New Half Frame Camera

The Pentax 17 looks absolutely beautiful, the more I look at it the more I like it. I’ve shown it to some non-photographer friends and even they immediately said it’s a nice looking camera. The plastic material choice does make it feel cheap when holding it in hand. However, I quickly realise it’s a benefit because it allows you to put it in your pockets without feeling like you’re carrying a stone, or dragging your pockets down and looking bad. The film advance feeling is good, but I guess since it’s only advancing 4 holes at once, it’s a very short experience.

The shutter feels great. However, there’s almost no shutter sound. It’s a big difference for me, as my other half frame camera is an Olympus Pen FT, and that thing’s shutter is loud like slamming a door. The shutter is in the lens, which makes it super stealth when shooting on the street. You really have to listen carefully to hear it.

I do like the image quality. I thought it would be OK quality, but some photos turned out very sharp and crisp. Because there’s no way to control the aperture, I guess you never really know when the shutter is at its sharpest setting.

In terms of the issues I have with this camera, the first one is the exposure metering. I have primarily used the white P mode, which is program without flash. Although it tells me there’s enough light in some situations, I still got underexposed shots when they are developed. Sometimes I also used the “night” mode which has a slower shutter speed, and the same underexposed shots happened. Despite all that I really do enjoy using the camera and the overall experience has been positive.

We have a used one available for $650

Here are some of my photos…

Film that was used – Ultramax