I used to lambaste the very thought of half-frame cameras after I was a school pupil obsessive about medium- and large-format movie (who desires even much less decision than 35mm?), however electing to shoot movie in the present day is already a aware determination to compromise high quality for the sake of expertise and magnificence.
Who wants decision whenever you’ve received vibes? That’s what Pentax appears to be saying with its new Pentax 17, a movie digital camera that takes half-size photos and appears about as timeless as an previous beater you scored at some dude’s property sale. However the $499.95 Pentax 17 (launching later this month) is a completely new digital camera, one which, in 2024, takes the so-hot-right-now 35mm format and shoots smaller photos for the sake of enjoyable and making movie pictures price rather less.
Half-frame cameras aren’t a brand new thought. Olympus had a whole line devoted to creating these tiny photos again within the ’60s, and Kodak has one now with the look, really feel, and have set of a disposable digital camera that you could reload movie into.
The Pentax 17 handles issues similar to its half-frame predecessors: as an alternative of capturing a horizontal 24 x 36mm picture on a 35mm roll, it creates a vertical 17 x 24mm image so that you get two pictures for each one, making a 36 publicity roll eke out a complete 72 pictures. This protects you some cash, with the tradeoff being {that a} smaller picture space information much less positive element. (It additionally means you’re natively taking portrait-oriented pictures because the viewfinder is vertical, and also you’d 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-bladed aperture. The lens has no autofocus, nevertheless it additionally isn’t totally guide — you utilize zone focusing by choosing from one in every of six set distances starting from as shut as 0.24 meters in macro mode to infinity. Relying solely on zone focusing means the Pentax 17 is finest outfitted for informal snapshots or slice-of-life genres like avenue pictures.
As for publicity modes, the 17 doesn’t have full guide management right here, both. It’s largely designed for use in program auto mode, nevertheless it does have an publicity compensation dial in addition to sluggish shutter and bulb modes so savvier photographers can a minimum of have some inventive management.
This digital camera lacks options you’d discover in even a 48-year-old Pentax K1000 you should buy off eBay for round $100, because it doesn’t have interchangeable lenses or full management of settings resembling focus and publicity. However nonetheless, it provides a singular expertise (in addition to a brand new guarantee and first-party repairs). That is the primary digital camera from Pentax’s movie venture it introduced again in 2022, when it got down to make a brand new movie digital camera with suggestions from its group. Whereas it may need been a safer wager to remake the fan-favorite K1000 or the extremely coveted Pentax 67 and its beautiful wooden deal with, I give props to Pentax for taking an opportunity on one thing a bit totally different.