There is a new analogue camera - the Pentax 17
18.6.2024
Translation: machine translated
If you want to take photos with film, you can now also buy a new analogue camera. The Pentax 17 is simple and relatively expensive - but its curious concept makes it unique in 2024.
Pentax is increasingly becoming a retro brand. The Ricoh-owned company is the only one still developing SLR cameras. Now Pentax is occupying an even smaller niche: analogue cameras.
A half-format camera
The Pentax 17 is a half-format camera like the Olympus Pen. It uses standard 35mm film, but fills it with twice as many images as a 35mm camera. An image has the same height of 24 millimetres, but half the width - the eponymous 17 millimetres. This is why the camera shoots images in portrait format in normal orientation.
Simple device
The Pentax 17 is a very simple camera. The lens has a fixed focal length of 25 millimetres - this corresponds to an image section of 37 millimetres in full format. Focusing is manual, in six preset stages with corresponding symbols on the lens. The shortest possible distance is 25 centimetres.
You cannot set the aperture and shutter speed manually on this camera. However, there is a bulb mode for long exposures and a night mode that automatically sets a long exposure. The bokeh mode opens the aperture as wide as possible. The Pentax 17 also offers manual exposure compensation.
The camera is available immediately from Pentax and costs 550 euros. It should also be available from us soon.
Header image: Pentax
David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
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