PENTAX 17: a new half-frame film camera designed for a new generation (2024)

In July 2024 Ricoh Imaging's PENTAX business shipped the PENTAX 17, its first new film camera in about two decades. It is a half-frame 35mm camera: each 36×24mm frame is split into two vertical 17×24mm pictures, so a 36-exposure roll yields 72 shots. The newly developed 25mm F3.5 lens equals a 37mm field of view, with zone focus and seven exposure modes including bulb.

The project began around 2020, when planner-designer Takeo Suzuki (TKO) pitched it internally and had to persuade skeptical executives. His reasoning: young people were returning to film, but the only options were unreliable second-hand bodies with no warranty, so the manufacturer should build a new camera that lets newcomers enjoy analog safely. PENTAX announced the Film Camera Project publicly in late 2022 and collected feedback from young and veteran photographers worldwide.

Every choice targeted first-timers: half-frame halved the per-shot cost as film prices surged; the finder frames vertical, phone-shaped compositions; the manual advance lever, ISO dial and rewind preserved analog tactility; the silver revived the 1975 LX Titanium's color; even the minus screws sit at slightly different angles so each camera's face is unique.

The response surprised the team: congratulations poured in from film makers, labs, retailers and young photographers, and orders exceeded expectations so quickly that Ricoh suspended order-taking and began studying increased production. Retired PENTAX engineers, initially skeptical of a film project in a digital era, volunteered their help and refused payment.