Half Frame Wonder -Pentax 17

[@flowermaze___]

I didn’t expect this! Cool to see you looking at a film camera. What Pentax as done is amazing, to bring a NEW film camera is a great sign for the future of film 🎞️ no reason film and digital can’t exist together: it’s maybe like music still being on vinyl and also digitally on Spotify etc

[@abhinaybuiss]

Nice in detail walk through and review. So many YTvs focusing solely on the price aspect and then outright rejecting the camera without giving the rest of the aspects a second thought. This video is a fresh and fitting answer to them.

[@caw25sha]

A camera with broadly similar specifications produced 30 to 40 years ago would have been considered a high end or premium compact, and would have cost perhaps £200 to £250 in the UK. Allowing for inflation the Pentax is good value.

[@seaeagles6025]

Hi Matti, its good of Pentax to bring out this Film camera. Young photographers will enjoy using this camera as they grew up in the Digital Age, and they want to experience Film Photography. I'm impressed that Pentax had there Logo on the camera instead of having the Ricoh brand. Photographers can relate to that famous Pentax Logo. Also they released the Pentax KF APSC DSLR, and they had the Pentax Logo on the camera. I wonder whether Ricoh will just keep the Ricoh Logo on there GR Series and Compact cameras, and leave the Pentax Logo just for there DSLR cameras. As they only produce DSLR cameras and not Mirrorless cameras. Nice to have watched this video. Thanks Matti. 😊

[@davidmill7289]

Thanks Matti. I’ll definitely think about this one in the future, but having recently returned to film I’m currently enjoying using some lovely old cameras at the moment (Oly OM2, Chinon CX, Canon T60 & Pentax ME Super).

[@terrywbreedlove]

Pentax makes a modern K1000 with modern metering and build etc and I am in.

[@caw25sha]

They still make K mount lenses for their current DSLRs so it's entirely feasible to make one or two updated versions of the old K mount film SLRs.

[@petemellows]

I was excited for this camera. We have 5 film cameras at home and every one of them requires some kind of service. However, build quality aside, the camera was outside my budget. I ended up purchasing an old Ricoh X7 for $150 AUD, which takes all my K-Mount lenses. Great summary of this camera, which still leaves me sitting on the fence 😆

[@mattisulanto]

Thanks. I think if you are not a beginner this might not be for you.

[@dunnymonster]

I applaud Pentax for going forward with producing this film camera. I'd like to see a full 35mm film model released however with full manual controls. It would also be great if it had an old M42 screw mount so we could just buy the old manual film lenses and use whatever focal length we prefer 🙂

[@caw25sha]

I think they'll produce an SLR but K mount, for which they still produce lenses on top of the huge number of old Pentax and third party lenses available. One or two of the Chinese manufacturers make a few M42 lenses but apart from that the only options are very old and in uncertain condition. The old M42 Takumars were excellent but at least half a century old now, and often radioactive which would probably put a lot of people off. Using old lenses on mirrorless cameras with an adapter is a popular niche pasttime but launching a new camera reliant on very old lenses or creating a separate range of new lenses would be a bad business decision.

[@zenonbillings9008]

I have 2 Takumar lenses that i purchased new 51 years ago and use them on my old and much loved G9 lumix with an adapter. and everything that i shoot is in manual settings with this set up, it gives me that old camera /lens combo nostalgia feeling. zen billings in canada

[@philosimot]

Unlike you, I had already missed the portrait format preference in the 1970s/80s and was happy about the Olympus Pen F SLR 18/24mm, on which I used OM-Zuiko lenses via OM adapter. Especially nice with slides: always a couple in the slide frame;-))

[@johnjon1823]

The blurry photos are not blurry, they are artistic. It was an artistic choice in experimental art. It is a test of fuzzy-subliminal cultural art during the later part of the year in northern climes, which is why you now need to seek funding for trips to other places to repeat the technique. For instance, you can come to NY and shoot a fuzzy statue of Liberty and people can debate if her armpits are shaved or not under her weathered copper clothing and if the government should fund research into it. These are the big questions which ONLY YOUR fuzzy art can inspire us to answer. OR perhaps you can get to the space station and shoot a fuzzy earth wherein the title of the print would be: "Is there any clarity to be had on the blue and white ball?" Transcendent that fuzzy art. You need to go with it! 👍👍👍

[@mattisulanto]

Thanks so much for making sense to this and encouraging me to continue on that path😅

[@jonglass]

My biggest "problem" with this camera is that it turns out I don't shoot a lot of photos! I got my about a week or two after it came out, and I'm still on my first roll of 48 exposures! I fear that for me to get the most out of this camera, I may need to roll my own film with fewer exposures per roll. Other than that (oh, and forgetting to remove the lens cap) I'm loving my 17.

[@abhinaybuiss]

The beauty lies in the physical copies you can hold and feel. That feeling can't be replaced, and it grows on people eventually. I'd give it more time if I were you, then watch myself inspired!

[@borderlands6606]

A few years ago I would have said, why bring out a new film camera when the world is awash with inexpensive 35mm compact cameras? To a large extent this still holds true, but as you say those cameras are getting old, and young people might see film as a random, hit-or-miss experience instead of a technically precise one. For a long time Japanese Camera Hunter tried to get a new 35mm compact off the ground, but was stymied because of lack of shutter manufacturers. So it's good to see Pentax using their historic expertise in this area.

