OIS “X Vario” (pancake power-zoom with stabilization and smooth video control); note most Olympus/OM bodies rely on excellent IBIS, so pairing a non-OIS pancake like the M.Zuiko 14–42mm EZ with those bodies still nets very steady shots. Practical buyer tips: pick a 24/28–50/60mm FF compact if you travel light and want the smallest stabilized kit; on APS-C/MFT, the 12/14/15–45/50 class gives you proper wide angle in tight interiors with OIS/VR/OSS baked in; power-zooms are fantastic for video micro-reframes and one-handed operation, manual retractables win for battery life and tactile feel; standardize filter sizes using slim step-up rings to run one CPL/VND without vignetting; shop kit pulls used—many stabilized pancake zooms are better than their reputation and cost very little. Pancake-IS shooting tips: set Auto-ISO with a sensible floor shutter (≈1/125s for people; slower if your stabilization and subject allow), stop down slightly from wide open for corner polish, brace on doorframes or posts at dusk and let IS/VR work, keep a tiny soft hood (or your hand) to flag flare, use close-focus at the wide end for dynamic foregrounds, and in video lean on power-zoom for wobble-free reframes while IBIS/OIS smooths micro-jitter; carry a pocket filter wallet and one spare battery—the joy of stabilized pancakes is that you forget the camera is there until the moment appears, and these lenses keep you nimble, discreet, and ready.