Pentax 17 Evaluate: A Model-New Movie Expertise Value Having

I’ve been within the digital camera assessment enterprise for over 15 years and in that point I’ve been lucky sufficient to have examined and brought images with numerous cameras, spanning all kinds of designs and intentions. Curiously, as I ready to assessment the Pentax 17 it occurred to me that I had by no means as soon as reviewed a brand new manufacturing 35mm movie digital camera in all that point.

Partly, that is because of the now-reborn analog market being supported by a wholesome surplus of used 35mm movie cameras and, in fact, I’ve used loads of movie cameras in our earlier movies to check a brand new movie emulsion or as a part of a photographic experiment. However the time is correct for a brand new movie digital camera as analog pictures doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

The trade has certainly seen a rush of recent analog movie emulsions and an enormous resurgence within the prompt movie market too, however the Pentax 17 represents the primary new manufacturing 35mm movie digital camera from one of many main manufacturers in almost 20 years.

In a time the place it appears Canon and Nikon have lengthy since let go of their storied movie cameras, Pentax is devoted to holding not solely the DSLR alive, but additionally part of the analog movie market, too. Whether or not the Pentax 17 will discover a maintain in new photographers’ hearts is admittedly a chance however it’s a courageous toss of the cube and the digital camera itself has some severe attraction.

A Beautiful Digicam That Harkens Again to Pentax’s Glory Days

The very first thing that grabs anybody who sees and holds the Pentax 17 for the primary time is its hanging design and titanium-colored end. Pentax requested one in every of its veteran designers by the identify of Suzuki Takeo, AKA TKO, to create an analog expertise that borrows components from a number of traditional cameras. Every thing from the flash, lens, shutter buttons, and dials, are impressed by cameras just like the Pentax LX, KP, and AUTO 110, simply to call a couple of.

The viewfinder is especially stunning to look via and is oriented vertically with pretty shiny body traces for each distant and up-close parallax-corrected conditions. Why a vertical setup? The Pentax 17 is a half-frame 35mm movie digital camera the place frames are shot vertically to be 17mm broad — therefore the namesake — and 24mm tall, versus full-frame 35mm which is 36mm by 24mm.

I solely had time to shoot two rolls of movie throughout my time with the Pentax 17 and was impressed by what number of keepers I had and the way precisely the body traces composed my last photos. Even up shut, the body traces have been fairly correct.

Pentax intends for half-frame to be helpful not solely to chop analog prices in half by doing this but additionally to offer a better transition for smartphone photographers who’re already acquainted with taking pictures predominantly vertical photographs. On the price entrance, analog pictures is costly — not just for movie prices however creating prices as properly — and having the ability to get twice as many photos per roll is a boon.

Most industrial movie creating these days goes to mechanically scan your photographs into JPEGs (those we obtained have been 2,905 by 2,048 pixels every) and thus it’s simple and pure to share mentioned vertical photos immediately onto social media and seize the pure analog look in your photos. You may definitely flip the digital camera sideways and do as many horizontal photographs as your coronary heart wishes, too. I discovered the Pentax 17 to be completely comfy to make use of when taking pictures horizontal frames.

Pentax 17: Toy Digicam, Severe Digicam, Or One thing in Between?

The Pentax 17 isn’t only a digital camera that takes analog photos with the press of a single button like a pocket point-and-shoot would. It’s mainly meant to be a tactile hands-on expertise and a giant a part of the enjoyable of this digital camera is its thumb winder mechanism.

Rewinding, loading, and advancing the movie is all an genuine and satisfying expertise and I’m glad Pentax determined to go strictly handbook with this course of. The thumb winder additionally naturally supplies a spot in your thumb to lock into whereas holding the digital camera and that is additional facilitated by a beneficiant grip which additionally homes the disposable lithium CR2 battery that powers the digital camera.

