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As a motion picture centric guy, "half frame" for me is essentially "4 perf super35". And 72 frames would then be 3 seconds of 24 fps. It does make me imagine silly use cases where you set it up on a copy stand and use it for animations up to 3 seconds long. 😅 Heck. If you somehow modify it to 2 perf "techniscope" you can expand it to 144 frames or 6 seconds of panoramic animations. 😂

My take on this camera is Polaroid is making a statement that they are committed to developing and improving on Polaroid instant photography. Improving the film is a laborious and time consuming operation given the companies limited (compared to the original Polaroid and film companies like Fuji) finances so producing a full feature top of the line “headline” camera helps to show they are really serious about making the film as good at or possibly better than the original sx70 film.

可もなく不可も無い普及機の標準的カメラで在る

Nice camera for beginning film when coming from smartphone or digital compact. Now, can't wait for Pentax 27, 37, 47 and 57 ! 😁

Hi Max very good review as usual. A lot of good ideas in this Pentax 17 (half of 35) : interesting vertical format, good viewfinder, good capabilities, high build quality… but for me some errors (or just some decisions made for a certain public) which will slow down the enthousiasm of some others : the lens short but not so fast, no rangefinder which could help a perfect focus, no direct control of the aperture and the film advance seems very short and not so solid. So this camera is mainly made for phone users who wants to try some analog film : simplification of focus (that s probably why the lens is only f3.5) and exposure but… it s not so cheap for a try. Perhaps Pentax should have done a more plasticky version for this public at a lower price. So now I dream of a more advanced (17pro ? ) version with bigger and faster lens, aperture ring, rangefinder or autofocus mode and bigger (I insist) film advanced lever. Have a nice day.

Great review! Without a manual mode, it is really not so interesting, but hopefully others will be interested enough to buy them.

I love and appreciate each and every camera manufacturer out there. I would hate any one of them to be out of the game. But, I have to give it to Pentax; hats off to a company that actually seems to sincerely care about photography and giving us very unique cameras/lenses at very fair prices. I should be receiving this camera in a few days and already have a whole photography project in mind for this little gem. Thanks for your great review :)

Just stumbled upon this review. Good one. I also own a FM2 chrome. Note that mine starts with the serial 7036. Older version of FM2 with titanium shutter.

The vertical aspect ratio is borderline criminal.

Thanks for this very nice review, I think of buying one and have aquestion about the viewfinder, I am wearing glasses and am wondering if you can see the whole image. Thanks in advance, Kees

If it was full frame, i'd be all over this....1/2 frame just isn't my thing.

Excellent review and analysis. I hope this is the first of more film cameras from Pentax. I admit that I wouldn't buy this model one simply because I don't like portrait mode. If they were to follow up with a full frame in landscape mode, then I most certainly would buy one.

I'm curious about how Pentax set the camera program. We all knew that: Aperture: F3.5 - F16 Shutter: 4s - 1/350s 1. When set to no flash P mode, when it is in low light, will it limit the shutter at 1/30s and warn you it is insufficient light, or it will go all the way down to 4s? 2. When set to Bokeh mode, using ISO 400 film under sunny day, will it shoot at F3.5 with 1/350s, or it will shoot at F16 with 1/350s? 3. When set to no flash Night mode, will it always prioritize shutter to 4s? or any range?

For those who complain about prices of new innovations, imagine how you could research and develop new inventions, let alone passion of the film enthusiasts without kickstart programs. Well said by the reviewer. Ricoh/Pentax is possibly one of the best companies that hears customers and continues to innovate.

The M5 looks like a Fed5 and I’d prefer the Fed because of the compatible lens options and the affordability.

I'm glad you made the point that the price of this camera is not an issue of discussion also the camera is targeted at people who are interested in photography, to me these are important points. That being said I think it is a stroke of genius to have a camera that isn't over price & give a person a cool starting point to keep true photography alive

I have been waiting for your review! Fantastic. People have to realize that tooling and engineering has a price.

Now to use Adox CMS II with the H&W film chemistry to give you some better speed and grainless images from this half frame camera!

I believe the camera auto powers down after a short period and powers back up automatically when you press the shutter. You only need to turn off the power to make sure the battery is not run down while it is in a bag.

This is really a comprehensive review. Thank you Max.

Shame on you. This is not acceptable. One must be blind to look at film photos nowadays. You want a film look, just apply countless filters to digital processing of RAW data. “ film community” I have not enough words of disapproval for your consumerist hedonistic approach to global resources. You want all this chemical dirt back? What for? For your wasteful pleasure of getting on good frame per film? Which you will the scan any way to treat in your PC? “Film community” you must be out of your minds .

