Two weeks with the Pentax 17

[@theangrymarmot8336]

Great review. So many "reviews" are from people who have never even held one. I bought mine soon as the announced the pre-order. I did this for two reasons - one to support the effort, and secondly because I wanted a pocketable camera to replace my aging and somewhat temperamental Minolta HiMatics. The 17 has filled the role perfectly. Fits in my back pocket and takes great pictures. I like Zone focus (my Fuji GS645W is, and some of my HiMatics are as well) as it is fast and easy. I feel the price is perfectly fine. A well built, warrantied camera with modern optics and coatings and accurate meter. I think for the money the 17 is better than the Rollei 35AF (we will see when mine arrives) as the Pentax is way easier from an ergonomics and operation standpoint and is built better. I have been shooting film for 30 years, and owning / repairing / using hundreds of different film cameras over the years - I am quite thrilled to have two brand new ones to use.

[@Shaka1277]

A really fair and sane take! Let me know what you think of the Rollei, if you remember this comment down the line. :)

[@kzed0]

Great review! One thing I'd add from my own experience is that with this great lens, at least with fine grain 100 ISO b&w film, you can get some shockingly good darkroom prints. I printed a bunch of my Pentax 17 negs on 8x10" paper and they look great, sharp and with fine details, I'm very happy with them. For this reason this camera works extremely well as a pocket secondary, also when shooting something big and cumbersome (like LF) as a main.

[@_shreyash_anand]

The 24FPS sounded personal 😂😂

[@andykphoto]

9:14 😹😹😹 not the crossover I was expecting, but I love it

[@pd1jdw630]

Good honest review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[@Ybalrid]

Great review! They put some nice glass on there.. I am still perplexed by the focus mecanism and the slow max shutter speed being combined with a smallest aperture of "just" f/16... I thought 400 ISO film was very *very* popular. Yet this camera cannot shoot 1/500 at f/16 (or any equivalent exposure). Though, it is also true that most of the very popular 400 ISO stocks will do *just fine* with the fraction of a stop of over exposure, so maybe it's not a big deal... Everything else about this camera, I find cool. If it was a bit less expensive I might have considered grabbing one. I hope Ricoh Pentax find great success making more new film cameras. It seems that it's working quite well for them so far? 🙂

[@ZeLoShady]

15:15 The comments made starting around here is so good to hear. People want all metal, perfect lens, perfect AF, perfect build but then turn around and complain it's expensive. HEY IDIOTS, EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE THESE DAYS! I feel like people just assume that this camera has like 1 small PCB with 2 moving parts. Nah people, it's a goddam swiss watch inside that body and they have to pay people to assemble these watches.. I mean cameras. If you complain about the price, go do some inflation calculations and see what your favorite film camera would cost these days if the manufacturing costs were equivalent... which they most likely aren't. The manufacturing cost has probably gone up for more reasons than just inflation. Thanks for being a reasonable voice on the internet Alex. Don't every change

[@flcon16]

2.5mm remote port could actually be really cool on a half frame camera if it wasn't for lack of true manual mode. You could actually set up time lapses and get regular timing. You'd still need to cycle the camera, but it would give you proper even timing of images.

[@aiherzen]

I keep persuading myself that I don't need a pentax 17 but then I get tempted again. Thanks for the great video and a clear explanation of that semi-automated focusing - there's a few things about this camera that suggest it's built with future models in mind.

[@jorbin7417]

Patiently waiting on the Pentax quarter frame

[@Viniter]

I don't understand the electronic focusing thing. It doesn't have autofocus, in a sense that it would automatically put the subject in focus, but the manual dial doesn't manually move the lens... so there's electronic drive that moves the lens to the position selected on the dial. What sense does that make? Only thing that does is delay the time to take a shot and add cost. The price isn't fair if you're paying for parts that don't need to be there. A 500+ euro camera can't be a test bed for lens drive, that serves no purpose. Seriously, can anyone tell me one reason how is this better than adjusting the focus manually?

