วีดีโอ

I very much want to see the K1 MKIII be released. I've been running a MK1 for a few years now. It's still a great camera, but shows it's age in a couple ways (auto focus, write speed, slow wifi, etc). There are some features of the K3 MKIII I'd love to see "up-ported" to the next gen K1. But more than anything, I'd like to see Pentax confirm that a long release cadence between flagship cameras isn't a reason to give up on the company. By you know...actually releasing a product instead of a "tweak". Like I said, I'm still rocking a Mk1 and I love it. It's one of the best cameras I've ever had. But I also have 5 other Pentax cameras. When I start doing the math on MY next camera I have to decide if my next upgrade is a K3 MKIII, a K1 MKIII (if/when it's released) or if ti's time to start looking at a used Nikon. I shudder to think of that last option (I have a ton of Pentax glass collected over 30+ years). But the truth is there are a lot of people asking themselves "What am I going to do if Pentax isn't a viable platform?". I think Pentax needs to quicken the pace at answering that question with a real product as soon as possible. Otherwise their already small market share is just going to continue to shrink. The latest firmware option released in Japan has me hopeful. And with any luck that will be available in the US soon. We'll see!

I like old trusty P30t, it's on par with this half frame camera in dimensions (137 x 89 x 50 vs 127 x 78 x 52 mm) and with FA43 or DA40 is very compact and it's full frame ))

I would like to see more updated APS-C lenses with fast focusing modern AF motors & more FF lens releases. After the K-1III, were probably not going to see any other cameras for a long while. The only other possible camera release would be an "entry level" FF camera, similar to the KF or KP. My guess is that a K-3IV won't appear until 2030 at the earliest. That's if they're even considering the possibility of releasing one. But yeah. You never know with Ricoh. They're gonna end up doing whatever they want to do.

Thanks for the video! Do you think it is worth investing in a Pentax DSRL in 2024? I have an old K7 together with a set of DA pancake lenses: 21, 40 and 70mm. K7 does not seem to be fully functioning after all these years (the built-in flash does not fire for eg). Since I'm long time out of the hobby I recently discovered Pentax is the only DSRL on the market with all others switching to mirrorless and I wonder if buying a K3 mk III or KF makes sense in 2024 when they are Sony and Fuji cameras all over the place?

If Pentax does it right, film cameras could be for Pentax what Instax is for Fuji. Of course not at that scale, but Pentax' scale isn't on par anyways. Strategically they do a lot of things right, going for markets competitors left behind, but people still have interest in. It will be seen if those decisions come to fruition in a few years when maybe other companies abandon DSLRs altogether.

Hmm.. maybe they will put that monochrome sensor into the Ricoh GR👍

I have been in Film Photography since 1951 when i joined the School Photographic Society and been i 'Clubs' ever since . I have a TH-cam CHANNEL but my VIDEO SKILLS are nothing as good as YOURS with the Music, the Cuts, The Editing etc so RICOH did not send me a TEST PENTAX 17 BUT I GOT ONE from a TH-cam Mate . I have done AGFAPN 25 in it so far and scanned with a PlusTek OptikFilm 7200 + Vuescan Pro + FastStone Image Viewer -- I do NOT HAVE that 'LIghtroom' thingy ! The SCANS needed hardly ANY 'Adjustments' as the Negs were 'Delicate Enough' done on my Home-Made 2=Bath Formula - so now I have it loaded with outdated 'TUDOR' ( FUJI) 100 and have set 100 ASA and a little '+' Compensation to downrate the film a bit before processing in C41 I Tried some with that 'BOKEH' setting which is supposed to set Full Aperture BUT I could not see any Difference in the Sharpness set to 'P' .. I also used the Fill-in Flash in a dark Graveyard here in Brentwood Essex -- came out well---- my FIRST PENTAX was in 1961 - an S3 for £87 Quids with a Zeiss CONTAX III in Part Exchange!

