Key Takeaways
- New Pentax 17 film camera isn’t the manual body that some traditionalists may have hoped for.
- The half-frame design & automatic settings are off-putting for film enthusiasts looking for manual control.
- Pentax priced the basic point-and-shoot camera at $500, which is pricey for what it is.
When I heard that Pentax was releasing a new film camera, a first in almost 20 years for the company, I was ecstatic. You see, I’ve been a photographer for over 10 years and learned the medium on film. All of my undergraduate photography classes were taught with 35mm SLR cameras using black and white film, and I taught film photography during my graduate school years. Even after all these years, I’m passionate about the benefits of learning photography on film.
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While I don’t shoot analog as often these days, I still have a soft spot for analog and pick it up every now and then. In fact, this year, I’ve been doing so more frequently. I’m not alone in coming back to film, either. Analog photography went out of vogue for a while when digital cameras came around since digital was so much cheaper and easier. But there’s been a bit of a resurgence in the past few years, with more people interested in the delayed gratification and physical qualities inherent to film.
This resurgence has brought a few new film cameras to the market in the past few years, such as the Kodak H35. Pentax first announced it was working on a new film camera back in 2022, and I have eagerly been awaiting details ever since. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I was hoping for.
![The Pentax 17 camera against a white background.](https://static1.pocketlintimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/pentax-17-film-camera.jpg)
I had high hopes for the new Pentax film camera
But the basic features let me down
Pentax
Pentax is the same company that makes one of my favorite film cameras, the K1000. If you aren’t familiar with that camera, it’s a rather bare-bones but highly durable, fully mechanical camera that was (and is) incredibly popular. There’s no autofocus and no auto exposure of any type. Since Pentax made this iconic device, I had high hopes that its new film camera would follow in the footsteps of the K1000, at least to a certain extent.
However, Pentax did not take this approach with its revitalization of the film camera. Instead, the Pentax 17 goes the way of the other new film cameras from the past few years. It’s largely a basic point-and-shoot camera. It uses a built-in lens, which, based on the provided sample images, doesn’t look particularly high-quality, at least not to the standards that I was hoping for.
But when I picture a revival of analog photography, I hope for manual settings that truly force people to slow down and think about what they are doing, not just point the camera and snap away more or less as they would with digital.
My biggest grip, though, isn’t the built-in lens. I can get behind a camera that doesn’t require a separate lens. Instead, two features frustrated me the most: the half-frame design and the automatic settings.
The Pentax 17 uses 35mm film, but it’s built to expose slightly less than half of that at a given time, with each image measuring just 17 x 24mm. The new camera “produces vertical-format pictures, with similar ratios to those captured by smartphones, for seamless sharing on social media after the film is developed and scans are produced by a film lab,” Pentax said in its press release. While I suppose I understand wanting to capitalize on devices people currently use, I am disappointed that this is the camera I waited two years to hear about, especially since Kodak’s half-frame is still fairly new at this point.
My other complaint is the lack of manual settings. The Pentax 17 offers seven different automatic modes for different lighting situations. It is more advanced than other recent film cameras in that it features a metering sensor and automatically adjusts settings, as opposed to a fixed shutter speed and aperture. But there’s still no option for manual control. Also, to focus on the Pentax 17, you have to rely on the zone-focusing system, which uses six different zones. That means there’s always some level of guesswork in getting your shots in focus.
Yes, automatic controls make film photography more approachable and easier for most people. But when I picture a revival of analog photography, I hope for manual settings that truly force people to slow down and think about what they are doing, not just point the camera and snap away more or less as they would with digital.
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The Pentax 17 has its place
But the price keeps it out of reach for many
Pentax
I’m not so snobby when it comes to film photography that I don’t think there’s a time and place for cameras like the Pentax 17. I thoroughly enjoy basic cameras like these from time to time as a way to focus on fun and less on the technical. But this is where my third complaint with the Pentax 17 comes in. The new camera is priced at $499.95. That is incredibly expensive for a basic point-and-shoot camera.
You can easily pick up a good-condition Pentax K1000 with a lens for that same price and get the advantage of a higher-quality lens, more control over your settings, and full-frame 35mm images. Or, you can get the Kodak H35 half-frame film camera for $45, granted it is less advanced and features a plastic body compared to the magnesium alloy of the 17. Even still, $500 for a camera that is slightly fancier than what’s usually classified as a toy camera is rather absurd.
Beyond the shock at the high price, I’m also annoyed that this style of camera seems to be all that film camera manufacturers are releasing lately.
Beyond the shock at the high price, I’m also annoyed that this style of camera seems to be all that film camera manufacturers are releasing lately. Those of us wanting slightly more advanced, technical, or high-quality cameras are stuck relying on the used market for aging cameras.
Now, Pentax has hinted that the 17 is the first in a series of new analog cameras. So, I still hope we see a brand new, more advanced film camera eventually. Whether that happens or not likely depends on how well the 17 does, and there’s also no hint as to the timetable for when additional cameras may come. For now, I suppose I will enjoy my antique cameras and the occasional point-and-shoot for fun.