Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda

New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site

New Feature: SMS Notification alert

New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist

FM Forums | Leica & Alternative Gear | Join Upload & Sell

Archive 2023 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

SlowDriver
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

An update by Pentax:

May 16, 2023 at 04:33 PM

RoamingScott
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

An everyday carry film camera with a focus on the haptics of film photography?

SAY NO MORE.

May 16, 2023 at 04:39 PM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

The camera he describes is one that Pentax, ok Ricoh, made before. Compact, excellent lens, film advance lever. The Ricoh FF-1. I like it so much I have two...

May 16, 2023 at 04:47 PM

weatherproof
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Story #03 just dropped!

.
.
SPOILERS
.
.
.
.

It's gonna be half-frame and manual zone focus. Seems interesting and I'm just happy it's not just a K1000 re-release.

Feb 29, 2024 at 10:31 PM

ISO1600
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

zone focus... will it have a viewfinder at all? or just a fiddly little lens and a focus slider/switch?
there's a lot of ways this can still go wrong.
I'd like to say I'm excited about this, but I think there's so many ways they can miss the boat, I'll be surprised if this winds up being something worth buying. It'll either be a plastic POS built and priced at scale, or something more expensive than reasonable- i would like to be proven wrong.

Mar 01, 2024 at 12:50 AM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

weatherproof wrote:
Story #03 just dropped!

.
.
SPOILERS
.
.
.
.

It's gonna be half-frame and manual zone focus. Seems interesting and I'm just happy it's not just a K1000 re-release.

Let me count the ways I am disappointed by this latest news:

1. Vertical format and the excuse given that kids are used to taking pics w their smart phones which take pics in the vertical format. The whole freakin point of film photography is to not be like taking pics with your phone. The whole reason that 'kids' (as he says) are embracing film is because it is film, not digital. They don't want it to be like digital.

2. Half frame? Well the "Kodak" H35 and equivalents already have that covered for $30-$50 new. I have one and in sunlight the pics are surprisingly nice. I also have a Lomo LC-W which you can buy new (it is current production) and it has a half frame option - more on that later.

3. Zone focus? So basically they gave up on the AF for a P&S, or an RF. There is nothing wrong w zone focus except they promised/hinted at so much more when this project was first announced.

Basically Pentax has given up on what they thought they could do. My Lomo LC-W which is a current production camera does so much more. AE, half or full frame at the flick of a switch, can shoot vertical half, full frame, or square. Can create continuous overlapping panos.

Just go buy a Samsung AF Slim Zoom for $30 and be happy. Or a Lomo LC-W. Looking forward to what Mint's Rollei 35 will be.

Mar 01, 2024 at 12:15 PM

AmbientMike
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

A K1000 re-release actually sounds pretty cool, especially vs half frame and zone focus

Mar 01, 2024 at 12:51 PM

bjhurley
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Desmolicious wrote:
1. Vertical format and the excuse given that kids are used to taking pics w their smart phones which take pics in the vertical format. The whole freakin point of film photography is to not be like taking pics with your phone. The whole reason that 'kids' (as he says) are embracing film is because it is film, not digital. They don't want it to be like digital.
.

But you're focusing on the process of taking a photo; I think Ricoh/Pentax made the vertical-format decision based on how people will share the photos they've taken. They sure aren't going to print them -- they'll put them on Instagram or other social media to share with their friends...on their phones.

Mar 01, 2024 at 12:55 PM

Oldwino
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Hard pass for me, then. Do not like half frame.
Hello MiNT? How’s your film project going?

Mar 01, 2024 at 01:39 PM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

bjhurley wrote:
But you're focusing on the process of taking a photo; I think Ricoh/Pentax made the vertical-format decision based on how people will share the photos they've taken. They sure aren't going to print them -- they'll put them on Instagram or other social media to share with their friends...on their phones.

That just sounds like an excuse to me from Ricoh/Pentax.
Kids are into film photography because it does not emulate digital. You want to shoot vertical? Here let me help you - rotate the camera 90 degrees...

