New Half Frame Film Camera Pentax 17


airconvent

Senior Member
Apr 12, 2005
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It is finally here. A brand new film camera from Pentax. Lots of video reviews but let's hear from the designer himself, TKO san. :)

 

Pentax was a great brand.
Not sure whether a half frame film camera will succeed in 2024 and beyond.
Buying rolls of 35mm negative colour film is very expensive nowadays.
Developing, processing and printing is very expensive.
The extreme high cost of film usage will limit the popularity.
In the film era, Olympus was famous for its half frame cameras.
Canon made some too.
 

Beginner film camera with not beginner price on top of expensive film. Something beginner film shooters do not think through what all this means. Film or analog film is also different from digital other than the exposure triangle, even the effect of exposure on both medium. Still Pentax is brave to make a point and shoot camera but it's been ages and I heard in another video that Pentax had to have the help of retired film camera designers to start the design process from scratch and one thing they had overlooked is the battery compartment screw that can come off if user is not careful, it may drop and roll off somewhere so take note! 👀 Actually they could have added a retainer clip like normally what a good design would so it stays on the cover..I guess this flaw will be corrected in future models.

The following review is not the usual review in that it focus on camera features but also an honest commentary of the state of film photography today.

The next is a advice to beginner film photographers. After the analogy capture process you can scan into digital and edit to your artistic inclination and print in your home printer but of course it you want to print at a more serious level then that is another subject altogether. I would recommend using black and white film for starters which is cheaper and get to know how the camera exposes film and it is an established artistic medium. From the reviews the exposure meter is surprisingly good or is it because of editing?

As mentioned before how well this film camera will do commercially will depend on the consumer so I wish Pentax success.




Pentax was a great brand.
Not sure whether a half frame film camera will succeed in 2024 and beyond.
Buying rolls of 35mm negative colour film is very expensive nowadays.
Developing, processing and printing is very expensive.
The extreme high cost of film usage will limit the popularity.
In the film era, Olympus was famous for its half frame cameras.
Canon made some too.
 

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Black and white film can be costly as well depending on brands & types.
Unless process DIY, the cost of commercial processing b&w film can be higher than colour film. The reason being economy of scale such as the chemicals cannot last & the demand of b&w film processing is lower than colour. That was informed to me from the shop.
 

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