00:00this feels pretty significant right now
00:02for Pentax a major manufacturer making a
00:05brand new film camera in 2024 it's very
00:08exciting it's interesting there's a lot
00:11to talk about and that's what I want to
00:12do today I have so many thoughts on the
00:15camera itself uh you know Pentax making
00:17a new camera and it's a 35mm half frame
00:21how are people going to respond to that
00:23um there's a lot to talk about and we'll
00:25get into all of that I'll share some
00:27first impressions of course uh I haven't
00:29had the camera for very long
00:30full transparency uh Pentax they sent me
00:33this camera to try out I have no idea
00:35whether or not I get to keep this camera
00:37yet but they're not paying me to make
00:39the video or anything um all they
00:41offered was a chance to try the camera
00:42out and I said absolutely so I'm going
00:45to share my thoughts here good and bad
00:47it's not a perfect camera by any means
00:48it's not the one camera I would be able
00:50to own uh but it is interesting and
00:52there's a case for it so we'll talk
00:54about all that in this video and just
00:56what this means for film photography now
00:58I'll be perfectly honest when the word
01:00first got out that Pentax was making a
01:02half-frame camera I was not interested
01:05for myself personally I was really
01:08excited to see Pentax making a new
01:09camera because any new film camera in
01:122024 that's great for all of us it's
01:14great for film photography however uh
01:17half frame for whatever reason it's
01:19never been something that I've been
01:20interested in using on a regular basis
01:22for whatever reason I've always just
01:24thought of half frame as like every once
01:26in a while it might be fun to use but
01:28not something I would use regularly so I
01:31wasn't interested in the camera myself
01:33but the first time I actually held it in
01:35my hands and started shooting with it
01:37for whatever reason it just feels good
01:40it feels really good to shoot with I
01:42love the design of it in general but
01:44just the way it feels uh this little
01:46grip right here this is where the
01:48battery goes and it just adds a nice
01:51little extra grip and even the little
01:53manual film Advance uh a manual film
01:56advance on a camera that has automatic
01:59features but then there's some manual
02:00features it's a really interesting
02:02combination I think but I like it it
02:04feels good and natural to just have the
02:06advanced lever right here at my thumb it
02:08feels obviously not the same as using my
02:11M6 but I typically hold the camera like
02:13that with my thumb on the advanced lever
02:16just a nice little grip for such a small
02:18camera you have a 25mm f3.5 lens and
02:22this is entirely done with scale
02:24focusing you're setting the distance on
02:26the lens for whatever it is you're
02:27trying to shoot on top of the lens you
02:29have the little icons you know the
02:31mountains a group of three people two
02:33people one person uh a fork and knife
02:36which is sort of like taking photos at a
02:39dinner table the person sitting across
02:40from you but then you also have this
02:42flower or macro feature for really
02:45really close focusing but again you're
02:47not seeing that through this little
02:49viewfinder right here so you're really
02:51going to need to know your distances and
02:54luckily on the bottom of the lens there
02:56are two scales here you have one scale
02:58for meters one scale for feet so it's
03:00nice to know that you can actually see
03:02what specific distance you're at and not
03:04just relying on these little icons but
03:06the little icons are what you're going
03:07to see when you're looking through the
03:08viewfinder now one thing that's pretty
03:10important to scale focusing Zone
03:12focusing is being able to manually
03:14select your aperture so you know
03:16specifically what your depth of field
03:17range is and you're not going to be able
03:19to manually set the aperture on this
03:21camera you also have a pretty good flash
03:23here built into the camera on top of
03:25this little dial here you have different
03:27options in white different options in
03:29yellow and fully automatic automatic
03:32mode it's going to do everything for you
03:34if it needs to use the flash it will if
03:36it doesn't then it won't of course while
03:38it's going to do all of that for you you
03:40can use exposure compensation which is
03:42located right here and also just making
03:44sure you set the film speed accordingly
03:47but other than that make sure your
