Pentax: Two new compact film cameras planned - Pentax 17 announced June 2024

[halfaman]

I was recently in a conversation with a guy that spoke with Takeo and he told him that most people at Pentax thinks this "film project" is a waste of time and they hope it crashes the sooner the better. He bought some limited time and resources from the managment, but no one besides Takeo believes this is going to last.

This camera is not for me, really the opposite of what I look for, but it is up to us to show Pentax management whether they are right or wrong about film camera market. Just put our money where our mouth is. And hopefully more cameras will appear and eventually one of them will be really for us.

By the way, this person also tried the camera and told me it is really a solid performer. Well built and with an excellent lens.

 

[Agulliver]

This camera is not for any of us. Nor is it a toy camera. It is not aimed at us folk at all. Never has been. The next one, should it happen, might appeal to some of us.

What I see in the top plate is a set of controls that could be transferred to a better P&S and then to a SLR at a later date.

I very much doubt that Pentax/Ricoh will have gone to all this effort in R&D, social media and so on with the hope/intention that it "crahses the sooner the better". That just wouldn't make any sense.

 

[koraks]

Pentax/Ricoh will have gone

A corporation is not an indivisible entity. It's a bunch of individuals. There are fractions with different interests, political processes and people opposed to things their colleagues are up to. There's also nearly always competition for scarce resources.

I think the camera might appeal to a large market segment of for instance Chinese buyers who are not represented here, on Reddit or any other Western platform.

 

[halfaman]

I very much doubt that Pentax/Ricoh will have gone to all this effort in R&D, social media and so on with the hope/intention that it "crahses the sooner the better". That just wouldn't make any sense.

The "effort" employed resources that are already in place (people, materials and machines). Pentax managers approved (or tolerated) to use a few them for this project. I don't think it could be compared to what it takes to develop the next generation of digital cameras.

 

[Cholentpot]

I was recently in a conversation with a guy that spoke with Takeo and he told him that most people at Pentax thinks this "film project" is a waste of time and they hope it crashes the sooner the better. He bought some limited time and resources from the managment, but no one besides Takeo believes this is going to last.

This camera is not for me, really the opposite of what I look for, but it is up to us to show Pentax management whether they are right or wrong about film camera market. Just put our money where our mouth is. And hopefully more cameras will appear and eventually one of them will be really for us.

By the way, this person also tried the camera and told me it is really a solid performer. Well built and with an excellent lens.

Shows how out of touch some people are. This is blowing up all over the socials. Price doesn't look like it's going to be too steep and it's put Pentax at the forefront of photography discussions.

This camera is not for any of us. Nor is it a toy camera. It is not aimed at us folk at all. Never has been. The next one, should it happen, might appeal to some of us.

What I see in the top plate is a set of controls that could be transferred to a better P&S and then to a SLR at a later date.

I very much doubt that Pentax/Ricoh will have gone to all this effort in R&D, social media and so on with the hope/intention that it "crahses the sooner the better". That just wouldn't make any sense.

Speak for yourself, I love half-frame. I have nearly a half dozen of them at this point. Pen F Gothic, EE-3, Univex mk1, Fujica Half, Canon Autoboy and maybe another I think. I love the format. I'd have to justify shelling out the cash for this new Pentax though.

Now, I do sometimes make a living doing photography. I don't generally use toy cameras but I do very much enjoy using film cameras. I might not be as seasoned as some on here, I'll need a few more decades but maybe I've got some rolls under my belt. I do like how this Pentax 17 looks. I hope they keep going, if they crank out a mechanical SLR I'd be very interested too.

For now I'm watching this whole thing and hoping it goes well.

 

[koraks]

The "effort" employed resources that are already in place (people, materials and machines). Pentax managers approved (or tolerated) to use a few them for this project.

That still doesn't make it a marginal enterprise, necessarily. They would have easily dropped a few hundred $k on it, which is something that would surely gather some managerial scrutiny. They wouldn't have committed those resources to this if there wasn't a somewhat decent argument underlying the business case.
Keep in mind there are opportunity costs; it's not like the resources you mentioned would have sat idle if they hadn't done this. There's expenditure involved; salaries are being paid, so is interest on borrowed capital (even if it's within the keiretsu and thus somewhat vague as seen through Western eyes) , materials etc.

 

[mshchem]

I think it's cool. I had a little (full frame) Petri that had zone focusing, and a Olympus XA, same both took fabulous pictures. I'm actually quite impressed.
Prepare for either nothing or wait lists etc. I hope it's a great product for Pentax.

 

[halfaman]

That still doesn't make it a marginal enterprise, necessarily. They would have easily dropped a few hundred $k on it, which is something that would surely gather some managerial scrutiny. They wouldn't have committed those resources to this if there wasn't a somewhat decent argument underlying the business case.
Keep in mind there are opportunity costs; it's not like the resources you mentioned would have sat idle if they hadn't done this. There's expenditure involved; salaries are being paid, so is interest on borrowed capital (even if it's within the keiretsu and thus somewhat vague as seen through Western eyes) , materials etc.

Not marginal at all, but with a limited impact for Pentax with some kind of business case behind. This is a side project for Takesi and his team where they spent just part of their time (or even overtime).

 

[xkaes]

Canon Autoboy

The Autoboy is a half-frame???

