The Pentax 17 heralds a new age for film photography: here’s my verdict after testing it for a week
Film photography. We all know it, we’ve all most probably used a film camera at some point, and we all love it. How can you not? Film photos have an undeniable charm about them, and reusable and disposable film cameras have made a comeback in recent years. The future of film photography is bright, and the Pentax 17 heralds a new era.
I love film cameras. Not being able to see what you’ve just shot instantly takes the pressure off and you learn to live in the moment. And the photos, more often than not, turn out great — who doesn’t enjoy sharing them with friends online?
I recently had the pleasure of testing the Pentax 17 which quickly became one of my favorite cameras of all time.
I took one look at the Pentax 17 and immediately fell in love. How could you not? Its retro design is hard to resist as is its ability to take gorgeous photos. It’s built well with a magnesium alloy top plate, and you can use ISO 50-3,200 film with it.
Let me show you why I think every film aficionado should make the Pentax 17 a part of their arsenal.
A modern analog wonder
Most film cameras I’ve tested, like the Kodak Ektar H35 ($49) and the Novocolor Swiss+ Go (£43), aren’t eye-catching. They feature plasticky builds which don’t necessarily feel premium. They’re also fully automatic so all you need to do is point and shoot, which is fine if you just want a camera whose settings you can’t be bothered to tinker with.
Not the Pentax 17. This camera’s got looks that could kill. Yes, some parts are made of plastic but you can tell it’s high-quality. It features a magnesium alloy top plate that gives the Pentax 17 a premium edge — and would you look at those buttons!
The dials are solid, and the film crank is the most fun I’ve had advancing film.
What makes the Pentax 17 special is its manual controls, of course. You don’t get a straightforward shutter speed dial as you do on most mirrorless cameras. Instead, you get a Mode dial which when set to Slow-Speed Sync slows the shutter speed down to 4 seconds — perfect for long exposures.
While other film cameras don’t give you any control over focusing, the Pentax 17 is equipped with a zone-focusing dial around its lens.
You can choose from six different settings for macro, landscapes, portraits, etc. And its viewfinder is so clever that you can see the active focus zone.
Those photos, though
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And how about the photos the Pentax 17 captures? Beautiful, and you can see a few examples above. I took the camera out for a spin in London and Bristol, U.K. and I got really lucky with the weather as it was mostly sunny.
Color reproduction is faithful, albeit with a little chromatic aberration. Shadows and highlights are well-balanced too. This is a half-frame camera which means it uses just half a frame to capture a photo, giving you twice the shots from a single roll of film versus a full frame camera — that means there’s more room for trial and error.
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It essentially doubles the shot count. If you use a 36-exposure roll like I did, you’ll get 72 photos out of it. But photos will be slightly grainier than ones taken on a full-frame film camera (like the Kodak Ultra F9) due to enlarging a negative to the same size as a full-frame photo. Or you can get two photos developed on one 3×2 sheet like I did.
You can view more photos I took on the Pentax 17 in my full review.
My travel buddy
But its extensive feature set makes the Pentax 17 an expensive camera. If you’ve got $499 / £499 to spare, then it’s really a no-brainer. The Pentax 17 is a class apart, the crème de la crème.
It’s also a hopeful sign for the future of film photography. Pentax launched this camera in late 2024, and I can’t wait to see what’s to come. All the brand needs to do now is throw autofocus in the mix, as the Rollei 35AF has done, and we’re golden.
Personally, I’ve made up my mind: the Pentax 17 is one camera I never want to go anywhere without. Similar to how I always carry my DJI Air 3S drone — as you never know when the opportunity to shoot a stunning scene may arise — I’ll be carrying the Pentax 17 in my pocket.
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