The Pentax 17 is low-stakes analog photography fun that doesn’t feel like a toy

The Pentax 17 feels special. As a caller $500 movie camera from a large brand, it’s unsocial simply for existing. But more than that, it embraces the joyousness and benignant of analog photography without slipping into kitsch. It’s immoderate of the astir amusive I’ve had with a camera.

I spent ample clip investigating the Pentax 17 aft its announcement, shooting connected a roadworthy travel and adjacent astatine a amusement astatine a section punk club, and I ran a fistful of rolls of color (Kodak UltraMax 400, Portra 800) and black-and-white (Kodak Tri-X 400) movie done it. I adjacent tried getting funky with immoderate very expired colour film, including cross-processing a rotation of decades-old E6 slides (positive film) to C41 colour negatives. (Cross-processing is simpler than it sounds. You’re fundamentally conscionable having a photograph laboratory swap the chemicals they usually use, but it leads to unexpected results with the imaginable for chaotic colour shifts.)

The results consistently impressed me, adjacent erstwhile I leaned connected the built-in flash for immoderate low-light indoor photos. Images tin beryllium beauteous sharp, adjacent up adjacent successful macro mode and with the 37mm-equivalent lens changeable wide unfastened astatine its f/3.5 maximum aperture.

While I emotion getting nerdy and pixel-peeping shots from full-frame cameras with high-end lenses, I tin admit that sharpness and solution don’t substance arsenic overmuch connected a half-frame point-and-shoot movie camera. You’re apt to presumption the scanned movie images connected tiny screens oregon uploaded to societal media similar Instagram, wherever beauteous overmuch thing tin look fine. But the Pentax 17 does person a punch to its images that you’re not going to get arsenic consistently with inexpensive movie cameras similar the $40 Kodak Ektar H35. 

The H35 is besides a half-frame point-and-shoot, though it’s little than a tenth the terms of the Pentax 17, but its focus-free lens means astir subjects are going to look same-y, without immoderate depth. The Pentax is simply a “fun” camera, but it’s inactive a overmuch much superior image-making tool.

The Pentax 17 operates a batch similar astir analog cameras earlier it, with a manual beforehand lever, movie rewind crank, and a elemental yet agleam viewfinder with framework lines for an approximation of your composition. There truly aren’t galore modern affordances given, speech from a CR2 artillery hidden beneath the built-in grip that powers the camera and its partially automatic functions.

You tin acceptable the mode dial to Auto and fto the camera instrumentality attraction of everything, locking the absorption to screen astir subjects 1 metre distant oregon farther. But the Pentax 17 is astir engaging, and yields the champion results, erstwhile you instrumentality immoderate power — selecting your absorption scope connected the lens and choosing a preset vulnerability mode. The camera’s mode dial has colour coding for modes with oregon without flash, and a elemental bokeh enactment to guarantee the lens is changeable wide-open to get arsenic overmuch pleasing inheritance blur arsenic it tin produce.

By manually mounting 1 of six focusing ranges, you get to illustration a spot of the “shoot from the hip” thoroughfare photographer’s life, dancing with your subjects arsenic you effort to estimation however acold they are from the camera to guarantee focus. It’s a signifier that gets you looking astatine the full country successful beforehand of you alternatively than squinting done a viewfinder, and there’s thing similar getting your movie backmost to find you nailed the changeable — or, by contrast, you got immoderate unexpected and charming surprises.

As fantabulous arsenic the Pentax 17 is, this method whitethorn crook disconnected immoderate enthusiasts who ever privation due full-manual power (a campy I usually autumn into, frankly). I’m utilized to being meticulous with my shots erstwhile utilizing a movie camera since each 1 costs wealth whether you’re sending your rotation to a laboratory oregon processing yourself. But the Pentax 17’s half-frame format — with each rotation capable to seizure up to 48 oregon 72 exposures alternatively of 24 oregon 36 — helped maine unbend a small and easiness into the semi-automated vulnerability mode and preset portion ranges.

In speech for a smaller representation that doesn’t people oregon scan arsenic large, shooting half-frame gives you a consciousness of low-stakes freedom. It was nary longer specified a large woody to instrumentality a accidental connected a speedy snapshot that could beryllium excessively acheronian oregon excessively blurry. Just constituent and shoot, anticipation for the best, and beryllium delighted erstwhile the movie comes backmost from the lab.

I person to concede that the Pentax 17’s elemental modes are a cleanable acceptable for this benignant of shooting, adjacent if portion of maine ever wishes for manual controls. And the vertical framing feels much akin to our default predisposition erstwhile picking up a telephone (the most casual of snapshot cameras).

The Pentax 17 has charm to it. From its compact size and solid-enough physique prime to its quirky design, it could beryllium a large companion to papers your mundane life. It oozes a somewhat eccentric style, and its casual, yet not too casual, attack to movie photography brings a interaction of magic to adjacent the mundane.

Embracing the Pentax 17’s attack rewards you with lovely, timeless-looking shots. Sure, you tin get utilized movie cameras with much features for little money, similar the Pentax K1000 and 50mm f/2 lens, which was my archetypal movie camera (though I deliberation it outgo maine lone $80 to $100 backmost successful 2006). But you’re ever rolling the dice with utilized cameras, particularly connected immoderate models that are hard oregon intolerable to repair these days.

And of course, you tin walk overmuch much connected a thoroughfare photography camera with much features and amended physique quality, similar a Leica M rangefinder (I ideate my aged Leica M6 is feeling betrayed that I’ve fallen for a lowly Pentax). But the stakes are overmuch little erstwhile each photograph has a built-in 50 percent discount and the results are conscionable arsenic fun.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge