Pentax 17 vs Canon Dial 35 - Fight!

It sure is a very handsome camera

Big news. Pentax have just launched their first film camera for a very long time. It’s called the Pentax 17 and it looks awesome. It takes 17mm (hence the name) high shots on 35mm film (that’s half-frame). You can get 72 shots from a single cassette of film. It has automatic exposure, a nifty wind-on lever and lots of shooting modes. The focus is manual (you choose from a number of different zones) but then it does something very clever to put the lens in a position that will maximise sharpness if that is what you want. It has a built-in flash and really looks the business. But I won’t be getting one I’m afraid.

The price is just too high, at nearly 500 pounds. Now, don’t get me wrong, for a brand new camera with this pedigree this is absolutely good value. It would have been very hard for Pentax to launch this thing at a lower price. They will have had to do lots of work on design and tooling just to get the thing out of the door. If you are the kind of person who wants to have a proper warranty and ongoing support for your film cameras this is for you. If it breaks you’ll be able to make it someone else’s problem.

However, I’m not quite like that. I prefer to get super-cheap old cameras and then see what I can do with them. For the price of a Pentax 17 you could get lots of Chaika, Olympus Pen, and Canon Dial 35 devices. And some of them might even work.

A dial and a dial

At the time of writing ebay are showing a few Canon Dial 35 devices for quite a bit less than a Pentax. I managed to pick up a fully working model and the pictures it takes are just lovely.

The university in fine fettle

The Dial 35 is manual focus and auto exposure - like the Pentax 17. It also has a very neat little clockwork winding motor. And it looks like something from both the past and the future. If you have the cash, absolutely get the Pentax. If you haven’t or want to have a more interesting journey, then I reckon you should lurk around eBay until a cheap Canon Dial 35 comes around.