Hi, we are Jules, Greg and Max. This channel's primary focus is analog photography in the digital age. We are sharing gear and film reviews as well as learnings from our various shoots and insights on developing film. In the process, we also address different kinds of photography (e.g. portrait & fashion editorials, landscape and street photography) on all sorts of formats (e.g. 35mm, medium format, 4x5 inch). We hope you enjoy our little channel and look forward to hear from you.
It’s a shame that amateur reviewers have steered a lot of people towards the Ultron 28 f/2. Ultron is a solid budget option, but this Elmarit is in a league all by itself. To see that, you have to really study 3D falloff and characteristics that fall under “rendering” and “drawing” … masterpiece
It’s a shame that amateur reviewers have steered a lot of people towards the Ultron 28 f/2. Ultron is a solid budget option, but this Elmarit is in a league all by itself. To see that, you have to really study 3D falloff and characteristics that fall under “rendering” and “drawing” … masterpiece
OK, I'm anything but a starter film photographer. Nevertheless, I'd like to have some (new) small film camera in my pocket for occasional shooting, even being a half - frame camera. I'd even pay the asked price. HOWEVER, that's only under the assumption that it has full manual control over aperture and exposure (even if its in the button form, as Pentax used to make), and 18mm lens or so (35mm in FF / Leica format)...
wouldn't it b nice .. 2 offer Square "orientation" along with Portrait & Landscape. Appearance wise the camera loox a little fussy/busy. What's the mounting system (i'm a full-frame owner)?
I'm pleased to see you mentioned it's remarkable likeness to the TH F2. I'm lucky enough to own a TH F2 that Came with Reid III based on the Leica IIIb.
What is the Leica reference manual you have in your video and which edition is it? Great overview of the 50 Summicron from 76-2015. Picking up a version 5 for a M262; and already have a version 2 on a ‘76 M4 and a 50 dual range Summicron on a ‘56 dual stroke M3. Cannot afford an APO/M11 for now. But all good..
Thank you for an amazing review! I’m considering dipping my toes in to analogue photography but was a bit discouraged by a lot of negativity in comments and reviews I’ve seen so far so it was really refreshing to get a proper walk through of the camera, explanations of functions and your impressions of it!
Thank you for your kind comment. Glad to hear it was helpful. I tried my best to make the video relevant to both starters and more experienced film shooters.
As a motion picture centric guy, "half frame" for me is essentially "4 perf super35". And 72 frames would then be 3 seconds of 24 fps. It does make me imagine silly use cases where you set it up on a copy stand and use it for animations up to 3 seconds long. 😅 Heck. If you somehow modify it to 2 perf "techniscope" you can expand it to 144 frames or 6 seconds of panoramic animations. 😂
My take on this camera is Polaroid is making a statement that they are committed to developing and improving on Polaroid instant photography. Improving the film is a laborious and time consuming operation given the companies limited (compared to the original Polaroid and film companies like Fuji) finances so producing a full feature top of the line “headline” camera helps to show they are really serious about making the film as good at or possibly better than the original sx70 film.
Hi Max very good review as usual. A lot of good ideas in this Pentax 17 (half of 35) : interesting vertical format, good viewfinder, good capabilities, high build quality… but for me some errors (or just some decisions made for a certain public) which will slow down the enthousiasm of some others : the lens short but not so fast, no rangefinder which could help a perfect focus, no direct control of the aperture and the film advance seems very short and not so solid. So this camera is mainly made for phone users who wants to try some analog film : simplification of focus (that s probably why the lens is only f3.5) and exposure but… it s not so cheap for a try. Perhaps Pentax should have done a more plasticky version for this public at a lower price. So now I dream of a more advanced (17pro ? ) version with bigger and faster lens, aperture ring, rangefinder or autofocus mode and bigger (I insist) film advanced lever. Have a nice day.
I love and appreciate each and every camera manufacturer out there. I would hate any one of them to be out of the game. But, I have to give it to Pentax; hats off to a company that actually seems to sincerely care about photography and giving us very unique cameras/lenses at very fair prices. I should be receiving this camera in a few days and already have a whole photography project in mind for this little gem. Thanks for your great review :)
Just stumbled upon this review. Good one. I also own a FM2 chrome. Note that mine starts with the serial 7036. Older version of FM2 with titanium shutter.
Thanks for this very nice review, I think of buying one and have aquestion about the viewfinder, I am wearing glasses and am wondering if you can see the whole image. Thanks in advance, Kees
Excellent review and analysis. I hope this is the first of more film cameras from Pentax. I admit that I wouldn't buy this model one simply because I don't like portrait mode. If they were to follow up with a full frame in landscape mode, then I most certainly would buy one.
