Shortly after the launch of the Fujifilm X100 VI, the Pentax 17 makes this the year for hip, retro cameras. But what makes the new Pentax special is that it makes film. Despite all odds, analog photography has quietly grown in popularity in recent years, but few major camera manufacturers have bothered to pay any attention to this trend.
Of course, Leica will sell you a fancy film rangefinder, and Kodak will sell you a standard Ektar H35N as a step up from a disposable camera. Only Pentax has dusted off the old design blueprints to produce a new film camera for a new generation of non-digital photographers.
But what do you get for your $500/£500 investment? And, aside from the design (with subtle references to historic Pentax models), do you actually get what you think you’re getting?
The reality is that the Pentax 17 isn’t quite the point-and-shoot pocket camera you’d expect – nor does it offer the creative control you’d hope for. Let me explain…
1: Zone focus
The Pentax 17 camera lets you work on some things for your photos, but not others. Unlike most cameras at this price, there’s no autofocus, so you have to make sure the shot is sharp. With more basic cameras (such as single-use disposable cameras), the focus is fixed, so you don’t have to do anything. On the Pentax 17 there are six different focus distances. You can adjust the lens using the different icons.
This zone focus system requires you to guess the distance to your subject (there are scales in feet and meters) – or rely on the vagueness of the icons (is it a shot of one or two people, you ask?). But there is a risk that you may misjudge the distance – or simply forget to set it (although at least you can see the selected icon in the viewfinder).
If you’re concerned, you can always switch to full AUTO mode, which will disable zone focus. The camera will then try to keep everything in focus from 1 meter to the horizon.
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2. No manual exposure. No aperture priority.
The Pentax 17 has an impressive-looking mode dial, and you’d be forgiven for thinking this is going to give you any control over exposure settings. But no – this is an AE-only camera, with a choice of different program exposure modes – which set both the aperture and shutter speed for you. For example, Bokeh mode (confusingly referred to as “maximum aperture priority program AE) keeps the lens at its maximum aperture of f/3.5 (but you don’t know which shutter speed is selected). The available aperture range is f/3.5 – f/16, and the shutter speeds that it can set vary from 4 seconds to 1/350 sec (with a separate .
At the very least, you can ignore the auto-metered exposure – as there is an exposure compensation dial – which offers up to +2 to -2 over/underexposure (in 1/3 stop increments). And of course you can also compensate the exposure with the ISO dial.
3. Manual film advance. Manual film rewind.
Above: A handy YouTube video explains the entire rewind procedure well for the uninitiated
Pentax is very proud of its film advance lever: the sound and mechanism encapsulate everything that was great from the golden age of film photography. And that’s quite easy to use (but there is a risk that you won’t get excited if you urgently want to make a recording).
But without a motorized film transport, you also have to manually rewind the film when it’s done. As someone who grew up with standard SLRs, this isn’t an issue. However, there are generations of people who will find this a good hassle.
You need to disengage it using the button at the bottom. Open the crank at the top and keep turning until you feel or hear that the film is safely back in the light-tight canister. If you open the back too early, your film will fog up and ruin your photos. No wonder one of Ricoh’s first YouTube videos shows how to do this. There’s also a similar video made about the tricky process of loading the movie until you know.
4. Non-rechargeable batteries
No one would buy a film camera for its eco-friendly properties, but the battery used by the Pentax 17 is not rechargeable. And on top of that, there is a CR2 type 3 lithium pack that is not available in every mini-mart. Rechargeable CR2 batteries do exist, but Pentax strongly warns you not to use them. And unfortunately, despite the manual film advance/rewind mechanism, you can’t take pictures without the battery (as you could with some vintage film cameras of this type).
5. Film and processing
Those accustomed to using phones or digital cameras will not appreciate the need to keep buying rolls of 35mm film and paying for each edit/print. And those who do may not realize how expensive film and lab costs actually are these days. But of course this is the case with any film camera…
But you also need to realize that although you get twice the exposure per roll with half-frame, you will undoubtedly pay more per roll for printing. And some labs (often the most affordable) simply cannot handle half-frame. If you have a home scanner, you are also unlikely to have a mask that takes into account the 17 x 24 mm dimensions of each frame.
6. Fixed prime
There’s no zoom on the Pentax 17 – and you can’t change the lens. This leaves you with the 25mm fixed wide-angle lens, which gives you an effective focal length of 37mm, which would be on a full-frame camera.
There are also no wide-angle or teleconverters that you can screw into the front of the lens (via the 40.5mm filter thread) – although there’s always the possibility that someone will offer these at some point in the future.
7. Partial dosing
Since there is no digital sensor to measure light level, the exposure meter on this camera is a small window above the lens, which takes the light measurement from the center of the frame. Pentax calls this Partial metering. But there’s no exposure lock and you can’t force it to meter from the corner of the frame – so you’ll have to read the contrast and brightness of the scene and work out the necessary exposure compensation yourself.