Ricoh has revealed the Pentax 17, the half-frame movie compact with a handbook focus fastened prime lens.The Pentax 17 has a 25mm F3.5 lens which works out at 37mm equal, and derives its title from the horizontal width of the 17 x 25mm frames it captures. The corporate says the vertical format makes it just like photographs shot by smartphones.It has a handbook focus lens that may be set to certainly one of six preset distances, from 0.25m to infinity, indicated with icons on the highest of the lens. The corporate says the lens relies on the design of 1994’s Pentax Espio Mini and options three parts in three teams. It includes a leaf shutter that offers a round aperture form all the way in which from F3.5 to F16, and offers a shutter pace vary from 1/350 sec to 4 seconds, and provides a Bulb mode for longer exposures.The corporate says its focusing on a youthful viewers who benefit from the expertise of capturing movie and can admire the cost-savings of capturing two exposures on every 36 x 24mm area. The 17 may also present the understanding of a full guarantee with good availability of spare elements, which second-hand cameras lack. It should include a one 12 months guarantee and, within the US not less than, the choice of a second 12 months of protection.The digicam options magnesium alloy building and makes use of a typical CR2 lithium battery to energy its flash, gentle meter and viewfinder indicators.The 17 can be out there from late June 2024 at a value of $499.95.
Press Launch:
Ricoh pronounces the PENTAX 17 compact movie digicam
With a retro-inspired design and half-frame photograph format, the PENTAX 17 is the right digicam for first-time movie photographers who need to share their photographs on social media
PARSIPPANY, New Jersey, June 17, 2024 — Ricoh Imaging Americas Company as we speak introduced the extremely anticipated PENTAX 17 compact movie digicam. The PENTAX 17 is a half- body digicam, capturing two 17mm x 24mm photos inside a single 35mm-format (36mm x 24mm) movie body. It produces vertical-format photos, with related ratios to these captured by smartphones, for seamless sharing on social media after the movie is developed and scans are produced by a movie lab.
The recognition of movie cameras has grown quickly lately — particularly amongst younger photographers — due to the distinctive, considerably nostalgic expertise offered that’s so completely different from utilizing digital cameras. The compound annual progress fee (CAGR) for the worldwide movie digicam market is projected to be 5.2% by means of 2030 and a fast search of the hashtag #filmphotography on Instagram pulls up greater than 42.6 million posts.
Borne out of the PENTAX Movie Digicam Mission, an idea first introduced in December of 2022, the brand new digicam resulted from a detailed collaboration between Ricoh Imaging and PENTAX specialists and youthful engineers. The specialists shared their huge data and a long time of expertise in movie and imaging know-how with the present group members to design a movie digicam that might permit photographers to precise their originality and creativity by leaving some room for handbook operation, reasonably than making it a totally automated digicam.
| Design merges handbook operation and ease of use for max artistic expression |
The design of the PENTAX 17 was impressed by the PENTAX model’s heritage, incorporating handbook operations distinctive to movie images which are gaining a loyal following in as we speak’s digital world. This features a selectable zone-focus system, handbook movie winding, handbook movie advance lever, and publicity compensation and ISO sensitivity changes, every with their very own dials. The basic design of the digicam physique was developed with high-quality supplies; the highest and backside covers are fabricated from stable, light-weight magnesium alloy and the 40.5mm filter mounting thread allows the usage of a spread of filters.
The PENTAX 17 includes a newly-developed 25mm F3.5 lens (equal to a 37mm lens within the 35mm format). Additional constructing on the PENTAX model heritage, the lens relies on optics integrated within the acclaimed PENTAX Espio Mini — which was marketed in 1994 —redesigned to help the half-frame format. The lens is handled with HD (Excessive Definition) coating to optimize the readability and sharpness of the half-frame pictures. In a nod to Ricoh’s wealthy historical past in optics and images, the designers based mostly the lens design on the lens within the RICOH Auto Half – a best- promoting half-frame mannequin first marketed in 1962 – incorporating the angle of view and focal size to make informal, on a regular basis picture-taking easy and flawless.
