Buying A Pentax 17?

Should you buy a new Pentax 17? It depends.

The Pentax 17 is the first new film camera offered by the venerable Japanese camera manufacturer in a long, long time. And who said film is dead. LOL.

But there are some things you should know before you consider this purchase.

First thing is this is a half-frame format film camera. That means while it takes any 35mm colour or black and white film (a very good thing) it actually shoots only half the 35mm frame at a time thus yielding 72 frames per roll. This results in an immediate huge saving in cost as 35mm film stock is not cheap. (Another very good thing indeed.)

But a half-frame also means you’re only using half the 35 mm frame resulting in images that will be harder to size up without running into significant quality issues with grain. (There is software that can minimize grain issues.)

But think of it this way: If you fill the half-size frame with your composition then you’re going to get the same quality of image if you had shot a full 35mm image but needed to crop it by 50% and enlarge it.

Another challenge is the Pentax has a fixed “zone” focus system. You look through a frame finder and you guess your focus using one of the Pentax 17’s six fixed focusing positions on the lens.

This isn’t as hard as it sounds and in videos I’ve watched has worked out pretty well.

The Pentax 17 has a fixed f/3.5 25mm (37mm equivalent) lens which is said to be pretty sharp but the shutter speed is limited to a 1/320th of a second. The good news is the camera has a built-in small flash.

All this comes down to this: The Pentax 17 isn’t for everyone. Because the 35mm film strip is doubled to 17mm the camera shoots verticals when held horizontally and horizontal shots when held vertically. That’s going to take a little time to get used to doing LOL.

So what is the Pentax 17 good for and who might be buying?

I’ll speculate right now Pentax is going to sell the 17 in the hundreds of thousands world wide.

Why? Photographers and especially young photographers who are interested in photography as an art form or as a way to produce actual tangible photographic prints are moving toward film cameras.

Film is analogue and takes more care and work than shooting with a cellphone or a digital point-and-shoot or mirrorless pro-grade system.

As I said shooting film is expensive at $13/roll (Cdn) and then you have to develop it (easy to do if it’s black and white and then easy to scan into your own computer) or take it to a lab if it’s colour for developing and scanning and printing.

Why would anyone go to all this trouble and expensive? It’s because shooting film is a different artistic experience than shooting digital. It takes more time and in the hands of a competent photographer yields a more artistic image.

I can see the Pentax 17 being carried everywhere that young (or young thinking) photographers want to take a camera capable of recording the experiences of their lives in a way that digital just can’t reproduce.

And while you can buy older used Nikons and Canons and larger format cameras on E-Bay from Japan for half the price (my Nikon FE arrived in four days!!) these older cameras are heavier (a lot) and more prone to break down or needing repairs or overhauls while the Pentax 17 is brand new in the box.

But the arrival of the Pentax 17 begs the question: What’s next?

There’s a new full-frame film autofocus Rollei 35 in the works and if this comes to the marketplace while it’s likely going to be more expensive than the Pentax 17 it will come with a storied history as a beloved manual zone-focusing small 35mm film camera. Likely to be bought again in the hundreds of thousands worldwide the Rollei will likely appeal to a more experienced photographer who already owns an older Rollei 35 or always wished they had.