Mar 01, 2024 at 02:13 PM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Oldwino wrote:
Hard pass for me, then. Do not like half frame.
Hello MiNT? How’s your film project going?

I'm not even hung up on the half frame part. it's the bit how this project started by Pentax saying all these current P&S cameras are now old, breaking etc. And they will bring a new one to the masses.

Then they now tell us it is a zone focus half frame. Wow. Lomo already has that with the LC-W which offers MORE than whatever the Pentax will bring. And you can buy the Lomo new.

Shot with the Lomo. Can the Pentax do this? No. but the Lomo can, as well as regular 1/2 frame, square and full frame.
And is zone focus and has AE.

Lomo LC-W in square frame mode:

Edited on Mar 01, 2024 at 02:21 PM · View previous versions

Mar 01, 2024 at 02:19 PM

bjhurley
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Desmolicious wrote:
That just sounds like an excuse to me from Ricoh/Pentax.
Kids are into film photography because it does not emulate digital. You want to shoot vertical? Here let me help you - rotate the camera 90 degrees...

Yes, but the feature of half-frame is to save kids money, since film is expensive and they'll get twice as many shots per roll, so in that sense I think their strategy of vertical-format half-frame makes sense from a marketing perspective. Although as you point out they could just buy the Samsung AF Slim for a fraction of what this will cost and still have plenty of $ left over for film. Pentax will probably tout the greater expected reliability of a new camera vs. the older ones.

Mar 01, 2024 at 02:21 PM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Anyway... still curious to see the final outcome.

But Mint with the new Rollei 35 - that looks like it 'could' be special. Amazing that a tiny operation like Mint is so much more ambitious than Ricoh/Pentax.

Mar 01, 2024 at 02:24 PM

raizans
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

They’re making a modern Olympus Pen EE, and I have no complaints.

Mar 01, 2024 at 02:33 PM

Nushi
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

The devil will be in the details imho. Pentax and Ricoh tends to do quite well considered designs from a usability and handling perspective. If the mentioned focusing aid works well with the zone focussing and the lens is good it could become a fun camera bridging newbie users and more experienced ones. It's all down to tiny things being done right to make the whole experience fun. The wrong small niggles may make it fail.

Mar 02, 2024 at 01:00 PM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Apparently the 'focusing aid' is just the focus zone symbols that will also be visible in the VF. Like my old Cosina CX-2 from 1985.

Mar 02, 2024 at 01:45 PM

Nushi
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

That a shame! It would have been nice to have zone focus with focus confirmation. To focus with your feet but know when you're spot on. Wide angle, half frame and F3.5 isn't that picky I guess but still.

Mar 03, 2024 at 01:18 PM

Desmolicious
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Also, my Pentax Espio 24EW - that Pentax freakin' made! - has AF and focus confirmation symbols in the VF so you can see what distance the AF is at.

I just don't understand why Pentax does not use one of their old - and superb - P&S cameras as a basis for the new film camera. Instead it is as if they never made film cameras before.

Mar 04, 2024 at 11:24 AM

Geoff D F
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · PENTAX Film Project Story #02

Desmolicious wrote:
Also, my Pentax Espio 24EW - that Pentax freakin' made! - has AF and focus confirmation symbols in the VF so you can see what distance the AF is at.

I just don't understand why Pentax does not use one of their old - and superb - P&S cameras as a basis for the new film camera. Instead it is as if they never made film cameras before.

In a sense they never have made film cameras before. All the Pentax staff that made film cameras are retired, the tools and jigs that they used to make them have been sold off or scrapped. They would have old blueprints but to turn blueprints into something able to be mass produced probably takes a lot of knowhow that they will need to relearn.

That said you wouldn't think it would take too much to design a film back with a motor, given they still know how to make a shutter, mirror box and AF system.

They have made it hard for themselves by having a winding lever and manual rewind.

Mar 04, 2024 at 05:24 PM


FM Forums \| Leica & Alternative Gear \| Join Upload & Sell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.