Ricoh Imaging Co Ltd has announced the launch of the Pentax 17 fixed-focal length compact film camera. 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 the film advance lever, and manual focus-range setting with the zone-focus system.
The Pentax 17 was developed based on the Pentax Film Camera Project, a concept first announced in December of 2022, in which Ricoh Imaging revealed that it was planning to develop and market a new Pentax-brand film camera. The popularity of film cameras has grown rapidly in recent years -- especially among young photographers who have experienced this type of camera for the first time ever -- because of the distinctive, somewhat nostalgic ambience that is so much different from that of digital cameras.
Contrary to this recent trend, the ability to hand down the knowhow and technology of experienced expert engineers to their younger counterparts for the development of film cameras has been diminishing every year, because digital cameras are now the overwhelming mainstream of photography.
The Pentax 17 was developed with experts and younger engineers working closely together. The camera was designed to allow photographers to express their originality and creativity by leaving some room for manual operation, rather than making it a fully automatic camera.
The Pentax 17 lets photographers fully enjoy the world of film cameras -- the origin of photography. It is an ideal model not only for film camera enthusiasts who have enjoyed film photography for years, but also for young photographers who are excited about trying film photography for the first time.
It features the half-size format, in which two 17mm x 24mm pictures are captured in a single 35mm-format frame (36mm x 24mm). It also employs a horizontal film advance mechanism. When positioned in the normal way, it captures vertical-format pictures, identical to the familiar images captured by smartphones, which are commonly used today for picture-taking.
The camera will go on sale on July 12 and cost about 88,000 yen.
Source: Ricoh Imaging
© Japan Today
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Zaphod
Nice to see that film cameras are still around, but 88K seems pretty steep for this simple camera. I still have a few old film cameras lying around, pretty sure they still work.
1glenn
There have been some great Pentax cameras over the years. Thank you.
That said, and having grown up with film cameras, I much prefer the digital format. Though I still own film cameras, haven't used them in decades.