I’ve spent the past month shooting the first new Pentax film camera to be released in nearly 20 years. It’s called the Pentax 17, and my time with it has left me with a lot of beautiful pictures and one confirmed opinion; the Pentax 17 is a wonderful and exciting camera for those of us who love shooting film.
The significance of this new film camera should not be overlooked. We’ve come a long way since the early the days of #filmisnotdead. And while it’s true that the film community is larger and stronger than at any time in the last dozen-or-so years, it’s also true that none of the major camera companies have produced a brand-new film camera in approximately two decades.
Canon and Nikon no longer sell film cameras. Even their final (now-discontinued) models were holdovers from the early 2000s. Leica’s current film cameras are remade from old designs and cost too much money to have had a meaningful impact for the vast majority of existing or would-be film photographers. The super-affordable 35mm film cameras marketed under well-known brand names, and those that we find on the shelves at Target are perfectly fine, but they’re not much more than re-loadable disposable cameras in terms of build and image quality.
For years now, film nerds have wanted a new, truly capable, and fairly-priced film camera from a major brand.
Pentax is here with an answer. It’s called the Pentax 17.
What is the Pentax 17?
The Pentax 17 is a half-frame point-and-shoot 35mm film camera, with a surprisingly robust amount of manual controls, multiple shooting modes, exposure compensation control, user-selectable ISO setting, and a built-in flash.
It carries a 25mm f/3.5 lens, which equates to an approximate 35mm focal length in full-frame terms.
It’s compact and lightweight, with a striking design and a lovely satin titanium-esque paint finish.
Pentax 17 Specs
- Camera Type: Half Frame, behind-the-lens shutter 35mm film camera
- Frame Size: 24 x 17mm (half-frame)
- Compatible Film: 35mm film, ISO 50, 100, 125, 160, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
- Sensitivity Setting: Manual setting to match film
- Film Loading: Easy manual loading system
- Film Advance: Manual winding using wind lever (130-degree stroke and 35-degree stand-off angle)
- Film Rewind: Manual rewind using rewind crank; mid-roll rewind possible
- Lens: HD Pentax Lens; 3 elements in 3 groups
- Focal Length: 25mm (equivalent to 37mm in full frame format)
- Maximum Aperture: f/3.5
- Angle of View: 61 degrees
- Maximum Magnification: Approximately 0.13x (at 0.25m)
- Filter Diameter: 40.5mm
- Viewfinder: Optical bright-frame viewfinder with composition frame, close-up composition frame, and zone focus setting visible in VF; Blue LED warning light, orange LED flash indicator light
- Focusing: Manual zone-focus control; six zones
- Exposure Control: Partial metering from EV2.5 to16.5 (ISO 100)
- Exposure Compensation: +/- 2 EV in 1/3 steps
- Shooting Modes: Full auto (Pan focus program AE, Auto flash), Standard (Program AE, Flash off), Slow-speed shutter (Slow-speed program AE, Flash off), Maximum aperture priority (Maximum aperture priority program AE, Flash off), Bulb (Bulb, Flash off), Daylight sync (Program AE, Flash on) , Slow-speed sync (Slow-speed program AE, Flash on)
- Shutter: Program AE electronic shutter; speeds 1/350 to 4 seconds, Bulb
- Flash: Built-in flash with guide number 6 at ISO 100 – m); 9 second charge time
- Power Source: One 3V lithium battery (CR2); not compatible with rechargeable batteries; approximate life of 10 rolls of 36 exposure film
- Dimensions and Weight: Approx. 127.0(W)×78.0 (H)×52.0(D)mm / 5.0(W)×3.1(H)×2.0(D)inches (excluding protruding parts); 290g (10.2 oz)
- Price: $499.95
First Impression
When Pentax announced their intention to build new film cameras more than two years ago, initial speculation was rampant. At first, no one (myself included) knew what sort of camera Pentax would release. Would it be an SLR? A luxury point-and-shoot? A cheap plastic camera like those we can buy in Target, just slightly better than a disposable, or something old-fashioned, mechanical and made of metal? We had no idea.
As the project proceeded, Pentax released occasional updates which answered some of the questions around their planned film cameras. We soon learned that the brand intended to begin the film project by launching a point-and-shoot film camera aimed at a younger demographic. We also learned, notably, that the camera would be a half-frame camera.