[@Viniter]

It's hard to tell just how much cost adding a focusing drive adds, because we don't know what the manufacturing cost. But I think it's safe to assume the difference might be similar to the difference between an autofocus lens with internal drive vs one with external screw drive. So something like AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D (screw drive) vs. AF-S Nikkor 50mm F1.4G (internal motor drive), which Nikon lists new for $369.95 and $449.95 respectively, so $80 difference. It's a rough estimate, but add the cost of design and added complexity (you need to read position of the dial, position of the lens, know how much to run the motor to get the focus you need, etc.) and I think it's safe to say it could have been under 500 euros.

[@terrysankey3982]

Good review - you're the only person I've seen to have mentioned the lens focusing on shutter button push! 👍

[@iainmc9859]

We'll find out if its overpriced in 5 years time, when it settles on to the second hand market. Bravo to Pentax, and I think they've done their market research well in trying to target the new film enthusiasts, who simply want more shots per roll for street photography ... but how much extra film could you buy for that relatively high price tag ? Personally, I think the market has already swung towards cheap point and shoot film cameras and CCD sensor compacts.

[@sdcorrey]

I’m in the same boat. I love the idea of this and think it’s really cool, but I’m not buying one. My reasoning is my workflow is built around medium format now and I’m trying to keep things simple. Me ten years ago would have bought one in a heartbeat though!

[@TristanColgate]

I hate to gripe, but why have so many 17 reviewers gone for 400 iso films! Pretty sure one even went with Portra 800. Image quality on 400 iso is half frame is fine, and certainly OK for positing on instagram, but it definitely starts leaning into the area where you kind of have to just not mind grain (I'm there, I print half frame 8x10, but it's not for everyone). But maybe someone could have given a roll of FP4 a go!

[@Shaka1277]

The weather the week I went to Cork was awful and I wanted to use Phoenix to give the meter a thorough test in the shortest possible time. For Germany, I didn't bring much slow film because I was expecting to shoot indoors a lot! I know it isn't ideal, but it made sense for me with the limited time I had. I would love to see some proper landscape work with FP4 or even Pan F.

[@thebitterfig9903]

I’ve seen some shots from the 17 on slide film on Reddit, and the lens is sharp enough, the meter accurate enough, to get some rather nice results. While larger formats will have more detail, it’s a question of volume. Getting close to 80 shots on a single roll of Ektachrome 100 if loading in a dark bag has an appeal, even if shooting twelve shots of 6x6 in a TLR or such would be more dramatic. Getting that many shots out of a roll when traveling somewhere lovely, Acadia Park in peak foliage season, that’s kind of appealing. Particularly if it’s one of two cameras. With a 17 and a TLR, over two rolls of film there will be 12 really special 6x6 positives, but you’ll feel free enough to shoot ordinary things and still have them feel special with the half frame. I feel like that makes sense compared to putting two rolls through a standard 35mm SLR.

[@FroxyCz]

I'm buying this when they have it with AF and faster shutter. The half frame is a bummer but I could live with that.

[@adrianemikko]

Can’t wait for them to make a Ricoh gr1v successor 🤞🤞 one day

[@maximilianshootsfilm]

2:50 that photo of me jumpscareed me lol good photo tho lol

[@see.prash.87]

hey correct me if I am wrong, though the terms are used interchangeably but I think you are using the term "scale focus camera" wrongly. From what I understand this is a zone focus camera (basically it has zones that would be in focus with the depth of the zones determined by the aperture). A scale focus camera would be something like the rollei 35 SE where technically any point at any distance can be in focus (only limited by your ability to judge distance correctly and move the lens accurately). Otherwise loved the video and review!

[@Shaka1277]

That's an entirely fair point, even if I'm far from the only one making that mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.

[@czelendzerii3985]

👏👏👏