Thank you for a good honest review .....as always.

Legend says this guys right side of his face has never been recorded.

Thanks for the very honest review of this camera. Love that Land Rover Defender photo! Where you located? I love you are as passionate as people developed this camera! I think pricing is pretty good! People buy this camera will be supported at least next 10 years of Pentax repair and spare parts support! As I am deeply working with Pentax past 30 years of my life. This is one of happiest time of my life with PENTAX! Enjoyed your video!

This is half frame, right? Why it doesn’t equivalent to 50mm like mft sensor(25x2)? Tell me, im so blind here.

Really nice job. I love this camera and will buy one before the year ends. One observation, why the three clearly different textures in the black covering around the body?

Lovely review/video-as always. This camera, though.... Good lord, it's ugly. I can't understand the aesthetic choices they made. It's like they chose to revere the worst bits of the ugliest 70s Pentax cameras. Secondly... i'm surprised by the format. Half-frame is a small niche market. The rationale of it being a cost-saving measure in this era makes little sense. Those of use who are devoted to film photography and also who would be willing to spend $500 on this... is that set of people really motivated by saving money on film? Then, there's the results. I've been shooting since 1982, and not once have i ever wished for *less* resolution or lower image quality than 35mm. Even in instances where i would want to play 'up' grain, like a Ralph Gibson, 35mm is still the starting point. Half-frame, in a digital era just seems like a 'punt.'

I really enjoyed your review and perspective on this camera. Thanks.

I absolutely agree on your thoughts about the price - I‘ll get one for sure - excellent video - thanks

The price point is about $200 over. $679.00 CDN, better at under $500

Wow, Max have you ever had the chance to review a newly designed and marketed film camera on this channel? I can imagine you were excited for the opportunity, and Kudos to Pentax for taking the initiative to develop a new analog product in the digital age. Another fabulous episode - thank you!

Best review of this camera so far. Totally agree to your view on the retail price.

Nice review! Looks to take good images this camera. Hope many buy it and Pentax get chance to make more models. I completely agree with the points on prize. Especially since, you might buy an old camera that is said to be in working order, only to find you have to repair it.Getting equipment needed and the time you invest in doing the repairs are more than the price of this camera. I recently repaired a Olympus Pen (original version) and while I enjoy it, it doesn't have all the features of this half frame, so you have to know what you are doing to use it and you also need an external light meter which also costs money.

what was your experience with the velvia? decent exposure?

Hey man, my name is Johnny and I'm a freelance logo designer, are you interested to have a logo redesign for your channel to improve your branding to increase your loyalty and views? I would love to have the honor to design an analog photography inspired monogram logo of your vision! Let me know if you interested to make it happen! :-)

$500 and especially $750 equvallent in Europe is a bit too much for zone focusing MF plastic P&S camera without full manual exposure control and 1/350s shutter limit. Sure there is development cost, testing cost, NPI cost, but Ricoh is quite GREEDY since they took over Pentax. You can see that on K3III price too. It is basically 2015 technology camera introduced in 2021 and now they are still selling it with price almost matching recently released Fuji overkill X-H2. Compare that with K5 or K3 introduction price before. Yes there is inflation and technology complexity increase, but that would be about %20-30 increase, while we are at double. And prior formal takeover also the price of lenses increased dramatically overnight in Q2/2009. Just some examples - FA35/2 was $500 and then suddenly $900. DA*16-50/2.8 went from $800 to $1350, DA*50-135/2.8 from $850 to $1400, DA12-24/4 from $750 to $1350, FA43/1.9 from $550 to $1100 etc etc. Later they introduced rebadged gutted Tamron OEM lenses 15-30/2.8, 24-70/2.8 and 70-210/4, but for DOUBLE the price of the original while there is no VC and warranty is nowhere near 5-6 years which Tamron has. That is just greed that cannot be justified. And they are wondering why they lost so many users.. well.

I value your optimism, but... well. I do not think that there is enough pull from the instagram crowd, so to say. I agree that this is no camera for the film community, where most of their customers would be, so... I hope the project will be alive and continue to the more interesting cameras.