A standard full frame camera exposes an image with dimensions of 24 x 36mm. Half-frame cameras make images that are half as large (17 x 24), but oriented in such a way as to fit two images onto every normal full sized frame. This means that by using a half-frame camera compared with a normal full-frame camera, we are able to shoot double the number of images on a standard roll of 35mm film. In a camera like this Pentax, a normal 36 exposure roll of film yields a stunning 72 pictures, essentially halving our film and development costs.
The flip side is that we are only able to achieve half the resolution per image. When using half-frame cameras with poor lenses, the compromise becomes stark.
The revelation that Pentax’s new camera would be a half-frame camera was a big deal. While there have been some truly astonishing half-frame film cameras made in the past, there is a general reputation held by many in the photography world that half-frame cameras present an insurmountable compromise. To some, half-frame means an unacceptable sacrifice in image quality.
Would the Pentax camera make sharp, punchy half-frame pictures, such as those made by the classic Olympus Pen half-frame cameras, or low-res, muddy pictures, made by other, cheap, unnamed half-frame cameras? I’ve shot terrible half-frame cameras, and I’ve shot remarkable half-frame cameras. So Pentax’s announced intention did not elicit from me a sharp reaction. I simply decided to wait and see what sort of pictures the new camera would make.
When I first pulled the Pentax 17 from its box, everything about the camera stretched my expectations. The design was unlike anything I’d seen. I didn’t expect it to be so asymmetrical. I didn’t expect it to look so utilitarian. I didn’t expect it to have so many boldly-positioned manual controls or obvious shooting modes. Even the color took me by surprise. It was clear on first sight that Pentax had at least created something unique and interesting.
I inserted the camera’s battery (a standard CR2 battery), loaded a roll of film, and began shooting.
Design, Controls, and Ergonomics
The physical and aesthetic design of the Pentax 17 is unexpected. It doesn’t look like a classic camera. It doesn’t look like a modern digital camera. It looks rather like a vaguely utilitarian photographic tool reminiscent of some of Pentax’s early digital cameras, or even some old weatherproof film camera from decades ago (though I should be clear – this camera is not waterproof).
The top and bottom plates are made of a lightweight magnesium alloy and finished in a titanium-esque paint color, like so many of my favorite film cameras. Where plastic is used, it is imprinted with designs intended to evoke a feeling of machined, knurled, and diamond grip metal.
On the whole, it’s a unique and handsome camera, but I hope that Pentax releases versions in different liveries in the future.
The top of the Pentax 17 displays a number of interesting flourishes. The brand name PENTAX is engraved in bold type upon the viewfinder housing. Surrounding this we find the words CRAFTSMANSHIP by PENTAX, FILM CAMERA, and an AO Co. logo.
This last bit of forgivable self-indulgence hearkens back to the olden days. The AO Co. logo comes from 1938, when Pentax was known as Asahi Optical Co., and similar or identical logos can be found on many of their classic camera designs, including the famous Pentax 67 (the new “17” branding uses the same font as was used for that camera, too).
The 17’s controls are laid out in a sensible way. On the top plate we find the On/Off switch, a mode selector dial, an exposure compensation dial, a film wind and shutter cocking lever, a film rewind knob, the manual ISO selector and its locking button, and the camera’s shutter release button. There’s also a window which displays the number of shots made on a loaded roll of film.
The front of the camera holds the lens, naturally, as well as the manual focus control surrounding the lens. There’s also a prominent hand grip which doubles as a battery compartment cover.
The back of the camera is mostly devoid of features. We find a terminal to accept cable switch CS-205 for hands free shutter release and long exposures, and a film memo holder (this holds the end flap of a roll of film to remind us what type of film is loaded into the camera.
The bottom plate has the film rewind button, which we press before manually rewinding the film with the rewind knob, and a metal tripod socket.
On the whole, the Pentax 17 feels great to use. Despite its small size and light weight, it doesn’t feel cheap or fragile. All of the camera’s dials, knobs, and switches actuate with satisfying weight and resistance. The film transport mechanism feels smooth and precise, like some of the best cameras of the 1970s and ’80s (I think of Minolta’s mechanically-driven point-and-shoots, and even the Olympus rangefinders of the 1970s).
The film rewind knob feels similarly excellent. I think back to my time reviewing the Kodak Ektar H35, and while that is a much less costly camera, the film rewind knob on that machine was stunningly poor.
Practical Use
The most important dial on the Pentax 17 is its shooting mode dial. This dial cycles the camera through the following shooting modes:
- Auto – the camera automatically sets exposure time and lens aperture, and selects when and how to use the flash.
- Program – the camera automatically sets the exposure time and lens aperture, and does not fire the flash.
