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

Pioneer · Jun 30, 2024

Chan Tran said:
I had several of the K1000. Although it's similar the build quality is significantly worse than that of say the KX. Yes it uses the same lenses but the lens that was generally sold with it the 50mm f/2 was very bad (I had a few of those too). One thing good about it is that it became kind of a cult so although I got all of the one I had for free I got good money selling them.

Interesting. I have been using the same K1000 camera steadily since the early 80s. Over the years I have inherited several other K1000 cameras and passed them along to others. All the ones I had were good cameras and worked fine. The biggest headache is that you cannot shut the meter off so if you left the lens cap off the lens the battery would go dead and could eventually corrode. I have cleaned out battery chambers several times and reconnected wires on K1000 cameras that needed it but I have also run into that problem with KMs as well. I owned a KM for quite awhile and both cameras were practically identical from a build perspective and it was hard to tell the difference. Since the K1000 was manufactured for so many years the location where it was built changed at least 3 times. I believe that the ones toward the end were built in Vietnam and were not built to the same specs as the early versions were. I have never owned one of those but I understand they had quite a bit of plastic in the body. Maybe I will have to go looking for one to see just how much difference there is.

Cholentpot · Jun 30, 2024

Pioneer said:
Interesting. I have been using the same K1000 camera steadily since the early 80s. Over the years I have inherited several other K1000 cameras and passed them along to others. All the ones I had were good cameras and worked fine. The biggest headache is that you cannot shut the meter off so if you left the lens cap off the lens the battery would go dead and could eventually corrode. I have cleaned out battery chambers several times and reconnected wires on K1000 cameras that needed it but I have also run into that problem with KMs as well. I owned a KM for quite awhile and both cameras were practically identical from a build perspective and it was hard to tell the difference. Since the K1000 was manufactured for so many years the location where it was built changed at least 3 times. I believe that the ones toward the end were built in Vietnam and were not built to the same specs as the early versions were. I have never owned one of those but I understand they had quite a bit of plastic in the body. Maybe I will have to go looking for one to see just how much difference there is.

If I could somehow fit a switch onto my K1000 for the meter it would get more use.

warden · Jun 30, 2024

Chan Tran said:
I had several of the K1000. Although it's similar the build quality is significantly worse than that of say the KX.

How? I’m honestly curious.

mshchem · Jun 30, 2024

blee1996 said:
Unfortunately no, you can only select those 6 pre-defined distances. And it is focus by wire, meaning that:

- When you select the focus distance, the lens will not move at all
- When you press the shutter button to take a photo, the electronic motor will move the lens element to the pre-selected distance

I don't know why they decided to do this, but it introduces at least one annoyance:
- Some delay to each shot, since the lens have to move first before the shutter can be released. This will add to shutter release delay, which is not the best for street photography

Another quirk is that the entire front lens group plus the moving parts are partially exposed to elements, so I will have to add a Skylight or UV filter if I plan to go to wet, dusty or other situations that elements might get inside. So now a 40.5mm Skylight 1A filter is "permanently" living on my Pentax 17.

I bet that this is the beginning. Next step would be to add auto focus, if the focusing is by wire wouldn't take a huge leap to add a sensor.

Mick Fagan · Jul 1, 2024

blee1996 said:
Unfortunately no, you can only select those 6 pre-defined distances. And it is focus by wire, meaning that:

- When you select the focus distance, the lens will not move at all
- When you press the shutter button to take a photo, the electronic motor will move the lens element to the pre-selected distance

I don't know why they decided to do this, but it introduces at least one annoyance:
- Some delay to each shot, since the lens have to move first before the shutter can be released. This will add to shutter release delay, which is not the best for street photography

Another quirk is that the entire front lens group plus the moving parts are partially exposed to elements, so I will have to add a Skylight or UV filter if I plan to go to wet, dusty or other situations that elements might get inside. So now a 40.5mm Skylight 1A filter is "permanently" living on my Pentax 17.

Very interesting information.

I wonder if there is a two step shutter situation possibility. As in: you depress the shutter button slightly, the camera moves the lens, and/or elements, you hold the shutter button in this position, then when things are right you depress the shutter fully.

I am thinking of when you are either waiting for a subject to walk, ride or glide into your viewfinder, or maybe you are panning and wish to capture things at an exact place of the panning.

blee1996 · Jul 1, 2024

Mick Fagan said:
Very interesting information.

I wonder if there is a two step shutter situation possibility. As in: you depress the shutter button slightly, the camera moves the lens, and/or elements, you hold the shutter button in this position, then when things are right you depress the shutter fully.

I am thinking of when you are either waiting for a subject to walk, ride or glide into your viewfinder, or maybe you are panning and wish to capture things at an exact place of the panning.

I just tried. Yes you are right:

- When lightly press (half press) the shutter button, the focus is moved into position
- And full press the shutter button, the shutter is open and closed

So it behaves a bit like a auto-focus camera.

Mick Fagan · Jul 1, 2024

blee1996 said:
I just tried. Yes you are right:

- When lightly press (half press) the shutter button, the focus is moved into position
- And full press the shutter button, the shutter is open and closed

So it behaves a bit like a auto-focus camera.

Great news.

I'm sure there will be other features, or quirks, that come to light as you use it more.

Agulliver · Jul 1, 2024

Next step will probably be a full frame auto focus camera launched in time for Christmas....at least that's my prediction....I doubt they'll get it out in time for summer as we're pretty much there in most of the world.

brbo · Jul 1, 2024

I’d rather have them take a bit more time and get it right.

