Pentax 17 (dark silver)

One of the most talked-about photography products of the past year, Pentax's newly developed analogue camera, the Pentax 17, is finally here! PENTAX 17 is compact film camera with fixed focal length, designed to capture half-size photographs. In addition to the distinctive image quality created only by a film camera, this new model provides users with the fun and excitement of manual camera operation unique to film photography, such as manual film winding using wind-up lever, and manual focus-range setting with the zone-focus system.

 

 

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED CAMERA

 

Many people were surprised when, just before Christmas 2022, Pentax announced that it was launching the analogue "Project Tape" - a project involving the production of new analogue cameras. The project has been met with great enthusiasm as interest in analogue photography has grown rapidly over the last few years. Both senior and junior engineers from the company, as well as retired engineers, have come back and provided knowledge of the design work, so the knowledge is being passed on. Pentax has launched the first camera of the project - the new Pentax 17 analogue half-frame point and shoot camera. The camera captures half-size images when two 17 mm x 24 mm images are captured in one 35 mm frame (36 mm x 24 mm). A normally positioned camera captures images in a vertical format, identical to the familiar images captured by smartphones, which are the most common medium in which we take pictures today. The camera has a newly developed 25 mm F3.5 fixed focal length lens, equivalent to a 37 mm lens in 35 mm format. The lens is based on the Pentax Espio Mini lens introduced in 1994. It features 3 elements in 3 groups and HD multi-coating to enhance the clarity and sharpness of half-size images. The lens has a 40.5 mm filter mounting thread.

 

 

 

 

 

FUN AND EXCITEMENT OF MANUAL CAMERA OPERATION

 

The Pentax 17 features a manual film winding mechanism based on the mechanisms used in Pentax-branded SLR film cameras. The film winding lever gives users the tactile pleasure of rolling the film and a pleasant winding sound after each shutter release. The easy loading system is specially designed to minimise film loading errors, making it particularly convenient for novice film camera users. Focus is set using a zone focusing system and the system is divided into six focus zones. All the user needs to do to set the camera's focus is to select the mark on the zone focus ring that best corresponds to the subject's distance. In addition, the Albada bright-frame viewfinder makes it easy to see which zone has been selected. Exposure can be automatic, and in addition to the fully automatic mode, where all exposure settings are selected by the camera, the user can select several other shooting modes: standard shooting, aperture priority shooting, day synchronisation shooting with a maximum duration of 4 s, slow shutter speed shooting and slow synchronisation shooting with a maximum duration of 1/30 s. The exposure compensation dial also allows you to quickly change the exposure level for different types of subjects.

 

 

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS

 

Camera type: Half-frame lens-shutter 35 mm film camera with fixed focal length

Frame Size: 24×17mm

Compatible Film: 35mm film ISO 50, ISO 100, ISO 125, ISO 160, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200

Sensitivity Setting: Manual settings to match the film

Film Loading: Easy loading system

Film Transport: Manual winding using wind-up lever (with 130-degree stroke and 35-degree stand-off angle）

Film Rewind: Manual rewinding using rewind crank. Mid-roll rewinding possible.
Lens construction: HD PENTAX lens, 3 elements in 3 groups

Focal Length: 25 mm (equivalent to 37mm in 35mm format）

Maximum Aperture: F3.5

Angle of View (Diagonal): 61°

Maximum Magnification: approx. 0.13x (at 0.25m）

Filter Diameter: 40.5 mm
Viewfinder type: Albada bright-frame viewfinder

Focus type: Zone-focusing（Manual operation）

Focus Switchover Distance: 6 zones (0.25 m, 0.5 m, 1.2 m, 1.7 m, 3 m, ∞）
Exposure Metering System: Partial metering
Exposure Metering Range: EV2.5 to 16.5（ISO 100）

EV Compensation: ± 2EV ( 1/3EV steps)

Shutter type: Program AE electronic shutter

Shutter Speed: 1/350 to 4 seconds, Bulb

Built-in flashe's guide number: approx. 6（ISO100・m）

Flash Charging Time: approx. 9 seconds

Battery Type: one 3V lithium battery（CR2). Not compatible with rechargeable CR2 type batteries.

Cable Switch Terminal: Compatible with cable switch CS-205 (optional) (φ2.5mm）

Operating temperature: 0℃ to 40℃

Dimensions (width x height x depth): approx. 127.0 mm × 78.0 mm × 52.0 mm（excluding protruding parts)

Weight: approx. 290 g（without film and battery）