Pentax ended a more than two decade hiatus in new film cameras when it launched the Pentax 17 in 2024. But the camera’s mix of retro and modern raised some eyebrows as the camera brand created a film camera not necessarily for serious film buffs, but for a new emerging generation of film photographers. That risk, however, may be proving worthwhile: the Pentax 17 just earned a iF Design Award for 2025 for the product design category.
Ricoh says that the Pentax 17 was developed with both longstanding experts as well as younger engineers, a multi-generational effort that resulted in a camera that feels both old and new. The camera uses 35mm film, but as a half frame camera takes vertical images that better fit the devices that many consume photography on on a daily basis, i.e., the smartphone. The camera has a manual rewind crank, yet a battery from the flash and metering.
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