What have we learned about Pentax 17?
A month passed since the release of Pentax 17, the camera has reached many hands, and more than a few rolls of film have already been shot and developed, so let’s run over the things we learned in the meantime!
Industry
Photography-related industry stuff
110 lives on!
Quite unexpectedly, Lomography has announced a brand-spanking-new camera that uses 110 format film – Lomomatic 110. Despite the low quality usually tied with the film format, the new camera looks like it’s a well-thought-out one.
New film: Ferrania P33
Film Ferrania has announced a new 160 ASA black & white film in 35mm format – the Ferrania P33. It is a “fine grain and defined contrast” film developed on feedback from Ferrania P30 users.
Adox announces new color film
Adox has quietly announced the next step of their colour film mission – Color Mission Helios film, a C41 colour film with a usable sensitivity of ISO 1.5.
Kodak announces a film price reduction
Kodak announced a price reduction on Tri-X 400 black and white film, up to 30%.
New film: Harman Phoenix 200
After some waiting and a lot of speculation, a completely new film has been announced. Harman Phenix 200, a 200 ASA colour-negative film in 35mm format.
Nikon Zf is (also) lying
A new nostalgia-styled Nikon Z mount camera – the Zf – arrived, this time with a much anticipated full-frame sensor. It is drop-dead gorgeous, but to nobody’s surprise, issues found on their previous nostalgic camera are still there.
New FujiFilm medium format announcements
At the X Summit annual event, FujiFilm didn’t disappoint – a new flagship camera and a few significant lenses were announced.
New Panasonic microFourThirds announcements
After some hiatus, Panasonic has finally announced a new microFourThirds Lumix camera, G9 II, and updated two telephoto zoom lenses.
A new, M42 mount-only lens in 2023. Seriously.
A new lens with an M42 screw mount exclusively was released in 2023! Is that a joke? Nope! Very much not a joke, but a new TTartisan 100mm F2.8 lens. Even better, it’s a Cooke triplet!
New film: LomoChrome Color’92
Lomography has just released a new colour negative film from their LomoChrome series, a LomoChrome Color’92. It’s an ISO 400 standard C41 film that “provides a burst of retro charm and classic analogue character in any film shooting scenario”, with “fascinating blue hues, vibrant reds …
DPReview lives on!
After quite some time after the announced shutdown date, DPReview.com has finally found a new owner that will continue with DPReview’s practice. The new owner is Gear Patrol, a review site with more than 15 years of history.
Ricoh-Pentax announces the first affordable monochrome-only digital camera
Ricoh-Pentax has announced the rumoured Pentax K-3 III Monochrome, a new version of the existing Pentax K-3 III DSLR, this time with no colour filter array on its 26-megapixel APS-C sensor.
YongNuo 12–35mm microFourThirds lens finally gets released
After a few months of rumours and guesswork, the first alternative microFourThirds fast zoom lens has finally arrived – YN12–35mm F2.8–4M, as it is called by the manufacturer.
The end of an era
DPReview.com, a staple of digital photography for almost a full quarter of a century, is shutting down. According to the news, DPReview will continue to operate until the 10th of April 2023, after that date, it will operate in read-only mode for a shorter period …
Price update for Kentmere medium-format films
It’s been some time since the announcement; new Kentmere films have arrived in the European shops. My initial speculation about the price was around 6€ for a roll, so it wouldn’t be able to out-price Fomapan films. I was almost right – prices are closer …
New ultra-wide-angle lens for microFourThirds system announced
As previously rumoured, a new “stills” version of Laowa’s 6mm microFourThirds lens has been released. Now we know the price – 500 US$ plus shipping.
As wide as it goes! A new microFourThirds wide-angle lens rumoured
The rumour mill is active again, this time, it looks like a new ultra-wide lens for the microFourThirds system is coming soon – Laowa C-Dreamer 6mm F2.
Is alternative fast zoom coming to microFourThirds?
In a slowed-down economy, with slowed-down lens releases, any new lens is good news. If it’s a cheap lens, it’s even better, and with an ƒ/2.8 aperture, it’s excellent news. This time, although still just a rumour, it’s all three – expected new lens release, …
Ilford announces new medium format film
After a short social media campaign, Ilford finally revealed something new: Kentmere Pan 100 and 400 films are now available in 120 format. Cheap, reliable and dependable film in medium format is always a good thing!
A lens that was missing finally gets released
Finally, the microFourThirds system got a new, much-needed super-wide-angle autofocus prime lens from a first-party manufacturer – Leica DG Summilux 9mm F1.7 Asph.
Fujifilm discontinues large format Velvia 50 and medium format Pro 160NS
Another one bites the dust – Fujifilm just announced the global discontinuation of Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film in 4×5″ and 8×10″ large formats, and medium format Fujicolor 160NS Professional colour negative film.
The latest Pentax lens addition, new Limited lens is here
Pentax has announced the latest lens addition recently, the first D FA Limited lens in the lineup, smc Pentax-D FA 21mm F2.4 ED Limited DC WR. All good and well, much-needed addition, potentially exactly the lens Pentaxians worldwide were waiting for.
Nikon Zfc is lying
Despite my bold claim, it is not as bad as it seems, at least for the end-users! Nikon Zfc is a very interesting camera, it looks gorgeous, but Nikon went just a step too far replicating retro dials from mechanical film cameras and making them …
Lightroom, Windows 10 and “Unexpected error opening catalog”
If you are using Adobe Lightroom 5 and have recently upgraded to Windows 10 (as 25 million people did), you may have seen this dreaded message while opening Lightroom, saying it can’t open its catalogue due to an “unexpected error”.