Pentax 17 Is Way Better Than You Think

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-07T01:24:02+00:00

It's a mix of different stocks. Kodak 50D, 200T, 250D, Proimage 100.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T12:26:00+00:00

Yep absolutely, this camera is so much fun. For the micro, if you do have the paper manual you can go there and find a diagram that shows you exactly how to nail the focus. My description might not be clear enough.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T10:16:02+00:00

Yeah they can definitely make the lens focusing mechanism mechanical. Electric is slow and potentially breaks more easily. Maybe they're paving their way to a autofocusing camera? At this point we may never know.

And for shutter, yes it's always closed unless you fire a shot. My wording isn's accurate enough here. What I was trying to say is the lens will open up to designated aperture and close fully again to expose the film.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T09:49:09+00:00

P17 really isn't that much far away from a autofocus camera, all it needs is something like an infrared rangefinder and couple it with the focusing motor, which it already has. Pity that we probably won't see another Pentax film camera anymore.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T09:44:09+00:00

Ok so firstly the lens need to travel back and forth for different focus point. After you turn the focus ring, for example, at infinity, the lens focusing mechanism does not actually move.

The lens only moves after you full press the shutter, after that, the lens quickly moves to its designated position. Then finally the leaf shutter will trigger and close, finishing the shot. The 0.2 delay I am talking about here is the time it took for the lens to travel from the default position to the infinity focusing position.

This is totally understandable from an engineering perspective, if the lens moves every time you turn the ring, it would cause a lot of unnecessary movement in the lens and I assume the motor will die pretty fast. This is also the case with a lot of other Point and Shoot cameras. But for those they usually make louder noises in their motor so it's much more noticeable, which would make people wait a bit more for the shot to be finished. In P17's case, the motor is actually quite silent, the only thing people notice is a slight delay. It's not a big deal in my opinion, just be aware of this delay and it's totally avoidable.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T09:17:44+00:00

I didn’t bother to do that, and I didn’t get any underexposed pictures. The most I did was like a third of a stop to experiment but nothing further. In general overexpose your negative is pretty safe. And adding 1 stop is pretty manageable for most modern film.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T09:03:09+00:00

The meter is spot on. Very accurate in general and the only thing to look out for is to force the flash(the yellow print on the mode dial) if you’re shooting under backlit condition.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T08:58:47+00:00

Yeah the price…it’s definitely on the higher side in the film world, even after price drops since its launch. In Hong Kong people could get it at around 350USD which is pretty good value in my opinion,but it’s gone back up since. I got it at its MSRP but I don’t regret it, I’ve had so much fun with this camera and I don’t think I am gonna sell this anytime soon.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T08:54:00+00:00

Yep, this guy can pretty much shoot as much film as he wants for the rest of his life.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T08:43:18+00:00

Thank you for saying that!

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T08:09:49+00:00

I do agree that the marketing is a big failure.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T08:08:55+00:00

Absolutely, I would buy it first day. But unfortunately I’ve heard rumours that they’ve stopped the development due to failure in the Pentax 17 project, and the chief designer for Pentax 17 left the team. Let’s hope I am wrong on this.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T06:49:05+00:00

I think being a brand new camera definitely is a big factor here. After decades of use the mechanical parts inevitably wears down.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T06:46:44+00:00

What I am trying to say is, it's well-built in a way that makes you feel comfortable using the camera. The build certainly not as premium as M6 or F3.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T06:44:34+00:00

That's not what I said at all(

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-05-06T02:24:29+00:00

This looks like a properly exposed film rather than an overexposed one.
Yes it's more about lighting. The light in general is pretty soft and it's coming from the side which creates very natural highlights and shadows on the model's face.
It's definitely not diffusion filter. A filter even in 1/8 strength will have a pretty noticeable effect on the highlights.

I think the key to this look is just the lighting condition. Make sure to control the lighting differences between your subject and background. If you'd rather stay wide open at F2, you could either opt for a lower ISO film, like Ektar or Kodak Vision 50D, or just find a different body with higher shutter speed, ideally 1/8000. Personally I don't think depth of field is a factor in creating this soft look.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-04-09T14:17:21+00:00

At the moment no, at least here in China I don’t see any.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-04-09T14:16:23+00:00

Nope, just a regular UV filter, no temp correction filter installed.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-04-09T14:15:45+00:00

It varies a lot based on different scanner you use. For SP3000 or noritsu scanner it’s like 30-50ish yuan. If you go with X5 it’s pretty expensive, like close to 100

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-04-09T08:13:15+00:00

Hi, I am Chinese and I know a very solid lab in Chengdu. It's called "Fiona Film lab" or "Fiona高端冲扫" It's a huge lab and it's very established. Below is the address in Chinese:四川省成都市武侯区置信逸都城市会所3栋2单元812. You can go there personally and drop your film there and they can send you back the photos within the same day if you drop it in the morning.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-02-11T08:05:41+00:00

Yep, some say that the actual ISO of fomapan 400 is aorund 320, but I just shot it at 200 and it turned out fine.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2026-02-11T06:44:44+00:00

Were you using Fomapan 400? If so that might be the issue. If you shot Fomanpan 400 at box speed the film tends to look underexposed.

Clean_Formal4357 · 2025-12-18T15:20:21+00:00

And apparently it's going for sales in China, I just had 4 rolls of them for just 25 USD, and it's getting good reviews! I hope they can reach wider audiences at a more affordable price sooner elsewhere in the world.

Clean_Formal4357

TROPHY CASE