#pentax

Dmitri May 4, ‘25, edited on May 4, ‘25

Three Years of PENTAX Film Camera Project.

I first learned about Pentax working on a brand new film camera in 2022: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…. But the company must’ve begun the process much earlier than that, starting with recruiting engineers who worked on film cameras like K1000 (analog.cafe/r/asahi-pentax…).

The company promoted the project for over a year, notably by TKO, and exploded onto the market on June 17, 2024 (analog.cafe/comments/gbyq) to a huge demand (petapixel.com/2024/06/20/n…).

The camera has had mostly positive (also some negative analog.cafe/comments/z76c) reviews and won several awards (digitalcameraworld.com/cam…).

However, there had been a recent setback. The president of RICOH (which owns Pentax) resigned (asahi.com/ajw/articles/150…), and so had TKO (kosmofoto.com/2025/03/rico…). Pentax is now reconsidering whether it should pursue its PENTAX Film Camera Project further.

Now, it appears the Pentax 17’s continued success in the turbulent market must define the fate of the Film Camera Project.

I hope it succeeds.

#editorial🔥