It is not all the time the best-selling or most succesful gear that lives all through the reminiscence, and if I am to select one particular digicam spotlight of 2024 it ought to be a shocking retro snapper that gave me the feels – the Pentax 17. Positive, it’s not the right digicam spherical, nonetheless hear me out.
The Fujifilm X100VI rightly grabbed 2024’s headlines; it is almost definitely basically essentially the most pre-ordered digicam in reminiscence, and 9 months later, it is nonetheless on backorder. It is a significantly well-liked premium compact for all the correct causes, even when it was TikTok influencers that gave the sequence the leg up. I actually, really beloved reviewing the X100VI at its launch in Tokyo – it’s a ought to to expertise it to understand it.
Canon’s EOS R5 Mark II furthermore blew me away, and deservedly gained a five-star take into account and TechRadar’s Digital digicam of the Yr 2024 award – its Eye Administration AF is a maintain, as are its progressive in-camera modifying abilities.
Completely totally different private highlights have been the Nikon Z6 III full-frame all-rounder; the GoPro Hero 13 Black, with its new Lens Mods which can be the easiest way forward for motion digicam design; the Insta360 X4, which is a super-versatile 360-degree digicam; and the DJI Mini 4K, which fashions the bar for low-cost newbie drones. Technically I used to be furthermore nonetheless testing the extraordinarily environment friendly Sony A9 III in 2024 too, regardless that it was launched in November 2023.
All of these cameras have been private favorites in 2024. Nevertheless, once you happen to have been to ask me what was almost definitely basically essentially the most memorable digicam of the 12 months, I’d ought to go for that absolutely totally different charming snapper, the Pentax 17. It is the foremost new digicam of its sort from actually one in every of many enormous names in movie footage in a really very long time – a half-frame compact movie digicam that was a Pentax Movie Enterprise labor of affection.
I wasn’t overly enamored at first, nonetheless the Pentax 17 obtained me over, and its enchantment has endured – proper right here is why.
A easy compact movie digicam that’ll win you over
The Pentax 17 is not the largest digicam I reviewed in 2024; it’s not even the right of its sort, neither is it one which I notably hottest at first. Nevertheless, everytime you’ve got spent years of reviewing the right digicam gear there’s, as I’ve, a digicam ought to be one issue particular to stay all through the reminiscence months after you have got obtained used it – and that is the impression the Pentax 17 had on me.
Its launch was timed to perfection – a digicam in tune with what of us need in the interim, notably youthful of us (of which I’m not one). For me, this was the primary time I’d appropriately used a movie digicam in over a decade, and I have to return one totally different 10 years to the time as quickly as I was remaining usually taking footage on movie, as a pupil.
Irrespective of my earlier expertise with movie, and an excessive amount of common technical know-how with digital cameras, I benefitted from the 17 being a easy mannequin with automated decisions that helped to ease my means as soon as extra into taking footage on movie.
All by my time with the Pentax 17 I shot nearly no frames that I needed to discard attributable to publicity components or questionable framing – the 17 has the complete gadgets which will assist you get the shot, together with auto publicity, framing help, and zone focusing. Merely in regards to the one subject you will want to provide consideration to is capturing the second.
Plenty of of my favourite footage taken with the Pentax 17
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You furthermore get double the variety of footage in your cash on a roll of 35mm movie – two vertical half-sized footage per physique – and given the acute worth of movie and enchancment, that could be a win in my e information.
As a digicam it feels low-cost all through the hand at first, and its effectivity is restricted. Nonetheless oh boy is the 17 pleasurable. It’s normally simple to maintain, which is not a simple subject for movie cameras to be, given they’re worldwide to so many people in 2024.
It was the digicam that freed me from on the spot picture playback in 2024; the digicam that put a really highly effective smile on my face, and one which piqued the curiosity of family and associates almost definitely basically essentially the most.
It was the digicam that obtained me curious to strive movie in quite a few codecs, and I consequently had a ravishing time reviewing the Leica MP, an altogether utterly completely totally different expertise.
I can perceive why the Pentax 17 is not universally admired – it is pretty pricey for what it’s – nonetheless I actually really feel Pentax has been really good in launching this particular digicam now. It is a movie digicam for in the interim that is simple to make the most of and produces pretty conventional vertical footage which can be sharper than I anticipated. And though it feels overpriced, there aren’t a whole lot of selections at this worth diploma for newbies and fanatic photographers.
Crucially, the Pentax 17 is a mannequin new and dependable movie digicam, and Pentax says the required infrastructure is in place must you run into any components and need help; you possibly can’t say the same for an inexpensive 30-year-old movie digicam that you just simply picked up on eBay.
That is the foremost digicam produced by the Pentax Movie Enterprise, and if the 17 is one factor to go by I am unable to anticipate the following installment – it is rumored that there may very successfully be utterly mechanical movie SLR all through the pipeline!