Ricoh Pentax film camera prototype complete, debuted at magazine interview
Actress Riko taking a selfie with the compact camera prototype.
Actress Riko holding a Pentax 67
2024 has only just begun and we have received news on the Ricoh Pentax film project, particularly their upcoming compact camera they have been prototyping over the past year since the announcement of the Ricoh Pentax Film Project. Ricoh executives Makoto Iikawa (Pentax Division manager) and Takeo Suzuki (Product Planner and Designer) got together with Japanese magazine Barfout and actress Riko, a film enthusiast, to discuss the project and its future.
The project has for the most part remained in limbo since it was first announced in 2022 with many unsure if the project would ever see the light of day. However, in July of 2023 a model of the camera was teased at a Ricoh Pentax gallery event, renewing hope in the completion of the project. Iikawa had this to say,
We have been working on this project for about a year, and as a matter of fact, today we brought a prototype that is currently in the review stage. We would love to hear your honest feedback on it!
With the confirmation of the project entering the prototype review stage the original statements of a potential 2024 release date may indeed come to be true, and we could expect to see the camera later in the year. Iikawa has elaborated on the design philosophy of this prototype stating that while it is a compact camera it will feature a winding lever to blend old with new.
This is a “manual winding” lever that winds up each piece of film one by one by hand. All older cameras had this mechanism, but we decided to use it because we wanted to mix the old and the new as a camera made in the current era. We thought it would be enjoyable for people to feel like they are using a tool.
Ricoh Pentax compact camera model teased in July 2023.
One of the key designers behind the project Takeo Suzuki has stated his interest in the project leading to a camera that is treated much like a smartphone, being taken around by individuals as an everyday carry object. Overall, the Barfout interview, which you can find here, is exciting news to hear and leaves me with much more hope that we will either see the product hit the markets before the 2024 holiday seasons or at minimum have a full announcement and press release on it before the year is up.
As film photography begins to reentering the public zeitgeist with a new youthful community behind it there is a serious need for new quality cameras from manufacturers at an affordable cost. Some of the electronic film cameras produced in the 1990s and 2000s are beginning to suffer serious issues with little to no qualified repairmen across the world, leaving mostly mechanical systems which also have a shrinking repair community behind them.
If Ricoh Pentax can make waves with this initial release they have said they will be eventually designing more film cameras with the long term goal of an SLR, which likely will have access to their long line of K glass. However, for a moment we should consider the project would also lead to other manufacturers taking a renewed interest in the space.
One can only imagine what a manufacturer like Nikon or Canon could do with their monetary resources in tapping into a luxury film camera market much in the same way that Leica currently does. Perhaps it is time for a Canon AE-1ii or Nikon FM4, allowing these companies to continue their extremely successful runs with their Z and R series digital cameras, but tap into the growing analogue community.
