The Pentax 17, the first exciting film camera (and likely the only completely new film camera) to be released for years, is now a year old. It launched to much fanfare, well-timed reviews from a collection of sites (including my former pals at Casual Photophile), but Pentax have since paused production, saying they want to “re-evaluate the market”.
I liked the look of it at launch, but couldn’t justify the price tag when I was rarely taking photos using digital, let alone on film. This year I’ve made more of a concerted effort to get out and take photos, and really enjoyed the cheap and cheerful Ektar half-frame I tried out a few months ago. The ergonomics of it left a lot to be desired though (I think I lost some fingerprints on that spiky thumbwheel) and so I decided to treat myself to something nicer ahead of our big holiday in June. We also planned to elope on this trip, so I filed this under “early wedding present for me”!
Just to make things doubly interesting, I decided my first roll would be in black and white, as I usually shoot in colour. Black and white might not be the most logical choice for holiday snaps in a colourful and sunny country, but I’ve had some success in the past shooting black and white with a red filter. I didn’t want as dramatic a result, so opted for a yellow filter to enhance contrast without darkening everything too much.
The first step was to go through the huge camera bag of expired film I’ve been trying to get through, to find a suitable candidate. This was a fun task, and with the help of Mastodon/Bsky friends, ended up deciding on Ilford FP4+, as it’s relatively fine-grain, which should minimise visible grain on those tiny negatives.
Many articles have been written on the ergonomics and build of the Pentax 17, so I won’t repeat that here. I will say that it’s novel using a new camera that shoots film – all the knobs and levers feel sure and good-quality, even if the body is mostly plastic. The distance-scale mechanism is cute, relying on little pictograms in a similar fashion to my Olympus XA4 (and distances are handily printed under the lens). A couple of little lights in the viewfinder also tell you if you’ve still got the lens cap on (handy) or if you’re too close to your subject (also handy).
Firing through the roll was great fun, the distance scale worked well and the camera being so casual-looking helped me feel unobtrusive while I was mooching about. I thought I might struggle to get through 72 shots, but they went by quickly and enjoyably. Ronda was gorgeous as ever, and quieter than our visit last year due to one of the two roads into town being closed because of a landslip earlier in the year. It was incredibly hot though, meaning all our excursions had to be done by early afternoon – after which we lazed about at the hotel and ordered room service (heaven).
I got my roll developed at Jack’s Lab here in Bristol, as I don’t have my own chemicals or means of scanning any more (and I was never very good at developing anyway). It took about 2 weeks to get the images back, which felt like an eternity, but apparently it’s the busy season at the moment. The scans were good, delivered via Dropbox with the minimum of fuss. The lab is also a short walk from my office, which means I’ll definitely be using them again in future.
(And the elopement went off without a hitch 😉 )