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

[Alan Edward Klein]

Disposable camera generation.

My mother had an SLR, bridge cameras and decent point and shoots. My entire exposure to taking photos back in the pre digital days was 35mm disposables or maybe cheap point and shoots. I had a 110 camera that camera with a radio in the shape of 110 film.

I remember fondly the old Kodak box cameras in the 1950s which required roll film that you looked down into those little windows to frame the shot. I never turned the camera on the side to look down the horizontal window and shoot landscape shots. I didn't realize that was what it was for.

I think it took around a dozen BW shots. Then you'd put them in photo albums using those little corner holders that you'd spit on to moisten the glue. They always fell off after a while and you'd have to use Scotch tape to stick them back on. What size film was that?

 

[Chan Tran]

Yep, that's where Pentax/Ricoh manufacturing has been done for a while now. The factory seems to make very good quality digital cameras and every indication is that the 17 is well made too.

I wonder where do they make the Ricoh GR series?

 

[Cholentpot]

I remember fondly the old Kodak box cameras in the 1950s which required roll film that you looked down into those little windows to frame the shot. I never turned the camera on the side to look down the horizontal window and shoot landscape shots. I didn't realize that was what it was for.

I think it took around a dozen BW shots. Then you'd put them in photo albums using those little corner holders that you'd spit on to moisten the glue. They always fell off after a while and you'd have to use Scotch tape to stick them back on. What size film was that?

My box camera is 120, but Kodak had to go later on and make their own version of 120, 620 and mess everybody up.

 

[MattKing]

My box camera is 120, but Kodak had to go later on and make their own version of 120, 620 and mess everybody up.

The very first 120 camera was a Kodak camera, and was introduced along with the new 120 format, more than 100 years ago.
The film format is essentially unchanged - it is the oldest extant still format - although the frame numbering on the backing paper has changed a bit from time to time.

 

[xkaes]

MSC -- perhaps the best description I seen so far.

The perfect name -- the Pentax Aspire.

 

[xkaes]

And yes, Minolta did make Point and shoot 126 Cameras that resembled their 135 cameras, (and they Made a line of RAPID fomat units also.)

As far as I know, Minolta only made one RAPID cassette camera -- the Minolta 24 Rapid. Am I ignorant?

 

[xkaes]

I had a 110 camera that camera with a radio in the shape of 110 film.

Do you mean the Hedren Octopus -- which also had a flash and alarm clock?

 

[xkaes]

1) Several folks seem to think that 126 was NOT a blow out sucess, it most certainly was, having a decade run and only started to fade when the even more convenient 110 format came out. even then film for 126 was still popular for the next 5 years at least.

By that measure, Disc cameras were an amazing success story -- lasting over twenty years.

 

[Cholentpot]

Do you mean the Hedren Octopus -- which also had a flash and alarm clock?

View attachment 372929

No, the film cart was an AM/FM radio.

 

[Agulliver]

By that measure, Disc cameras were an amazing success story -- lasting over twenty years.

Nope. That's not what happened nor what anyone is saying.

One might as well say VHS wor the audio cassette were flops because after enjoying 30 years of omnipresence, people eventually found something more convenient.

126 and 110 were massive successes, easily recouping development costs and making large profits for not only Kodak who introduced them but for other manufacturers of cameras and film. 126 did begin to fade in the late 70s but it was still pretty much ubiquitous with the major film manufacturers continuing to support it, all the labs offering 126 processing, cameras still available new. The last 126 camera by Kodak was in the late 80s some 25 years after the launch of the format. While it's heyday may well have been the swinging sixties and by the 21st century it really was on it's last legs with last film produced in 2007....that is hardly a failure considering how many millions of cameras and rolls of film were sold and developed.

110 was, if anything, more popular enjoying immediate success on launch in the early 70s and retaining a decent market share into the 90s. 110 cameras were still available some 25 years after launch of the format and remain available today, though the format is propped up by Lomography. It met with huge popularity especially among children and women who wanted a small camera that could fit in a purse.

126 and 110 film were available in non-specialist shops such as petrol stations, tourist attractions, supermarkets...for twenty years or more. How is that a failure?

Disc was less popular and never really had much of a market share, and the last disc camera rolled off the line in 1989 or 1990, less than 10 years after the format was launched. Most users found the results less than satisfactory and turned to other film formats. Disc didn't even make it into the digital era....which is what finally proved more convenient than 110 and auto loading 35mm cameras.

