Pentax 17 review: The crème de la crème of film cameras

Nothing excites me more than getting my hands on a camera that takes gorgeous photos while sporting a beautiful design — and the Pentax 17 checks those boxes. The Pentax 17 marks a big milestone for film photography and it signals a hopeful future for the genre.

This half-frame camera doubles the shot count and takes stunning photos, and its prowess lies in the fact that it allows users to adjust the shutter speed and exposure.

The Pentax 17 is great for storytelling in two parts, it’s fitted with a clever viewfinder and LED lamps that, for instance, let you know the lens cap is still on, and six focus zones help you get the shot you want.

But the camera isn’t perfect. It’s expensive and it uses disposable, hard to procure CR2 batteries, and focusing can be hit-or-miss.

Is it still one of the best cameras today? Read my full Pentax 17 review to find out.

Pentax 17 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A half-frame film camera that lets you change shutter speed and use film rolls of different ISO values
• Who is it for? For film fans who want a modern camera with manual control, all the while sporting a retro look
• How much does it cost? The Pentax 17 is available for $499 / £499
• What do we like? The lovely design and build, clever viewfinder and useful LED lamps, the stunning photos it takes, and ease of use once you get used to the control scheme
• What don’t we like? It’s expensive, it uses disposable CR2 batteries, and focusing can be hit-or-miss

Pentax 17 review: Specs

Pentax 17 review: Price & availability

The Pentax 17 is one of the priciest half-frame reusable film cameras out there, with a retail price of $496 / £498 at Amazon. We haven’t seen it receive massive price slashes yet, as the lowest it has fallen to is $446.

This camera occupies a unique position in today’s market. It’s the only film camera Pentax has launched in the past two decades, and there isn’t really another like it that exists.

Most other film cameras come under $100, like the Kodak Ektar H35 half-frame ($49) or the Kodak Ultra F9 ($49) which are fully automatic. Then you have a camera like the Rollei 35AF, with autofocus and manual controls, that costs $799, and is perhaps the Pentax 17’s closest competitor.

Pentax 17 review: Design & build quality

The Pentax 17 is one of the most stunning cameras I’ve ever laid eyes on. It sports a retro look and borrows styling cues from old film cameras, and its grey and black colors make it look similar to the Fujifilm Instax mini Evo instant camera ($199). A combination of faux leather and a magnesium alloy top plate give the Pentax 17 a premium touch.

While its body is made of ABS plastic, you can tell it’s of high quality which doesn’t make it look or feel cheap. The Pentax 17 is also very compact, measuring just 5 x 3.1 x 2 inches. I was able to easily carry it around in my cargo pants’ pocket.

It weighs 10.2oz (camera only) so you don’t feel weighed down by it either. It’s heavier than both the Kodak Ultra H35 (3.52oz) and the Rollei 35AF (8.5oz).

I would have liked for the Pentax 17 to be heavier, though. When I first saw it in its box, its metallic looks tricked me into thinking the camera would be similar in weight to the Fujifilm X100VI compact mirrorless camera (18.3oz). The light weight doesn’t massively take from the user experience, but a little more weight wouldn’t have gone amiss.

What makes the Pentax 17 comfortable to use is its sculpted grip, which I haven’t seen on any of the other modern film cameras I’ve used. I was able to comfortably wrap my fingers around the sculpted grip on the right-hand side of the camera.

This grip also houses the Pentax 17’s battery. And how do you remove the battery cover, you ask? Just like with film cameras of old, you use a coin! I used a 2-pence coin to loosen the silver screw and insert the included CR2 battery.

Just remember not to lose the screw as it may be difficult to find a replacement.

Pentax 17 review: Lens & viewfinder

The Pentax 17 is fitted with a 25mm fixed-focus lens with a 37mm equivalent field of view. It doesn’t feature autofocus like the Rollei 35AF, but you get a zone-focusing system with six settings: 0.25m (macro), 0.5m (tabletop), 1-1.4m, 1.4-2.2m, 2.1-5.3m, 5.1m-∞. Around the lens is an easy-to-move dial that lets you swap between the focus zones.