[@andreazevedo8325]

Hey Matti!! Hope everything is going well. You already know I was eager for this video of your opinion on this brand new film camera. Personally I think its a very well achieved camera by Pentax, its completly directed to begginer instagram film photographers in my opinion. About being a halfframe camera, for me personally as a firm film photographer in the last year, I love the halfframe format, I feel its a good format for telling stories, as you can adjust the dyptich you can get if you digitize 2 frames at a time. But having said that... I still prefer to risk and try to get a good old and trustwhorty 1960's Canon Demi, good shaped, near mint and still totally functional working ones cost from 100 to 300 euros on ebay from Japan shops, and they are full solid metal tanks (i should know I have 5 of them, one of each model of the Canon demi) that work well and produce stunning shots. But that is just my opinion, I already had quite a few working halframe or fullframe film cameras before the Pentax 17 was released. Nevertheless, its wonderful for the photography community that in 2024 we still have a brand new begginer friendly film camera launched, it shows film is not dead. About your video, Matti some of the bw shots came out magnificent, but for halfframe format, in my opinion, and I reiterate my opinion, its better to leave the digitizing to the specialized film labs and their Fuji and Noritsu specialized film scanners, they get the most out of the halfframe negative. To finish, thank you for your sincere comments on this brand new film camera, but I hope to see you shooting film a bit more often, who knows maybe here in Lisboa. All the best my friend, have fun 👍👍👍

[@mattisulanto]

Thanks my friend for sharing your thoughts and experience.

[@caw25sha]

Apparently on Auto, white program and yellow program it always uses at least 1/30 second which with that lens should be enough to avoid camera shake in normal situations. I'm not sure what happens in those modes if it can't use 1/30 or faster. Some sort of warning flash or bleep maybe? Personally I don't object to the half frame. It also means half price per frame and people who shoot film aren't worried about ultimate image quality - look at the photos on the Lomography site. I actually shoot film to escape from clinically over-perfect digital images. The 17 is a wabi sabi camera.

[@WhoIsSerafin]

If they remake the K1000 all mechanical I’m in and I have not shot 35mm since 2004.

[@Biosynchro]

Hopefully the new SLR, if they make one, will be a little more capable than the K1000. Nothing wrong with the K1000, but it is a little bit too basic for my taste.

[@WhoIsSerafin]

@@Biosynchro bare bones basic is what I want. But something super well made and new.

[@Biosynchro]

@@WhoIsSerafin Hopefully not so clackety-clackety.

[@RobertVE3VPL]

I thought it was smart to use manual film advance. I think that a motorized film advance would have ruined the user experience.

[@mattisulanto]

I agree 100%.

[@ruuddirks5565]

I find it difficult to determine the target group for this camera.

[@mattisulanto]

Like I said, first time film shooters.

[@terrywbreedlove]

3:08 the indicator is between your Ears. You should know what you can hand hold and get sharp images based on your lens focal length. Hint the wider the lens the slower shutter you can hand hold and still get sharp images. For easy example you won’t want to shoot at 60th of a second shutter with a 500mm but you can easily with a 35mm.

[@mattisulanto]

Well, the problem is, like I explained in the video, that the camera does not display the shutter speed. So, I have no idea what speed the camera wants to use. I explained that in the video but maybe you did not listen to what I was saying.

[@terrywbreedlove]

@@mattisulanto This is basically a point and shoot camera. And with the 25mm lens you’re really will not have trouble hand holding. If you are in a very dark shoot where you would. Then you should know you need a tripod or to use the flash. It is basic photography skills.

[@abhinaybuiss]

​@@terrywbreedlovethat's not the point here, whether to go ahead with that shot or take the risk of wasting it would be avoided if that information was handy.

[@mattisulanto]

@@terrywbreedlove You seem to be a real expert photographer. Could you please share a link for your online portfolio for me to learn more by looking at your photos.

[@terrywbreedlove]

@@mattisulanto I shoot so many cameras that don’t even have a meter. 4x5 my Hasselblad 503CW even my old Pentax Spotmatic. I never have the trouble you are having. One of my favorites is actually my old Olympus Point and shoot. Just point and shoot like the 17. You want more control I get it. But that isn’t what this camera is about. Anyway here you go. @terry_breedlove

[@brugj03]

Don`t get fooled it`s just a plastic piece of junk, way to expensive for what it is. The photos are also plain bad, very low contrast and detail. Just no fun.

[@brugj03]

@Franhood No, i`m not. photographic quality suffers badly under poor image quality. For photographic quality my smartphone will do much better.

[@brugj03]

@Franhood Nice to know.

[@cameraprepper7938]

Thank you, but no, that camera would have been ok in the past, not today. I think that all the analogue photography should have been in the past, as a lifetime environmentalist I do not like all the chemicals that follows with analogue photography.

[@nikoladimitrijevic8172]

Then go and recycle your DSLR/MILC, mobile phone, laptop... The chemicals used in its extraction of lithium are incomparably worse for the environment.

[@cameraprepper7938]

@@nikoladimitrijevic8172 I will NEVER be as much as chemicals from film !!!

[@nikoladimitrijevic8172]

@@cameraprepper7938 Just google "lithium mining". In my country (6.5 million people) everyone has a cell phone. A lot of people have a few of them. Most have laptops. I alone have 7 batteries for digital cameras. But there are only two film labs in the entire country. The impact of chemicals involved in analog photography is negligible compared to other chemical companies and heavy industries. There are only a few factories (single digit number) in the entire world that produce film at all.

[@cameraprepper7938]

@@steven3557 So you do not know how much film chemicals destroy ! noob