03:48distance is right and just rely on
03:50automatic that's a really nice way of
03:51shooting the camera in my opinion it's
03:53become a very quick and just sort of
03:55candid snapshot kind of camera which I
03:57think fits half frame really well
04:00considering you get 72 or more photos on
04:03one roll but also on this little mode
04:05dial outside of just Auto you have
04:07options that are in white and options
04:09that are in yellow the yellow options
04:11this means it is always going to use the
04:13Flash and the white options means it's
04:15not going to use the flash even if it
04:17thinks it needs it you also have nice
04:19little LEDs here in the viewfinder that
04:21are going to let you know if the lens
04:22cap is on if you're not going to have
04:25enough light and you should use the
04:26Flash and it's not currently set up in
04:28order to do so it has a a lot of nice
04:30little kind of fail safe features in
04:31there in the LEDs so that's nice but on
04:33this dial in the no flash mode you have
04:36p a moon bokeh we'll talk about that in
04:40a little bit and B for bulb now program
04:43mode P mode it's going to choose the
04:45aperture and shutter speed accordingly
04:47but again it's not going to use the
04:49flash like automatic would if the camera
04:51thinks it needs it the little Moon icon
04:53for longer exposures it's still going to
04:55be automatic exposure so it's not manual
04:57long exposures like bulb would be but
05:00the little Moon icon if you set it to
05:02that the camera is basically going to
05:03give you a slower minimum shutter speed
05:05boka mode this is really the only time
05:08you're going to guarantee what your
05:09aperture is set to bokeh mode is
05:12basically just forcing the camera to
05:14shoot wide open at f3.5 at all times why
05:17didn't they just put
05:19f3.5 uh instead of putting bokeh on a
05:22dial like this or a mode dial I don't
05:25really know uh that's an interesting
05:28choice but that's how you shoot wide
05:30open at all times if you're looking for
05:32bokeh and then B not B for bokeh B for
05:35bulb this is where you're going to be
05:36doing your manual long exposures and
05:39that is the little mode dial up here
05:41also I haven't mentioned it yet but if
05:42it's not glaringly obvious you have your
05:44little onoff switch right here on the
05:46shutter release button and although the
05:48shutter release button isn't threaded
05:49for a cable release you do have a little
05:52cable terminal right here in the back of
05:53the camera as well and just like most
05:55manual film cameras when you're done
05:57with the roll you just press this little
05:58button here on the bottom
06:00flip up this little crank and then just
06:02manually wind it up and then lift up on
06:04the crank to open the back that's pretty
06:05much the whole camera and how it works
06:07and all the features it has but just for
06:10my own personal use again only one roll
06:13very early Impressions but there's
06:15something about the camera that just
06:17feels good it feels fun to shoot with
06:20and I find myself wanting to bring this
06:22really just wherever I go like it's an
06:24easy small camera to always have with
06:26you uh for instance Molly and I we went
06:28to see orille PE in Columbus like the
06:30day that I got this camera and I just
06:33set it to pee the program mode without
06:35the Flash and just held the camera up
06:38just kind of setting the distance and
06:39guessing the framing and they didn't
06:41care that I brought this camera in I
06:43just had Molly put it in her purse and
06:45when we went in they checked her bag and
06:47they're like okay little camera like if
06:49it were something bigger or more
06:50professional looking sometimes venues
06:52can be weird about that um but something
06:55like this that I could just have her
06:56toss in her purse and again not super
06:59worried about how well the photos turn
07:01out or anything I just wanted to one
07:03obviously test the camera since I just
07:04gotten it but just have something that's
07:07a little more Carefree a little more
07:08like playful and fun taking photos of
07:11the kids uh it's just been a really nice
07:14little uh almost kind of like little
07:16diary or little Journal camera in a way
07:19but would I use it outside of just that
07:22um no I mean I would use it a lot in
07:26that way but if you're not interested in
07:28a camera for that reason I guess I don't
07:31know how well you could really make the
07:34argument for this over something that's