 

[bfilm]

I was recently in a conversation with a guy that spoke with Takeo and he told him that most people at Pentax thinks this "film project" is a waste of time and they hope it crashes the sooner the better. He bought some limited time and resources from the managment, but no one besides Takeo believes this is going to last.

This camera is not for me, really the opposite of what I look for, but it is up to us to show Pentax management whether they are right or wrong about film camera market. Just put our money where our mouth is. And hopefully more cameras will appear and eventually one of them will be really for us.

By the way, this person also tried the camera and told me it is really a solid performer. Well built and with an excellent lens.

Maybe it is because they think that if they are going to do a film camera project that it should be a nice 35mm film SLR.

One can hope

After all, the guiding principle of Pentax is "Pentax believes in the future of SLR photography."

 

[Cholentpot]

The Autoboy is a half-frame???

Sorry, miss identified.

Multi-Tele.

Edit: Also known as the Autoboy Tele 6

 

[mshchem]

500 dollars USD

 

[Tom Cross]

500 dollars USD

Also £500 GBP. Personally I think it's going to be an overpriced Olympus Trip

 

[armadsen]

Brooklyn Film Camera has it up for preorder: https://brooklynfilmcamera.com/products/pentax-17

Interestingly, they claim it has auto focus in addition to scale focus.

 

[bjolester]

Pentaxforums article with sample photos:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/articl...m-half-frame-camera-officially-announced.html

 

[blee1996]

I voted with my hard earned cash, and pre-ordered one from B&H. I would like to support Pentax and their commitment to film photography.

 

[Karl K]

I don't know what type of market research was conducted that begat this strange fruit.
My students were eagerly awaiting the new Pentax 35mm camera to replace their older, heavier, sometimes unreliable, and economically unrepairable 35mm SLR's.
I am very disappointed....so are my students.
What serious analog photographers want and require are fully manual/automatic 35mm cameras that use existing lens mounts. The K-mount is perfect!
I believe that a "new style" K1000 SLR (maybe plastic) body could have been retailed for under $500, providing a decent profit margin for Ricoh/Pentax Corp.
Thousands of students shot millions of photos with K1000-type cameras.
Why did Pentax turn their back on a proven winner?

 

[mshchem]

I voted with my hard earned cash, and pre-ordered one from B&H. I would like to support Pentax and their commitment to film photography.

Me too! .

It's going to be interesting. If this is a winner, just say Pentax makes $50 of pure profit per camera. If they sell 100k cameras in the next 18 months that's 5 million cold hard profit.

It will be obvious in the next 30 days where this is going and if it's a hit, prepare for more versions from everyone. There's going to be different colors, plastic versions etc.

 

[mshchem]

I don't know what type of market research was conducted that begat this strange fruit.
My students were eagerly awaiting the new Pentax 35mm camera to replace their older, heavier, sometimes unreliable, and economically unrepairable 35mm SLR's.
I am very disappointed....so are my students.
What serious analog photographers want and require are fully manual/automatic 35mm cameras that use existing lens mounts. The K-mount is perfect!
I believe that a "new style" K1000 SLR (maybe plastic) body could have been retailed for under $500, providing a decent profit margin for Ricoh/Pentax Corp.
Thousands of students shot millions of photos with K1000-type cameras.
Why did Pentax turn their back on a proven winner?

Actual market research

 

[Lachlan Young]

Think of it as a modern variant on the idea of the Olympus Pen W and you'll be closer to reality.

 

[mshchem]

I suspect that there's going to plastic tops and bottoms when they can make more than can be sold.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Actual market research

And doing any tooling a step at a time - advance/ rewind mech now, then integrate a mirror box later if sales are successful. I think there's some pretty wilful ignorance of why most digital camera manufacturers are reacting to their dramatically contacting market segment by eliminating mirror box SLR mechanisms...

Who knows, maybe there'll be an M-mount Pentax RF too...

 

[bfilm]

I don't know what type of market research was conducted that begat this strange fruit.
My students were eagerly awaiting the new Pentax 35mm camera to replace their older, heavier, sometimes unreliable, and economically unrepairable 35mm SLR's.
I am very disappointed....so are my students.
What serious analog photographers want and require are fully manual/automatic 35mm cameras that use existing lens mounts. The K-mount is perfect!
I believe that a "new style" K1000 SLR (maybe plastic) body could have been retailed for under $500, providing a decent profit margin for Ricoh/Pentax Corp.
Thousands of students shot millions of photos with K1000-type cameras.
Why did Pentax turn their back on a proven winner?

I agree. Although, I hope they will do something nicer than a USD 500 plastic SLR. I think it will probably have to be something closer to USD 1,000 for something nice. Hopefully, Pentax will eventually again make a good 35mm film SLR.

 

[mshchem]

If these sell to first time film users it's really good for Kodak and the rest. Keeping labs busy etc. Pentax brand is either helped or hindered.

Maybe they break even on cameras, but make 100 million on t-shirts

 

[bfilm]

Who knows, maybe there'll be an M-mount Pentax RF too...

Now that would be interesting. If they made something of nice quality. And a range of Pentax M-mount mechanical lenses. Awhile back, Pentax did make a limited edition 43mm f/1.9 lens for the Leica screw/thread mount.

But I think it might still be the best choice for Pentax to proceed to a new nice 35mm film SLR.