This digital camera additionally reveals a stark duality between some strictly handbook controls just like the lens focusing and movie pace dials but additionally a really automated manner of exposing and taking pictures images. The leaf-shutter contained in the digital camera offers a variety of shutter speeds from 4 seconds — or it’s also possible to use a Bulb setting — to 1/350 second. It’s hardly a variety of shutter pace decisions and the Pentax 17 is missing any handbook enter from the person, save for Bulb mode.

The lens is a 25mm f/3.5 and that closes all the way down to f/16 as a most. The lens reveals a full-frame equal area of view {that a} 37mm lens would supply. Once more, there isn’t any actual management over the aperture on this digital camera besides the choice to drive f/3.5 when desired.

The digital camera itself is extraordinarily light-weight coming just below 300 grams although it has a magnesium high and backside plate. The overall construct high quality of the digital camera is healthier than I anticipated total with the dials and knobs being simple to regulate and pretty constructive when clicking into place. Nevertheless, I’ll say that some elements of the digital camera really feel just a little plasticky -chiefly the lens housing area- so this digital camera feels neither like a toy, nor a premium and prestigious device. There isn’t any climate sealing to talk of and I will surely say that the Pentax 17 appears higher suited to truthful climate days round city moderately than out on the path within the dust and dirt.

Focusing the lens is finished by zones versus any exact handbook focusing. You establish the tough distance to your topic, set the digital camera to the suitable zone, and hope for the perfect. I’ve to confess, I used to be fairly skeptical upon listening to that the digital camera zone focuses. Often, the accuracy of such a system is doubtful at finest. Nevertheless, the Pentax 17 truly works fairly properly and I discover that in most conditions there’s sufficient depth-of-field to cowl any shift.

You get a zone to cowl infinity, roughly 10 ft away, a 5.5-foot setting, and a four-foot setting. I discovered the implementation fairly simple to make use of so long as I shaped a routine of checking it recurrently. You may get carried away with the joy of taking images and overlook to alter zones, solely to seek out some photographs out of focus, although. That mentioned, I did use the nearer settings for portraits and located even with shallower focus the digital camera was on course.

There are two close-up particular zones that are for set to 1.7 ft which is meant for issues like meals footage and a macro setting at 0.82 ft which remains to be not macro by any stretch. You may experiment with close-up filters to get even nearer however the framing and distance would turn into a guessing sport. Regardless, I used to be anticipating to have so many photographs out of focus and as an alternative was pleasantly shocked. Utilizing a 400 ISO movie outdoor will definitely assist the digital camera to make use of tighter apertures anyway and canopy most focusing ranges. It’s additionally necessary to level out that even whenever you select a zone of focus the Pentax 17 does regulate the focusing of the lens individually to accommodate the aperture that the sunshine meter chooses and maximize the depth-of-field for that space of focus.

How Far Can You Push the Pentax 17?

There’s a handbook ISO dial with none automated DX movie pace possibility so that you do need to be diligent about setting this to the pace you wish to expose your movie for. Subsequent to that may be a compact however usable publicity compensation dial that goes as much as two stops above or under the sunshine meter’s advice. Because of the restricted vary of shutter speeds, the ISO of the movie you purchase will probably be necessary to your expertise.

For instance, ISO 400 movie labored nice outdoor however would typically drive the digital camera to make use of very tight apertures, which could be very forgiving to imprecise focusing however offers no kind of shallow depth-of-field or soft-looking backgrounds. Conversely, ISO 100 movie is a good selection for many conditions however the Pentax 17 doesn’t offer you any indication of what aperture or shutter pace you’re utilizing and in case your shutter pace drops too gradual, you’ll solely learn about it when your images come again blurry. The Pentax will blink a lightweight at you within the viewfinder to warn you that the lighting is darkish however extra skilled photographers may be wanting for just a little extra detailed data.