The digicam’s zone-focus system is split into six focus zones that may be chosen on the zone focusing ring to seize topics at an extended distance or as close-up as 25 centimeters away within the macro zone. Its vibrant optical viewfinder includes a vibrant, Albada-type body finder to facilitate framing a scene in addition to a close-up visible subject compensation body to assist customers extra simply compose close-up photographs. The zone focus marks may be seen instantly by means of the viewfinder to additional help composition.
The PENTAX 17 has seven capturing modes to accommodate completely different functions and eventualities. It routinely adjusts publicity settings based mostly on lighting knowledge collected by its metering sensor. Along with the Full Auto mode wherein all publicity settings are chosen by the digicam, it gives six different capturing modes together with: Gradual-speed sync, which is helpful in twilight images; and Bulb, a long-exposure mode helpful for photographing nightscapes and fireworks.
The digicam helps a wide array of ISO movie speeds and includes a be aware holder on the again cowl the place the tip of the movie bundle may be inserted for at-a-glance affirmation of the movie in use, three strap lugs to accommodate each horizontal and vertical suspensions, and compatibility with the non-compulsory CS-205 Cable Change to be used in extended-exposure images in Bulb mode.
| Business help for PENTAX 17 |
“Movie images has been rising in reputation over the previous decade and particularly not too long ago! The brand new PENTAX 17 movie digicam goes to kickstart a wholly new technology of movie shooters,” stated Philip Steblay, Cofounder of The Darkroom, a web-based movie growing service. “This terrific new digicam will add to the good pleasure and pleasure of capturing movie. The PENTAX analog performance, movie choice course of and considering extra rigorously about your pictures will improve the enjoyable of images. This, coupled with the anticipation that comes with ready in your photographs to course of, provides to the enjoyment of images. With new cameras and movie coming to market the way forward for movie images seems to be vibrant.”
“The PENTAX 17 is a surprising digicam, each in kind and performance,” stated Kyle Depew, founder, Brooklyn Movie Digicam. “Its design is good-looking and basic, but it options parts which are delightfully distinctive and modern. It is superb to see fashionable PENTAX engineering utilized in the direction of a brand new movie digicam. We could not be extra delighted.”
“The movie images group is vibrant and rising, and we’re thrilled to see Ricoh Imaging recognizing this and creating new merchandise for this market,” stated Meredith Reinker, managing accomplice, Roberts Distributors LP. “Movie images has been rising in reputation during the last a number of years and supporting this group is supporting a rising trade in addition to supporting the humanities. We’re honored to be partnering with Ricoh to make this digicam out there by means of our distribution channel of impartial, native and analog-focused companies. We sit up for watching the analog group embrace this thrilling announcement as all of us have a shared objective of protecting movie images alive and accessible.”
“This digicam has been a reminder to have enjoyable and never take issues too critically,” stated Matt Day, photographer. “It’s enjoyable to shoot with, it’s compact sufficient to hold wherever, and double the quantity of exposures makes it simpler to shoot extra.”
“Many photographers had been first launched to the fun of images utilizing a PENTAX movie digicam. We’re hoping to introduce a brand new technology to the world of movie images with the PENTAX 17,” stated Ken Curry, president, Ricoh Imaging Americas. “It is a perfect mannequin not just for movie digicam fanatics who’ve loved movie images for years, but in addition for photographers who’re enthusiastic about attempting movie images for the primary time.”
| Pricing and Availability |
The PENTAX 17 can be out there late June at www.us.ricoh-imaging.com in addition to at Ricoh Imaging-authorized shops nationwide for a producer’s steered retail value of $499.95.
| Essential options |
1. Half-size format
The PENTAX 17 options the half-size format, wherein two 17mm x 24mm photos are captured inside a single 35mm body (36mm x 24mm). It additionally employs a handbook movie advance lever. When holding the digicam in conventional orientation, the PENTAX 17 captures vertical-format photos, just like the acquainted photographs captured by smartphones, that are generally used as we speak for picture-taking.