I'm curious about how Pentax set the camera program. We all knew that: Aperture: F3.5 - F16 Shutter: 4s - 1/350s 1. When set to no flash P mode, when it is in low light, will it limit the shutter at 1/30s and warn you it is insufficient light, or it will go all the way down to 4s? 2. When set to Bokeh mode, using ISO 400 film under sunny day, will it shoot at F3.5 with 1/350s, or it will shoot at F16 with 1/350s? 3. When set to no flash Night mode, will it always prioritize shutter to 4s? or any range?
For those who complain about prices of new innovations, imagine how you could research and develop new inventions, let alone passion of the film enthusiasts without kickstart programs. Well said by the reviewer. Ricoh/Pentax is possibly one of the best companies that hears customers and continues to innovate.
I'm glad you made the point that the price of this camera is not an issue of discussion also the camera is targeted at people who are interested in photography, to me these are important points. That being said I think it is a stroke of genius to have a camera that isn't over price & give a person a cool starting point to keep true photography alive
I believe the camera auto powers down after a short period and powers back up automatically when you press the shutter. You only need to turn off the power to make sure the battery is not run down while it is in a bag.
Shame on you. This is not acceptable. One must be blind to look at film photos nowadays. You want a film look, just apply countless filters to digital processing of RAW data. “ film community” I have not enough words of disapproval for your consumerist hedonistic approach to global resources. You want all this chemical dirt back? What for? For your wasteful pleasure of getting on good frame per film? Which you will the scan any way to treat in your PC? “Film community” you must be out of your minds .
Thanks for the very honest review of this camera. Love that Land Rover Defender photo! Where you located? I love you are as passionate as people developed this camera! I think pricing is pretty good! People buy this camera will be supported at least next 10 years of Pentax repair and spare parts support! As I am deeply working with Pentax past 30 years of my life. This is one of happiest time of my life with PENTAX! Enjoyed your video!
Really nice job. I love this camera and will buy one before the year ends. One observation, why the three clearly different textures in the black covering around the body?
Lovely review/video-as always. This camera, though.... Good lord, it's ugly. I can't understand the aesthetic choices they made. It's like they chose to revere the worst bits of the ugliest 70s Pentax cameras. Secondly... i'm surprised by the format. Half-frame is a small niche market. The rationale of it being a cost-saving measure in this era makes little sense. Those of use who are devoted to film photography and also who would be willing to spend $500 on this... is that set of people really motivated by saving money on film? Then, there's the results. I've been shooting since 1982, and not once have i ever wished for *less* resolution or lower image quality than 35mm. Even in instances where i would want to play 'up' grain, like a Ralph Gibson, 35mm is still the starting point. Half-frame, in a digital era just seems like a 'punt.'
Wow, Max have you ever had the chance to review a newly designed and marketed film camera on this channel? I can imagine you were excited for the opportunity, and Kudos to Pentax for taking the initiative to develop a new analog product in the digital age. Another fabulous episode - thank you!
Nice review! Looks to take good images this camera. Hope many buy it and Pentax get chance to make more models. I completely agree with the points on prize. Especially since, you might buy an old camera that is said to be in working order, only to find you have to repair it.Getting equipment needed and the time you invest in doing the repairs are more than the price of this camera. I recently repaired a Olympus Pen (original version) and while I enjoy it, it doesn't have all the features of this half frame, so you have to know what you are doing to use it and you also need an external light meter which also costs money.
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$500 and especially $750 equvallent in Europe is a bit too much for zone focusing MF plastic P&S camera without full manual exposure control and 1/350s shutter limit. Sure there is development cost, testing cost, NPI cost, but Ricoh is quite GREEDY since they took over Pentax. You can see that on K3III price too. It is basically 2015 technology camera introduced in 2021 and now they are still selling it with price almost matching recently released Fuji overkill X-H2. Compare that with K5 or K3 introduction price before. Yes there is inflation and technology complexity increase, but that would be about %20-30 increase, while we are at double. And prior formal takeover also the price of lenses increased dramatically overnight in Q2/2009. Just some examples - FA35/2 was $500 and then suddenly $900. DA*16-50/2.8 went from $800 to $1350, DA*50-135/2.8 from $850 to $1400, DA12-24/4 from $750 to $1350, FA43/1.9 from $550 to $1100 etc etc. Later they introduced rebadged gutted Tamron OEM lenses 15-30/2.8, 24-70/2.8 and 70-210/4, but for DOUBLE the price of the original while there is no VC and warranty is nowhere near 5-6 years which Tamron has. That is just greed that cannot be justified. And they are wondering why they lost so many users.. well.