Publicity adjustment on this digital camera is designed to be a largely automated course of and it’s necessary to state that anybody searching for handbook controls and a extra exact expertise will probably be dissatisfied right here. I pushed the digital camera so far as I may to govern publicity and I’ll say which you could’t push it far in any respect. The sunshine meter relies on {a partially} center-weighted averaging metering and due to this fact does job when gentle ranges are even throughout the body. It can battle the identical manner {that a} classic handbook movie digital camera will in the case of predominantly gentle or dark-toned scenes in addition to compositions containing shiny gentle sources in the direction of the digital camera. New customers to the analog expertise could need to put in some effort to learn to predict when the meter will battle and apply the correct amount of publicity compensation. For sure scenes the place I needed to ensure publicity, I’d bracket my photographs and even use a digital digital camera to preview the publicity earlier than committing to movie. There are numerous apps that can make the most of your cellphone as a lightweight meter and these might be useful too.

On the subject of the mode dial, we’re caught with predominantly a Program setting manner of taking pictures. The white-paint zone of the dial offers you Program mode the place the digital camera will set the aperture and shutter pace for you. There’s additionally a Bokeh setting which forces the digital camera to make use of f/3.5 solely however be cautious of utilizing this setting in shiny gentle with quicker pace movie or you’re going to get overexposure. There’s additionally a Bulb mode the place the shutter will keep open so long as you maintain down the button or cable launch. I used this for my waterfall lengthy exposures alongside some sturdy ND filters and it labored very properly at the side of a lightweight meter app.

There’s additionally a gold-colored space on the mode dial which supplies you entry to a second Program mode however with the choice to have the digital camera mechanically fireplace the flash if it deems it obligatory. There’s additionally the choice to drive the flash to fireside each time which could possibly be helpful to fill in shadows on shut topics or for darkish inside conditions. The flash itself although is sort of low energy and the dearth of directionality will have a tendency to offer very harsh-looking gentle. Lastly, there’s a full Auto mode which principally does what the gold program mode does however locks you out of the 2 closest focusing zones and units the digital camera to largely make every little thing from roughly 4 ft to infinity in focus. This provides you essentially the most point-and-shoot expertise for those who simply wish to shoot and see what occurs.

The Pentax 17 Makes Pictures Enjoyable

Look, the picture high quality on the Pentax 17 is extra about having enjoyable, experimenting a bit, accepting the occasional unhealthy publicity, and taking some pleasure within the analog expertise. There isn’t any denying that the half-frame photos will probably be grainy and infrequently just a little washed out or just a little too darkish, though the lens is able to some good sharpness. Nevertheless, I can also’t deny that the Pentax 17 precisely captures the enjoyable that many people felt once we began on classic movie cameras. The tactile expertise of utilizing the thumb winder and loading movie manually, the trail to studying tips on how to expose a extra fundamental movie digital camera, and the hard-fought fought-experience that comes with getting a fantastic shot after preventing with an occasional unhealthy image are all right here.

The Pentax 17 additionally makes photos which have an inherent attraction and a glance that’s each partaking and really totally different from what most of us are used to with digital cameras. There’s the anticipation of seeing what your picture outcomes will probably be and the pleasure that may be present in merely taking pictures for the sake of getting enjoyable and letting go of the hang-ups that include making an attempt to get “excellent” photographs on a regular basis.

What the Pentax 17 does so properly is give first-time movie customers the real expertise of utilizing a traditional movie digital camera and on the identical time additionally give a seasoned movie photographer that feeling of pleasure that they might have misplaced alongside the way in which.

Are There Options?

The type reply isn’t any. In fact, the used market will probably be one other foremost source of analog gear however the $500 Pentax 17 represents a singular taking pictures expertise and offers the peace of thoughts that comes with a brand-new buy. Half-frame cameras are additionally comparatively uncommon, so the Pentax 17 fills a wanted void.

Ought to You Purchase It?

Sure. If you’re seeking to get into your first analog expertise, the Pentax 17 gives the enjoyable issue, and the chance to be taught the ropes, all in a trendy and purposeful digital camera.