One of the things I love most about the Pentax 17 is its clever viewfinder. The optical viewfinder has accurate frame lines to help you line up your shot. The outer lines are for distant focusing while the inner guides are for near focusing.

What I really like is that you can see the active zone-focusing mode through the viewfinder. This means that I didn’t miss as many shots as I would have otherwise simply because the camera wasn’t set to the right range.

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You’ll also notice two orange and blue LED indicators on the right-hand side of the viewfinder. Clever design, once again, as they inform you that the film needs to be advanced and that the lens cap is on. The Pentax 17 knows whether the cap is on is thanks to the built-in exposure meter. Nifty!

The aperture is fixed at f/3.5 but you get manual control over the Pentax 17’s shutter speed (4s-1/350s via the different shooting modes available), exposure compensation, and naturally ISO (as you can choose to shoot on ISO 50-3,200 film).

Pentax 17 review: Controls

The Pentax 17 has a lot going on in terms of controls. If you’re familiar with mirrorless cameras, you won’t have any issues getting to grips with this film camera. But if this is your first time seeing a camera with multiple dials, it may take you a while — best thing to do is just keep shooting.

Remember, the Pentax 17 uses just half a frame to capture a photo, giving you twice the shots from a single roll of film versus a full frame camera — that means there’s more room for trial and error.

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To get started, you need to pop open the film door on the back of the camera. Pop the roll in and pull a bit of the film out, hook the sprocket holes onto the teeth, then turn the film winder until the camera takes up a bit of the film. Here’s a handy tutorial in case you’re struggling. Once you’ve done so, you’re ready to start shooting.

Left-hand side

All the controls sit on the top plate. On the left-hand side, you’ll find the ISO sensitivity dial with a range of 50-3,200. You’ll need to set this according to the film you’re shooting. For example, I was using ISO 200 film, so I held down the ‘lock’ button next to the dial and turned the dial to 200.

Atop this dial is the rewind crank which you’ll need to use to rewind the exposed film into the cartridge when you’re ready to get it developed. It’s easy enough to do as is changing the ISO.

Sitting next to the ISO dial is the exposure compensation dial, which can help you quickly finesse your exposure. I found this especially handy in extreme situations, such as low-light or very bright, sunny conditions.

Right-hand side

Now onto the right-hand side. There’s a dedicated dial that lets you choose between seven modes: Full Auto, Standard (P), Slow-Speed Shutter, Bokeh, Bulb, Daylight Sync, and Slow-Speed Sync. Depending on the setting, the flash will be automatically enabled or disabled.

While there’s no dedicated shutter speed dial, you can use Slow-Speed Sync to slow it down to 4s for shooting long exposures. It’s best to use a tripod when using such a slow shutter speed to avoid any shake, as the camera doesn’t feature any stabilization technology.

The film advance lever is also located here. It’s unlike the ones I’ve seen on the Kodak Ektar H35 or the Novocolor Swiss+Go 35mm (£43). It has a matte black finish and feels sturdy. To advance the film, you need to push it to the right. I’ve loved using it and hearing the whirring sound it makes. It’s the best mechanical advance lever I’ve seen across all the film cameras I’ve used.

And sitting between the mode dial and the advance lever is the shutter button which doubles as the power on/off button. The shutter button gives good tactile feedback when pressed and feels soft to touch.

Overall, while the Pentax 17’s control scheme may appear complicated at first, getting used to it is a fairly quick process.

Pentax 17 review: Image quality

As is the nature of half-frame cameras, photos taken on the Pentax 17 will have more grain than those taken on full frame ones. This is because enlarging the negative to the same size as a full frame photo is going to make the grain more pronounced, as I’ve seen in some of the photos.