To argue that 110 and 126 were not successful, or that their level of success could be compared with Disc is just.....ludicrous.

 

[foc]

By that measure, Disc cameras were an amazing success story -- lasting over twenty years.

Disc film officially was from 1982 to 1999 but the reality was that a lot of consumers had stopped using Disc by late 1980s/ easily 1990s. (I reckon 10 years at the most) The upside was a lot of customers changed to simple point and shoot 35mm. Interestingly Agfa never marketed a Disc film.

I remember camera stores asking customers to "trade in" their Disc camera for a 35mm P&S. Because Disc film had introduced the T grain technology this spread into 35mm with the introduction of Kodak VR films, Fuji HR, etc and it was a great improvement.

The P&S market increased even more as Fuji introduced their DL series "drop in load" and Canon introduced their prewind series, making it a little easier and foolproof to load, unload and use a 35mm camera.

 

[xkaes]

No, the film cart was an AM/FM radio.

There were several 16mm camera/radio combos -- starting with Minolta's Sonocon & Kowa's Ramera. Years later Hedron, Vivitar & National gave it a try with their 110 models, as well:

 

[xkaes]

Nope. That's not what happened

FYI, Kodak, alone, sold over 25 million disc cameras (eight million just in the first year!), and although they stopped producing disc film after ten years, other companies continued to make disc cameras (tens of millions more) and film into the current century -- and processing was still available. Disc cameras were in use for two decades -- but this is another tangent.

I hope the Pentax 17 is more successful than the Kodak Disc camera was -- but I doubt it will be.

 

[Cholentpot]

There were several 16mm camera/radio combos -- starting with Minolta's Sonocon & Kowa's Ramera. Years later Hedron, Vivitar & National gave it a try with their 110 models, as well:

View attachment 372945

Very cool. I'm still looking for a 110 cartridge with the radio in the cartridge. I had a bunch as a kid. I guess it wasn't a wildly popular thing.

 

[xkaes]

The radio was in a 110 cartridge? Did it work on its own or did it need a particular camera to operate? To work on it's own it would need to be much bigger than a 110 cassette.

 

[mshchem]

Has anyone received the Pentax 17 yet???

 

[Cholentpot]

The radio was in a 110 cartridge? Did it work on its own or did it need a particular camera to operate? To work on it's own it would need to be much bigger than a 110 cassette.

Worked on its own. Tuning was on one side, volume was on the other. AM/FM switch was on there somewhere. It's been 30+ years since I've held one and I was a wee tyke.

 

[blee1996]

I got mine yesterday, and here are some visual comparison. I will save my personal comments for later, until I develop first few rolls of film.

From Left to Right:

1) Zeiss Taxona: square format (24x24)
2) Pentax 17: half frame (17x24)
3) Rollei 35: standard 35mm (36x24)

 

[xkaes]

Worked on its own. Tuning was on one side, volume was on the other. AM/FM switch was on there somewhere. It's been 30+ years since I've held one and I was a wee tyke.

Uh, where did you put the battery?

 

[xkaes]

Half-frame? How about the Pentax YIKES?

 

[Pioneer]

Oh give me a break! The actual size difference between those three cameras is actually very small. Not interested in any of the three but if I were I would take that little Pentax hands down every day of the week and twice on Sunday!!

 

[xkaes]

I would take that little Pentax hands down every day of the week and twice on Sunday!!

I'm no fan of the Rollei TE, but I'd take the SE any day (actually two or three for the price of the Pentax) with a focusing lens and complete control of the exposure -- and did I mention FULL-FRAME?

Now that I think about it, I'd go for a Petri 35 Color and use the $400 I'd save for film -- and a big party. Don't worry; I'll invite you!!!

 

[Pioneer]

That's cool. Thanks for the invite, I always enjoy a good party!

 

[GregY]

Oh give me a break! The actual size difference between those three cameras is actually very small. Not interested in any of the three but if I were I would take that little Pentax hands down every day of the week and twice on Sunday!!

I would too if it were full frame.... I so much prefer MF that i won't go smaller than 35mm.
But I thought it was a pocket camera?

 

[Cholentpot]

Uh, where did you put the battery?

Am radios don't need a battery. And a tiny hearing aid battery can power a radio.