- Program Daylight Sync Flash – the camera automatically sets exposure time and lens aperture, and always uses the flash; for use when a subject is backlit or in shadow.
- Slow Speed Program – moon symbol, for use when longer exposures are prioritized.
- Slow Speed Program Flash – bright moon symbol, for use when longer exposures are prioritized and a flash is required.
- Bokeh – the camera uses the maximum aperture at all times.
- Bulb – maximum aperture is used, and the shutter remains open for as long as it is held.
The camera’s minimum focusing distance is a respectably close 10 inches (0.24 meters). Focus is handled manually and is selected by spinning a ring around the lens mount. This ring shows three measurement scales:
- a pictograph depicting symbols relative to distances (flower for macro close up shots, a person for portrait distance, mountains for infinity, etc.) positioned at the top of the lens barrel.
- a zone scale in feet, positioned bottom right of the lens.
- a zone scale in meters, positioned bottom left of the lens.
The uppermost focus markings, the pictograph, are nicely projected into the viewfinder so that when looking through the viewfinder, it’s possible to adjust focus without taking our eye from the camera. Additionally, the viewfinder shows frame lines for composition, as well as containing parallax corrected frame lines for up close subjects, and two LED which inform the user of flash status.
When held in the normal horizontal way that most cameras are held, the Pentax 17’s viewfinder presents a vertically-oriented frame. Pentax says that this will help the new camera feel more natural to users who are accustomed to the vertical aspect of cell phone photography. Coincidentally, I’ve found myself making almost exclusively vertically oriented photos in the last few years. Maybe they’re right.
The exposure compensation dial is positioned to the left of the viewfinder, and is adjustable in -/+ 2 stop increments. This physical dial is easy and effective, and as with most aperture/shutter priority cameras, I use it all the time.
The ISO sensitivity dial spans from ISO 50 to 3200 and is locked by a button. This manual ISO control is great news for those who want to push/pull their film.
The camera feels good in the hands. It’s nicely balanced, light, and the controls rest where they need to be for fast and comfortable use. The large hand grip allows the 17 to be used one-handed if need be, and two configurations of strap lugs are always present for mounting a horizontal or vertical neck strap, or wrist strap.
Halfway through my first roll of film, handling the camera became second nature. I was able to quickly and accurately select my desired exposure mode, exposure compensation setting, and manual focus distance. So easy was the camera to use, and so much did it feel like a streamlined modern camera, in fact, that I often forgot to cock the shutter and wind the film before trying to take a photo. In these instances, alternating orange and blue LED lights flash in the viewfinder as a warning – “You forgot something, fool!”
My Personal Qualms
There are a couple of places where the happy ergonomics break down. The first which cropped up for me was found when loading the camera’s battery. The battery cover is held on with a slotted screw, but there’s nothing retaining it to the battery cover once it’s totally loosened. Once it’s loose, it’s free to slip through your fingers and disappear forever. I dropped mine during a car ride. It landed between the seat and the center console, and only after five minutes of hunting did it find its way back into my hands. I think this part should be captured into the battery cover somehow.
My next complaint is purely aesthetic. The front of the camera is wrapped in a leatherette covering. It’s supple and nice. The film door on the back of the camera is a piece of textured, molded plastic. This mismatch in material finish is strange. I’d prefer that either the leatherette continue around to the backside of the camera, or that both the front and back surfaces be uniform with some other material. As it is, it’s an odd style choice, further cementing my hope that Pentax releases this camera in additional colorways.
Lastly, the main mode dial is somewhat confusing. As I understand it, the flash modes are sort of prepackaged with some of the exposure modes, as denoted by some of the modes being separated into their own framed icons on the dial. I’d almost prefer separate dials; one to control the exposure modes and one to control the flash modes. I get what Pentax is doing – they’re creating a single dial to likely save cost, but also to simplify the camera’s operation for inexperienced users. I get it, and it works, especially since we’re almost always just going to leave the dial on Auto. But for me, more controls would be ideal.
The Lens, Exposure, and Image Quality
The lens is a 25mm f/3.5, which converts to a focal length equivalent of about 35mm on a full frame camera. This makes it a versatile lens for many types of photography. Snapshots, street, landscape, general travel photos, and contextual portraits are all easily possible with this focal length, and the fairly quick maximum aperture (for a point-and-shoot) combines with the built-in flash to make the 17 a capable low light camera. Spin the dial to Slow Speed Flash, hit the streets at night, and become the next Daido Moriyama. Easy!