Hi Lee, hi everybody! I always appreciate your videos. But I have a question, maybe a stupid one - sorry, I’m new in this wonderful world of photography. Is it possible and does it have any sense to use a modern lens (HD 43mm FA f1.9 limited) on older manual film cameras (Pentax MX)? Thanks in advance!

Hey Lee, love your videos been your fan for a while, you should do more videos on the Pentax K7!

I love my NX mini. I have the NX-M adapter and the 17mm lens

Hopefully film SLRs, hopefully mechanical, but probably electronic. For digital? Meh. They'll keep trying to design around having a mirror box, which is a huge challenge. Are they relevant to any sort of professional photography? No, but they haven't been relevant for a long time. They need to consolidate around only making full frame lenses and 3 body lines - a full frame, a high-end APS-C, and a mid-spec APS-C. Then all FF lenses, no new crop. Then the FF glass can be used on the pending film bodies - allowing full hybrid owners, pulling in anyone that wants film / digital sharing of lenses without adapters. Taper off existing crop glass, fill in the gaps in full frame. Re-brand either the Tamron 150-600 or Sigma 150-600. License OM-System phase-detect autofocus so Pentax Live View doesn't suck anymore.

I like your shots! Almost makes me want the 17!

I had the aperture failure and the battery latch is plastic and it broke and there was zero attempt from Pentax to fix it when I contacted them. They wanted like 120 bucks just to fix the latch. It's a brand that has the right ideas but just sort of lacks in the execution.

Is this pretty much the same procedure I should use for my plain old K-3? Also, I have never updated my firmware, so do I have to update each one in order or can I just go to the latest one and use that to update? Thanks for the tutorial. Appreciate the effort. 😁

I love the use of "Durham City" to differentiate it from Durham County.

I've just rediscovered my old Ricoh FF-9S and fired off 36exp of Ilford HP5 wandering around the garden because of you Lee. 👍My daughter is going to The Green Man music festival down in the Brecon Beacons next week and I'm going to give her my Ricoh and two rolls of Ilford HP5 (400 iso/asa) to have fun with. Black and White rules okay.

I've just sent a film off to Analogue Wonderland. 😊🤞

Thumbnail made me not to watch this.

Durham is nice! i always try to steal some extra frames at the start of the film, by shooting the pre zero shutter counter images. Sometimes I get a halved on full frame, but when you are using half frame at the outset, you probably got all of it plus two additional frames, i.e. 1 +1/2 frames on ff.

There are plenty of great analog cameras that you can buy cheaply. And garbage to garbage.

These photos are fantastic. I am surprised by the quality of the lens. Well done!

For people new to film or someone who wants to shoot film on a budget or wants something that might be street friendly, this might be a good choice. It is a cool camera, so it might be nice to own for that reason alone.

I just saw your pictures on Facebook 😂

Nice pics. You shouldn’t have to over expose film mind you. I shot film before the digital days and still do some film stuff now. I never really use exposure compensation with film, unlike digital where I tend to often use minus compensation

Analogue wonderland are great. I always use them for my film scans

we used to minimum leader load and wind 2 and shoot 3rd and get 37 from 36 35mm its a trick 36 frames of........and that last is the one

I always found that quality between labs was never consistent, some were good, some bad and some truly awful. That said your scans look good as they should, as for the extra frames that always happened, one usually had light pollution running through and another often cut short. Enjoy your remaining films.

Great images what type of scans did you get if you don’t mind me asking

50th anniversary of the K mount next year. I'm expecting something special.

I'm glad you enjoyed the whole process from taking the shots to receiving the scans. There is something wonderful about using simple cameras such as the 17. The other thing to bear in mind is the joy (or disappointment 😞) of delayed gratification which film brings. There is nothing quite like the tingle of anticipation waiting for one's results. Also, having to trust the camera because you can't chimp shows just how good at getting exposure right simple film cameras are when left to themselves. This is very liberating. One can concentrate on composition rather than settings which is another joyful side to simple film cameras. As an aside, when I shot a roll of slide film back in the 80's and 90's each month, holidays excepted, I would be very happy with just one or two good shots per roll.