But that doesn’t mean the photos are terrible or unusable, and I’m actually very pleased with the results. I would advise using a film with finer or lower amounts of grain where you can — unless, of course, you want the effect.

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The Pentax 17 takes lovely photos in bright conditions, and you can see a few examples above. There’s plenty of detail in the photos and the camera has balanced shadows and highlights really well. The lens feels surprisingly sharp — and it’s definitely sharper than other film cameras I’ve tested.

There is some color fringing though, also known as chromatic aberration, caused by the optics. You can see this in the first slide where the tree branches meet the sky, and in the third slide around the edges of the willow tree too.

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One of the advantages of owning a half-frame film camera over a full frame one is that if you get two photos developed on one 3x2 sheet, you can create diptychs: a pair of photos (or any other media) that tells a story.

This way, you can get really creative. Now, the photos above may not tell a very intricate story, but you can (sort of) connect the dots and figure out that I was on a day out in London, U.K.

Photos taken with the focus zone set to 1-1.4m (small person icon on the dial) turn out nicely too. I took a selfie and a photo of my partner, as you can see above, with just one lamp turned on in our living room and the camera’s built-in flash enabled. Our faces are clear and in focus, and I like that the Pentax 17 has even captured the various colors — green, black, blue, brown — in the second photo.

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Where the Pentax 17 struggles is focusing on subjects close to the lens. The photos above were shot with the focus zone set to macro, and in both slides, the subjects are out of focus. Perhaps this issue could have been negated had the camera been equipped with autofocus, like the Rollei 35AF.

Overall, I’ve been very happy with the photos taken on the Pentax 17. Film photography can be hit-or-miss, and I’m not a big macro shooter anyway so I’m not as displeased with the out-of-focus shots as the others have turned out stunning.

Pentax 17 review: Film cost & yield

Much like the Kodak Ektar H35 and other film cameras, the Pentax 17 uses 35mm film which is usually easy to procure. I used Kodak Gold 200 35mm film, a roll (36 exposures) of which cost me $11 / £11.

The Pentax 17 is a half-frame camera, of course, so you’re essentially getting double the shot count. A 36-count roll yielded 72 shots in my testing, which is great value for money.

Developing film costs $20 / £17 on average which can quickly become expensive depending on how much you get developed. You could always develop film yourself by using a device like the Valoi easy35 ($244) which will require skill and investment, but will be cheaper in the long run.

Pentax 17 review: Battery life

Similar to the Lomography Lomomatic 110 ($99), the Pentax 17 utilizes one CR2 battery which can be hard to come by cheaply — in the U.K., at least. One was included with the camera but if you need more, you can get a pack of two for $17 / £10 at Amazon.

CR2 batteries also aren’t easily recyclable, and the Pentax 17’s manual specifically states that rechargeable batteries cannot be used, in case environmental impact is important to you.

Under specific testing conditions set out by Ricoh Imaging (which owns Pentax), using 50% flash shots, the company claims that a single battery should last you 10 cartridges when using a 36-exposure roll.

I wasn’t able to burn through the entire battery as that would involve me using a lot of film, but I hope to use this camera for a long time, so I will update the review when I have definitive results.

Pentax 17 review: Verdict

As film cameras go, the Pentax 17 is one of the best out there. While it’s a modern camera which offers manual control over shutter speed, it sports a retro look. Its magnesium alloy top plate gives it a premium edge as does the wraparound faux leather.

With its six focus zones and sharp lens, it takes stunning photos in bright conditions. And for a film camera, it has quite a clever, detailed viewfinder.

However, the camera struggles to focus on subjects close to the lens, even when the focus zone is set to macro. It also uses disposable, hard to procure CR2 batteries, and it may burn a hole in your pocket.

But with its charming, retro looks and imaging capabilities, it didn’t take long for the Pentax 17 to become one of my favorite cameras — and I’ll never go anywhere without it.