2. Guide digicam operation distinctive to movie cameras
The PENTAX 17 includes a handbook film-winding mechanism based mostly on these integrated in PENTAX-brand single-lens reflex (SLR) movie cameras. The movie advance lever lets the person benefit from the movie winding motion and a wind-up sound after each shutter launch. A simple-loading system is designed to stop film-loading errors, particularly for first-time movie digicam customers. It additionally options different mechanisms distinctive to movie cameras, corresponding to handbook movie rewinding operation utilizing the rewind crank; publicity compensation by way of the publicity compensation dial; and ISO sensitivity setting by way of the ISO sensitivity dial.
3. Newly developed lens combining time-proven optics and the most recent lens coating know-how
The PENTAX 17 includes a newly developed 25mm F3.5 lens (equal to a 37mm lens within the 35mm format). Based mostly on the optics integrated within the acclaimed PENTAX Espio Mini (marketed in 1994), it has been redesigned to suit completely within the half-size format. It is usually handled with HD (Excessive Definition) coating — a extremely acclaimed multi-layer coating — to optimize the readability and sharpness of half-size photos. Utilizing the lens used within the RICOH Auto Half (a best-selling half- measurement mannequin first marketed in 1962) as a reference, the angle of view and focal size had been chosen to make informal, on a regular basis picture-taking easy and flawless.
4. Zone-focus system to modify the in-focus space by way of easy number of zone marks
From close-ups to lengthy distances, the PENTAX 17’s zone-focus system can deal with all of it. The system is split into six focus zones, indicated by marks that signify every zone. All of the person has to do to set the digicam’s focus is choose the mark finest fitted to the topic distance on the zone focusing ring. Within the Macro focus zone, the person can seize a close-up photograph from roughly 25 centimeters away. The hand strap (included as a typical accent) lets the person measure topic distance extra precisely.
5. Brilliant optical viewfinder for real-time affirmation of a topic picture
The PENTAX 17’s optical viewfinder includes a vibrant, Albada-type body finder that helps to facilitate framing a scene. It additionally comes with a close-up visible subject compensation body to assist the photographer extra simply compose close-up photographs. It’s potential to verify the zone marks instantly by means of the viewfinder.
6. Seven capturing modes to accommodate completely different functions
The PENTAX 17 routinely adjusts publicity settings based mostly on the lighting knowledge collected by its metering sensor. Along with the Full Auto mode wherein all publicity settings are chosen by the digicam, it gives six different capturing modes, together with Gradual-speed sync, which is very helpful in twilight images; and Bulb, a slow-shutter pace mode that turns out to be useful for photographing nightscapes and fireworks. The PENTAX 17 additionally options an impartial publicity compensation dial, which permits the person to swiftly shift the publicity stage to accommodate several types of topics or specific the person’s artistic intentions.
7. Excessive-quality physique with meticulous consideration to each element
The PENTAX 17’s physique has a basic design, harking back to conventional movie cameras. The highest and backside covers are fabricated from a stable however light-weight magnesium alloy to optimize the digicam physique’s rigidity. The 40.5mm filter mounting thread permits the person to mount a spread of filters, which can be found for buy in the marketplace. With meticulous consideration paid to each single element, the PENTAX 17 is designed to be a pleasure to personal.
8. Different options
A big selection of ISO movie speeds (50, 100, 125, 160, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200)
Notice holder on the again cowl, into which the tip of the movie bundle may be inserted for an at-a-glance affirmation of the movie in use
Three strap lugs to accommodate horizontal and vertical digicam suspensions, to finest suitthe person’s capturing type
Compatibility with the non-compulsory CS-205 Cable Change, which turns out to be useful for extended-exposure images within the Bulb capturing mode
