Pentax’s new 35mm movie digital camera prioritizes type over high quality

I criticized the very thought of ​​half-frame cameras after I was a university scholar obsessive about medium and enormous format movie (who would even need much less decision than 35mm?), however the choice to shoot on movie in the present day is already a aware choice to compromise high quality for the sake of expertise and magnificence.

Who wants willpower when you may have vibes? That appears to be what Pentax needs to say with the brand new Pentax 17, a movie digital camera that takes half-size footage and appears as timeless as an outdated beater you picked up at some dude’s property sale. However the $499.95 Pentax 17 (coming later this month) is an all-new digital camera that, in 2024, makes use of the now common 35mm format and shoots much less pictures is for enjoyable, and capturing on movie is a bit of cheaper.

Half-frame cameras usually are not a brand new thought. Olympus again within the 60s we had a whole line devoted to creating these tiny photos, and Kodak now he has one which has the look, really feel and have set of a disposable digital camera that may be reloaded with movie.

The Pentax 17 will get the job carried out in the identical means as its half-frame predecessors: as a substitute of capturing a 24 x 36mm horizontal picture on a 35mm roll, it creates a 17 x 24mm vertical picture, so that you get two frames every, which is 36 expositions. solely 72 photographs. It will prevent some cash, however the trade-off is {that a} smaller picture space data much less high quality element. (This additionally signifies that you will initially be taking pictures in portrait orientation, for the reason that viewfinder is vertical, and you will have to show the digital camera sideways to take horizontal pictures.)

The Pentax 17 makes use of a built-in 25mm f/3.5 lens (equal to 37mm on a 35mm full-frame digital camera) with a nine-blade aperture. The lens would not have autofocus, nevertheless it’s additionally not totally guide – you employ zone focusing, selecting from six preset distances starting from 0.24 meters in macro mode to infinity. Relying solely on zone focusing, the Pentax 17 is finest suited to on a regular basis pictures or on a regular basis life genres similar to road pictures.

As for publicity modes, 17 doesn’t have full guide management right here both. It is primarily designed to be used in Programmed Auto mode, nevertheless it does have an publicity compensation dial, in addition to sluggish shutter and shutter velocity modes, so extra skilled photographers can no less than have some inventive management.

This digital camera is lacking options you will even discover a 48-year-old Pentax K1000 that may be bought on eBay for round $100, because it would not have interchangeable lenses or full management over settings like focus and publicity. Nevertheless it nonetheless gives a novel expertise (plus a brand new guarantee and in-house repairs). That is the primary digital camera from Pentax Movie Undertaking she introduced again in 2022 when she got down to create a brand new movie digital camera primarily based on suggestions from her neighborhood. Though it may be a safer choice to remake the fan-favorite K1000 or the much-desired Pentax 67 and its pretty picket deal with, I give Pentax credit score for taking the chance of making one thing a bit of completely different.