Great video Max, I think you were spot on with your commentary. I am also glad for the slightly longer length to cover all of the camera and its pro's and cons. I think Pentax should be congratulated, in fact any company who brings out a new film camera of this quality, will I buy it no but I find it hard to go through 36 frames let alone 72 🤣

Thanks for this review. I think Pentax shipped these out to every sigle Film photography youtuber around. I realy appreciate this effort both by Pentax and you. As a member of that new generation of film camera users I think it's a very coherent and beginner friendly product with the film saving and social media oriented half frame format. I also value your discussion on the price which most other reviews simply ignored, although I mostly disagree: Even though 550€ might be a reasonable price for what it cost Pentax to develop and manufacture this camera. it is way too expensive for the average teenager or twenty-something who just casually shoots some film but isn't a hardcore photography nerd. Knowing alot of people like this the Pentax 17 has to effectively competes with older consumer grade cameras that sell for ~25€ or old consumer grade SLRs that are also much less expensive. I don't think the the Pentax 17 becomming a commercial success among it's intended target audience and I do see the danger of it's potential commercial failure used as "proof" that new film cameras just don't sell and kill future projects. Considering the curerent market of vintage pro equipment a 120mm viewfinder camera would have been a safer bet I think, but let's hope Ricoh already has more cameras under development. Maybe the consumer grade model came first to get the machinery going again, before they do cameras for more picky enthusiasts.

The best review I have seen on here very balanced and you can see your love of film

Let's be fair. It *IS* expensive. I might even say the price is insane. Is it justifiable? Perhaps. Does it make it a good value? Not really. $499 can buy a lot of camera elsewhere. Better cameras, better lenses, and so on. The one thing that saves it, from a value perspective, is that the Pentax 17 has a factory warranty, and it has factory support. For a newcomer that may be *the* argument for it. For me personally, that's not enough, for many other people that's a huge deal, and that support may be worth every cent of the price to them.

why not make a fucking mju ii that everyone wants...........................

Another superb review

Are they all manufactured in Vietnam? Yeah, nice quality, but at $500 it feels exploitive.

re: the 25mm lens, there's a 25mm for the Pen F/FV/FT, it's not my favourite lens, but it's relatively cheap, and my copy of the 20mm (about 28mm equiv, my preference) has some inter-element haze which seems to be common in that lens. I've gotten used to the focal length, it's just wide enough as a cnotrast to the 38mm.

Thank you for an excellent review of the Pentax 17, the best I have seen so far. I agree that the price tag of Pentax 17 is reasonable. I have seen many reviews of Pentax 17 where they complain about the price: "Why should I pay 500USD for a new camera if I can get a used one much cheaper?". That is a question we can ask about anything we want to buy (Why should I buy a new car if I can buy a used car much cheaper?) In a context of a camera review, this argument is a bit silly in my opinion. I have learned of the reviews that Pentax 17 is a good film camera both for beginners and advances users. But I do think Pentax should release a full frame version of it (Pentax 36?) as soon as possible. Then I will buy it. I also think that Pentax should put a flash socket on this camera. I do not see any advantages of the half frame format despite the fact that film is expensive. As a typical amateur photographer, I own a Canon SLR from the seventies with several lenses, and a 10 year old Canon DSLR with several lenses too (And, of course, my iPhone). I would really like to have a new handy compact film camera also to shoot a roll film occasionally, maybe I will shoot 5 or 6 rolls of film with a compact camera within a year. The cost of film is irrelevant. I will have to wait 20 years to save the cost of the camera with the half frame Pentax 17, and that make no sense to me. I prefer better image quality rather than better film quantity. If the price of film is relevant to buy a half frame camera for 500USD, I guess you have to shoot 50 rolls of film a year to save up the cost of the camera in a reasonable amount of time. How many amateur photographers spend so much money on film? Please Pentax, release the full frame version of this camera as soon as you can.

IMHO stupid. 70+ shots per roll, seems for just shooting a lot of unconsidered willy nilly. May as well just stick with your phone. I love the whole vintage nostalgia thing (I ride a Royal Enfield and have a 60s Spotmatic....and a turntable), but is there supposed to be some kinda cost savings consideration here........twice the pics for the price? Well, uhhh, you're paying $500 for the thing!!! I don't think this demographic is truly concerned about the cost of a 3 pack of Kodak Gold . WTF..... just make a really nice 35mm reissue much like a modern Spotmatic for corns sake!!!

Thanks for the review Max. This is not for me. I have enough issues with 36 exposures, let alone 72. As far as the price, all of us look at a product and attribute, rightly or wrongly, a value it has to them. To me, I think this camera, priced at 400€ would be correct, but that’s just me. Look forward to your review of the forthcoming Rollei 35af.

Thanks for this sincere review. I don't like this camera, holga toy looking (sorry i'm M7 Nikon F's Fuji GS645pro and Plaubel 67 shooter) and a mix of super nice and super weird colours that i don't understand Waiting for the new Rollei 35 ❤

The problem is though, that no matter if it's fair or not, this camera will still compete with the vintage prices. And many people won't find this a great deal, especially newcomers to whom this appears to be marketed towards. One other thing: exceptional production quality is a bit of a stretch. It's decently well built and sits somewhere between a plastic P&S and a well-built SLR.