IMHO, two new film cameras in a year is too much for Pentax. Add Rollei 35AF to the picture and they may be testing our budgets a bit too much. Although, if development is quite far along and they see that camera from Mint has nothing on their second film camera…

xkaes · Jul 1, 2024

warden said:
How? I’m honestly curious.

Aren't we all, since they were all made on the same assembly lines.

Agulliver · Jul 1, 2024

I should imagine that the full frame auto focus model carries over a lot of parts in common with the 17. Chances are it's not that far away. Honestly, they got the 17 out into the wild much faster that most of us thought they would.

I would assume the logic is that the next camera will appeal to a different audience than the 17 and that they won't take away sales from each other. Pentax must also be confident that it either will beat the Rollei or that the next camera will appeal to a different audience than it.....though if my gut feeling is correct and the next Pentax is a full frame AF compact....then it would appear to be in the same general ballpark as the Rollei branded camera from MiNT.

xkaes · Jul 1, 2024

mshchem said:
I bet that this is the beginning. Next step would be to add auto focus, if the focusing is by wire wouldn't take a huge leap to add a sensor.

Maybe Ricoh wanted to keep the price under $1,000.

xkaes · Jul 1, 2024

Mick Fagan said:
I'm sure there will be other features, or quirks, that come to light as you use it more.

Hopefully, that half-pressed shutter button will also lock the exposure -- or am I asking too much???

aw614 · Jul 1, 2024

xkaes said:
Hopefully, that half-pressed shutter button will also lock the exposure -- or am I asking too much???

You are

Pioneer · Jul 1, 2024

Patiently waiting...

mshchem · Jul 1, 2024

xkaes said:
Maybe Ricoh wanted to keep the price under $1,000.

I suspect that each iteration will have more features than the last, and will keep the price steady. No different from most consumer electronics. Clearly the camera needs to fund it's own further development. It's going to be "expensive" compared to buying pristine 30 year old cameras.
We better hope these products take off or film photography is in peril.

xkaes · Jul 1, 2024

At least "the press" and publicity says it has -- and that can be more important than reality.

Agulliver · Jul 1, 2024

I did a simple google search for "Pentax 17" and got a row of 8 vendors selling them in my country (UK), and the top video links were to positive reviews with the top regular links to positive reviews or retailers selling it.

It seems quite difficult to actually find a negative review....though some people who have zero clue about modern manufacturing of a film camera have made stupid comments on Pentax's social media such as "It should have cost $150 or less". Those are all from people who (bluntly but frankly) have no clue what they're talking about and who have never actually seen the camera in the flesh. THere are plenty of blog and video reviews now up from people who have actually used the 17 and they like it.

It is certainly generating the impression that there are a lot of 17's out there which could just be skilful marketing.... but already I know people online who's 17's have shipped or even arrived.

xkaes · Jul 1, 2024

Kodachromeguy said:
Well, we had enough stupid comments right here on Photrio

That says it all.

Dwight Anderson · Jul 1, 2024

This fellow has some very specific criticisms of the camera and the video is fun because he's with a group of storm chasers. He doesn't think the camera is for him, he's a landscape photographer.

Well, until he got his scans back.

It's worth a watch, if for nothing else but a more critical review.

Agulliver · Jul 2, 2024

Nice video with the storm chasers. I've seen another video where the presenter is very sceptical about the 17 until he gets the scans back.

It's a very capable camera. And that only makes me enthusiastic for what comes next. If this project turns out a more conventional 35mm AF camera and later an SLR it will be really exciting.

Samuel Dilworth · Jul 2, 2024

The Heaton pictures are weak. Not really the photographer’s fault, since there isn’t much to photograph in an empty landscape with nothing but a hideous SUV and a bunch of bros to interrupt infinity.

Best pictures I found in the early reviews were the ones in this B&H promo video:

(I searched the 37 pages of comments for “B&H” and didn’t find a mention of this video, but forgive me if it was posted without mention of it being from B&H.)

loccdor · Jul 2, 2024

Samuel Dilworth said:
The Heaton pictures are weak.

Cameras like these usually meter to not blow highlights on slide film... everyone shooting color negative in these reviews is using box speed (sometimes with films that lie a little about their speed). The main problem with their pictures is they should be dialing in a +1 exposure. Lots of blocked shadows in all these reviews.

Samuel Dilworth · Jul 2, 2024

I agree that underexposure is endemic, but I’m talking first and foremost about form and content.

How do you take interesting pictures of plains empty of people and culture?

It’s possible, but Heaton didn’t manage it. And as a tourist Brit (I’m a Brit so feel I can judge), maybe he had no business trying.

B&H’s Sam did far more interesting things with the camera. Part of it is the coastal region where she took pictures, but part is her creativity. That shot of flash-lit shoes against the night sky (at 2:25 in the video) is not something I would have thought to do in a hundred years.

Also, her pictures are largely in-focus and sharp – basics that eluded many of the other YouTubers who had a review camera. (Interestingly, tons of people had a review camera. Pentax is betting big on this one.) I think part of that is that she shot 400-speed film in sunlight. This triplet lens seems to be impressive for a triplet – modern high-refractive-index glass, perhaps, not to mention state-of-the-art coatings that have never before been seen on a triplet – but it’s a triplet. It does well at f/11. At f/3.5, it’s a bit approximate. Fine for this camera, but to get sharp pictures, you gotta force the camera to close the diaphragm.

xkaes · Jul 2, 2024

I'm sure the pictures are fine. I'd be shocked if they were anything less from a $500 camera. What I want to see are some actual comparison tests -- with whatever -- but a head-to-head against a Kodak H35 and a Ricoh AutoHalf would be GREAT. I won't hold my breathe.

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

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