07:36going to give you all of that manual
07:37control and I don't think this is meant
07:39to replace or compete with any
07:42professional cameras or cameras that do
07:44have more features or functionality um I
07:47think this fits that kind of Niche role
07:51really well where it's just a little fun
07:54playful snapshot kind of camera but you
07:56still get good image quality I want to
07:58make that clear uh saying it's a
08:00snapshot camera or something you're
08:01still getting good image quality for
08:03sure it wouldn't be the only camera I
08:05own I wouldn't take only this camera
08:07somewhere if I was going with the intent
08:09of taking photos or at least the goal of
08:11taking as many photos as I can I
08:13wouldn't bring just this camera this
08:15feels like a really good fit to
08:18accompany another camera whether it be a
08:2035mm or a medium format camera I get the
08:23idea of you know kind of adding it to
08:26the kit but not just being that one
08:28Do-it all camera and again I don't think
08:29that's what they're going for with this
08:31camera but just for everyone's different
08:33use cases I'm trying to provide just who
08:36I think would actually enjoy or benefit
08:38from the camera because I don't think
08:40it's just something that everybody would
08:42love or would want to use but I do want
08:45this to succeed I do want people to pick
08:48this up and I think that there are
08:50enough people who really love film
08:52photography to the extent of just
08:54nerding out on it completely uh I'm
08:56right there with you those people are
08:58going to want to pick this camera up
08:59because it's a new film camera and it's
09:02exciting and it's like a moment in time
09:04for film photography but I also see
09:07people that will kind of look at it as
09:10why would I spend you know $500 $600
09:12whatever it may be on this camera as
09:14opposed to a manual SLR that I can get
09:17with a lens or multiple lenses for the
09:20same price I fully get that that makes
09:22total sense and so I know there are
09:24going to be people who think I love film
09:26photography but that's not for me my
09:28only hope is that there are enough
09:31people who are into the idea not so you
09:33know Pentax can make more money or so
09:36they can cut me a deal there's nothing
09:37like that going on here I'm not trying
09:39to get people to buy the camera here if
09:41it ain't for you do not buy it but I
09:44hope there are enough people who are
09:45into the idea with the hope that Pentax
09:49will see that success and go okay maybe
09:51we do one that's not half frame maybe we
09:54release a version of this or something
09:57similar that is a full 35 mm even if
10:00it's you know still scale Focus or even
10:03if there are some changes a small
10:05compact 35mm camera that's not half
10:07frame I think that would be probably
10:10even more appealing than something like
10:12this they wanted to make like a proper
10:15SLR like a manual SLR came out with all
10:18of those lenses that are out there
10:20that's why I want this to succeed and
10:23why I'm excited about it at the
10:24possibility of something like that down
10:26the road I don't think anybody's against
10:28the idea of more More film cameras
10:30coming in the future so uh I hope you
10:32enjoyed the photos here also I want to
10:34provide a little bit more photos right
10:36here uh these were shot by my good
10:38friend Trev Lee Trev has had a very long
10:41amount of time with the camera and I
10:43asked him if he could share some of his
10:45photos so I could provide more samples
10:47having shot only one roll myself in the
10:49short amount of time I had I wanted to
10:51make sure I could provide as many image
10:53samples as I can so you can see exactly
10:55you know what you can get with this lens
10:57on a half frame major shout out to Trev
11:00Lee for sending these photos over you
11:01can follow him down below he does all
11:03kinds of great work with the dark room
11:05as a matter of fact we have a video
11:07coming very soon where Trev and I went
11:08out to puton Bay shot some photos on the
11:11island for the day it was my first time
11:13there and uh I'm excited for that video
11:15but that's all on the Pentax 17 very
11:19very excited and curious as to what you
11:21all think of this camera please keep the
11:24conversation going and let me know your
11:26thoughts down below again big thanks to
11:28Pentax for letting me try the camera out
11:30ahead of the launch and that's it for
11:32today so thank you guys for watching I
11:34love you and I'll see you next time