The true test of the lens (and the camera itself, really) would not be answered until I developed my first roll of film and saw just what sort of images the tiny lens could make. I shot through my first roll of images with apprehension. My recent experience with half-frame cameras left much to be desired in terms of image quality. The anxious wait was only exacerbated by the amount of time it took to get through my film – a half-frame camera means 72 pictures per roll, and I shoot slow.
In order to adequately test the lens’ performance, I’ve curated a variety of shots for this review.
I shot one roll of Kodak Portra 400, a color negative film, and sent it for development through a photo lab.
I developed a roll of black-and-white Ilford HP5 at home, using my standard development methodology.
Lastly, I reached out to my friend Ned Bunnell. I’ve long admired Ned’s photos. During a visit to his and his wife’s home in Florida, I spent as much time as I politely could absorbing a hanging gallery of his photos from Cuba. He’s a wonderful photographer (better than I, by far), with a keen eye for composition. While he is now retired, he was once the president of Pentax USA.
I knew from conversations with Ned that he had also been spending time with the Pentax 17. I asked him what he thought about the camera, and whether he’d be willing to share some of his test photos with my readers. Happily, he agreed.
Ned’s images were made with Kodak Portra and Kodak Tri-X. His photos are marked where they appear in the galleries below.
One of the fun things about a half-frame camera is that we can make diptychs, two thematically relevant or complementary images on one frame, to be presented as a single piece of work.
Images from this lens aren’t perfect, but they’re strong. They’re sharp and vibrant, and although they don’t display the resolution of a full frame camera, they retain plenty of resolution for most use cases. Viewing the images made with this camera on a phone or computer, one will never notice any deficiency. Here, they’re simply gorgeous and grainy and rich with filmic quality. Only when we drastically zoom in do the shots begin to break down.
There’s no significant light fall-off on the edges of the frame, even when shooting wide open in Bokeh mode. I do see some fairly heavy chromatic aberration (color fringing) in high contrast areas of my images, which may bother more traditionally-oriented photographers. With Pentax targeting younger or new film shooters, these sort of optical aberrations often morph into desirable traits. The lomo effect: perfection is bad.
In normal everyday photography, there’s no egregious distortion. Flares and ghosts don’t seem to happen, even when shooting into the sun, and it’s possible to get nice starbursts of light when pointing the camera at ultra-bright light sources.
The camera’s exposure system works incredibly well. Exposures are consistently perfect, even when shooting in challenging conditions, such as when a subject is backlit. When using exposure compensation, results are predictable and well-modulated. The flash is also well-controlled and functions well as a fill flash or to freeze action.
The making or breaking of the Pentax 17 was always going to hinge on image quality. While the capabilities of this lens aren’t as perfect as some of the exceptional full frame glass that I’ve used over the years, the images that the Pentax 17 makes are quite striking and beautifully rendered.
[Images in the gallery below are made by Ned Bunnell and published with permission.]
Shows an adjustment in exposure compensation. Image courtesy of Ned Bunnell.
Final Thoughts
I’ve tried to approach the Pentax 17 with a balanced mind. I’ve tried to assess it rationally and objectively, and to present a cool and even review. But the truth is, I love this camera.
I love it because it takes nice pictures. I love it because it looks interesting, and it’s small, and it fits in my pocket or a bag without weighing me down. I love it because it’s easy to use, and offers creative controls, and because my daughters also seem to love it.
But most of all, the Pentax 17 excites me because of what it means for people like me, people who love shooting film and using interesting film cameras.
In 2022, when Pentax announced plans to create a series of new film cameras, they weren’t vague or obtuse. They openly stated their goals and challenges. They said that their intention was to build four new cameras, the first of which was described as a compact point-and-shoot camera which would be attractive and affordable for young people. Then, they said that they intend to examine a range of technologies with the aim of producing a high end compact. After that will be an SLR camera, followed finally by a “fully mechanical SLR.”
That first camera, the compact point-and-shoot? That’s the Pentax 17. On Pentax’s roadmap, that’s where we are today. Where we go from here, only time will tell.
But whatever the future holds, the Pentax 17 is a great camera, and an incredible achievement for the folk at Pentax. It’s also an exciting look at what may be coming. I’m hoping that the Pentax 17 finds its audience, and that film photographers young and old will embrace it as the rare and wonderful thing which I think it to be. An all-new, high quality film camera unveiled in 2024? Who could’ve ever guessed.
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Fantastic to finally see this long-awaited camera in the wild. The itch to experiment with diptychs is strong, and I’m glad the build quality is up to scratch too. Great review!