It has noticeable shutter lag. (Or does it?) The first thing that struck me as I used the Pentax 17 was the shutter lag, which is partially related to the focusing system (more on that below).
Even though the Pentax 17 uses either fixed focus (in Auto mode) or zone focus (in the other modes), it still employs a motor to move the optics into place before the shutter fires. This may be good for precision focusing, but it causes a brief delay between your pressing the shutter release and the shutter’s actually firing.
And even when the lens is already in position, as is the case when you half-press the shutter button while composing your shot, the camera still seems to hesitate for a fraction of a second before firing once you full-press.
Some people, including representatives of the Pentax 17’s manufacturer, Ricoh, have suggested that this delay is actually an illusion caused by the camera’s extremely quiet shutter and winding action, which makes noise only at the end of its travel. We’ve been unable to confirm that this is the case, but regardless, it’s off-putting if you’re used to the nearly instantaneous shutter response of vintage manual cameras.
Its zone focus system can be confusing. Outside of its training-wheels Auto mode, the Pentax 17 gives you six focus-distance settings on a ring around the lens, identified with representative icons: a flower, a fork and knife, a person’s torso, a pair of people, a group of people, and a mountain. The meaning ought to be clear, but just in case it isn’t, the same ring has corresponding distances in feet and meters on its underside.
This system is called “zone focus,” and the idea is that the camera will focus to an appropriate distance and use an aperture that will keep the corresponding type of subject in focus. Unlike some other cameras that use zone focus, the Pentax 17 doesn’t allow you to choose in-between settings or manually focus.
Zone focusing can be confusing if you don’t know much about photography, and some people may also be confused upon learning that the lens is controlled by a motor yet doesn’t include true autofocus.
Your fingers might end up in your photos. Since the Pentax 17 has a wide lens and its viewfinder doesn’t look directly through the lens, it’s easy to inadvertently end up with your blurry finger in a shot. Pentax warned us of this hazard during our briefing, and I still ended up with a bunch of shots featuring my lovely fingertip (appropriately, the middle one). The more I got used to the camera, though, the less it happened.
The mode dial may be confusing for newbies. Since you don’t have direct control over shutter speeds or aperture settings, the Pentax 17’s shooting modes are the only way for you to tell the camera how you want it to operate:
- Auto is fully automatic. The camera chooses all shooting parameters and uses a fixed focus distance.
- Program mode chooses what it determines is the right combo of aperture and shutter speed for a given scene, but you need to choose your zone focus setting.
- Slow-shutter mode (represented by a moon on the dial) is good for nighttime shots where you want car headlights to be long streaks. Just remember to use a tripod.
- Bokeh mode uses the widest aperture it can to throw the background out of focus, which can be helpful for portraits.
- Bulb keeps the shutter open as long as you hold the shutter button down. Again, use a tripod.
- The camera also has two Flash modes, one normal and one in which the shutter speed might be up to four seconds. (Tripod alert.)
As an experienced photographer, I was able to navigate those options—and as a nerd, I’m glad they’re there. But they leave the Pentax 17 in a weird middle ground: Seasoned photographers are likely to want more control, and newbies may be overwhelmed.
The mode dial has another quirk, as well: It can be easily bumped out of position when you cock the film advance. “I was pretty frustrated at how easy it was to accidentally change the mode,” said Wirecutter director of photography Michael Hession. “I felt like I ruined a lot of shots because of that.”
The maximum shutter speed is pretty slow. The Pentax 17’s fastest shutter speed is 1/350 second. This severely limits the kinds of photos you can take in bright light, since you’ll need very low-ISO film to prevent overexposure. And it all but rules out using this camera for any kind of action photography.
It’s a baffling decision on Pentax’s part: The Leica 1(a), first sold in 1925, had a top speed of 1/500 second. The last SLRs of the film era topped out at over 1/8000 of a second. The technology exists to make a more versatile shutter, but apparently Pentax didn’t think it was worth including.
Getting double the exposures from a roll of film is a double-edged sword. If you choose a 36-shot roll, sure, it’s great that you’re getting a whopping 72 photos, but it also means that you have to shoot 72 photos before you can choose a different ISO or switch from color to black and white.
It may take several outings or events—days, weeks, or months of real-world time—to get through that many exposures and have the roll developed, which will feel like an eternity for people used to getting instant feedback from digital cameras, phones, and Instax-style instant film.
Half-frame images are good, but they show a lot of grain. There’s another trade-off when it comes to doubling your exposures: The smaller film area of the Pentax 17’s shots causes grain to be more prominent. As a result, images look messier and less sharp, regardless of how much detail the lens is capable of resolving.
This could be a plus if you love that vintage, rough look, but it’s worth remembering that you can’t get 35mm-quality images out of this camera.
