Pentax 17 images

[Hayli]

Hi all! This forum helped me pick out which camera to get, so I felt it was only right to share some of the pictures from my first roll! These were all taken using Kodak Gold 200.

My favorite photos are of my family and friends but I didn't think I should post those without permission, so here are my other favorites. Mostly pictures of the sky and shadows that I liked (the one picture of the sky where it's half pink and blue, that's not a product of the camera, the sky actually looked like that in real life, which I am still confused by). I LOVE photos where the contrast is low, I just adore when blacks look faded. That's one of the main reasons I like film.

I wanted to include the shot of the leaf so you could see how things look up close. I used the closest focus setting and used the hand strap to determine how far away to hold it. I love that picture!

I am so happy with the camera. $500 is a lot but I was blessed to have that much extra on the month of my birthday, so I decided to splurge. I love all the pictures so much. I was able to get 77 pictures which is insane to me!

While I'm here, what film should I try next? I like slightly warm, low contrast, and grainy film. Something cheap enough for me to justify LOL. Thank you guys! <3

 

[sojournerphoto]

Well done Hayli - really pleased you’re enjoying the Pentax and the results. I don’t know what there is available in cheap/not expensive colour film these days, but I’ve shot some Ultramax 400 and Pro Image 100 recently and been pleased with the results. The Ultramax is less expensive than Portra 400 and still gives good results.

Are you planning on printing any of your pictures? My wife keeps photo albums with selections of our pictures - small prints but a nice record and physical and tactile.

 

[Hayli]

Well done Hayli - really pleased you’re enjoying the Pentax and the results. I don’t know what there is available in cheap/not expensive colour film these days, but I’ve shot some Ultramax 400 and Pro Image 100 recently and been pleased with the results. The Ultramax is less expensive than Portra 400 and still gives good results.

Are you planning on printing any of your pictures? My wife keeps photo albums with selections of our pictures - small prints but a nice record and physical and tactile.

I've been looking into Ultramax, it looks really good from what I've seen so far. Portra was gonna be my first pick but it's a bit too expensive. All film is expensive though so I'll probably end up trying it one day as well 😂😂

I get my film developed via The Darkroom and I just order prints when I place the order. Even when I have a few "screw-up" pictures, I feel like that's part of the experience and I just love having all the physical copies. Who knows what will happen to our digital files, recently my Google Photos messed up and I couldn't access my photos for a few days. Over 200,000 photos that could just disappear in an instant. Ridiculous! I love having my own copy of things. Printing digital photos isn't quite the same though to me because you get to pick and choose the best shot. I love the unpredictability of film. There is nothing like getting your photos back in a little paper envelope and seeing the good/bad photos. It's so much fun! Not for my wallet though 😹

 

[tortellini_man]

i usually get proimage as a cheap color negative film, but sometimes the fuji 200 or 400 ones are even cheaper (even though they are actually rebranded Kodak films?)

all of those have worked OK for me in my half frame PEN EE2 that probably makes similar images to the pentax 17

 

[Mos6502]

Ektar 100, no it's not cheap, but you're getting a lot of shots for your money, so you may as well get something good. A slower film will also mean less grain, which is to your advantage with a half frame camera. You will need to use the flash more, or at least be more selective about the light you shoot in (100 ASA film is strictly outdoor, daytime film if you don't use the flash).

 

[agentlossing]

@Hayli I think Pro Image 100 is perfect for your next venture. It has the characteristics you mentioned, while still having great contrast and grain structure.

Nice photos! Nothing like snapshot photography for the joy of it. It's a highly underrated genre.