A lot of nice shots there! I really like the pint of Worthingtons, and perhaps the learning curve for framing shots in camera really elevated that shot. And that shows why I love photography, film or digital. The results were not what you were expecting, but you got a better shot because of it. Have fun with the little 17, looking foreward to see what you shoot next with it.

I have buy a pentax k 70 in france. And i think this is a really good caméra. May be not too good that K3 mark 3 but for a beginner this is a good choice ( i think) .

Some beautiful shots there, the bokeh on the close up shots were creamy smooth.

Very nice results. The lens looks to be suitably sharp and contrasty and given the camera is zone focused, you certainly seem to have nailed focussing. It must be a combination of the films latitude and the cameras light metering, but I was impressed with the brightness balance between foreground and sky; very few shots had actually blown out, given what you were able to obtain from the scans in Lightroom. I think you are right, the camera won't necessarily appeal to existing film shooters, who will have laboured long to get (or maintain) a traditional 35mm SLR or rangefinder, but it looks to be a serious step up from the current crop of Lomography cameras and being new, it should be reliable for a good while - certainly long enough for new shooters to learn the ropes. There's a market, for sure! Well done Pentax.

Well done Lee. Looks like you got some real nice photos. Kind of makes me want to find some way to get my old Pentax ME Super fixed and run a few rolls through it.

Awesome results Lee! Just keep in mind that the inner framing is used for the two closest focus zones, and all the others use the outer frame markers. My biggest mistakes is sometimes forgetting to change the focus zone. 😅

Sehr gutes Video von dir, wie immer ❤ Gruß Bernd

Informative video , however all depends if the lab develops and processes your film correctly at all stages as to how any prints turn out. Are you editing scans of your negatives or scans of the processed prints ? The old problem with film being you don't have the beauty of being able to machine gun loads of shots and compare them as you can with digital media. Prior to digital I found the labs seemed to ruin more prints by bad processing than anything else , the cost became extortionate compared with digital. Pentax film cameras were not at the time noted for reliability with regards exposure control. Things may have improved now......Good luck

I remember having issues with framing when I used a rangefinder camera back in the day. You get used to it, then it becomes second nature. Dont be miffed, you're going through what we've all gone through. It's all part of the process mate.

Thanks Lee. Nice pics. I found myself getting excited about the grain!

You’ll get the hang of the camera quickly enough. Teething issues is all you’ve experienced. Press on buddy

More scans than expected? Well, back in the film days, it was pretty normal to be able to squeeze one or two more frames than the nominal 24 or 36 out of a roll, depending on how exactly you had inserted and transported the film in the camera. You just couldn't be sure with those extra frames that they wouldn't be ruined by the lines where the film had to be cut or the light had already touched it - which could end up running through the middle of your once-in-a-lifetime shot! 😅 Yeah, some of your images came out slightly overexposed, but with some tinkering, you'll get there. This kind of shooting is more about the vibes and film look and less about "perfection" anyway, I should think. (Honestly, it also reminds me of how little I personally care to repeat the experience, given how far we have come with the possibilities of digital.) But by all means enjoy your film explorations, Lee.

Fascinating video Lee especially for those who want to dip their toes into film photography and see how you progress forward in finding your way through what would be a rather challenging task. The photos look great to me mate.

I'm saving for "17", to buy one this year - but what I really, really want from Pentax, are genuine focusing screens for manual lenses. No more _ersatz_ from eBay. Hey, they're the only brand of OVF cameras at the moment, they should invest a little in that and take full advantage of this (now unique) feature.

Love the chanel Lee followed for years now

I still use my K70 which at the time I was shopping around for a replacement, I preferred to the K1. Ok the K1 is lovely but it's so heavy compared with the K1, at least for me anyway. I love my K70 and have had some great results with it. I don't understand the reason for the Pentax 17. Youngsters just dont appreciate how flexible and cheap digital photography is. What would I like Pentax to make? How about a Pentax version of an Olympus Pen or Lumix S9??

Can someone please explain why can't we have animal eye tracking on a DSLR camera while using live view?

I want a mirrorless!