Macro
Set the dial to 0.25 m
In focus from
0.24 – 0.26 m
Flowers, jewelry, food detail, small objects, texture studies. Focus tolerance is razor‑thin — measure with your hand if you have to.
Pairs well with Bokeh mode + slow film. Brace.
Section 02
Zone focus
The Pentax 17 doesn’t autofocus. You set distance with the icon ring around the lens and the camera trusts you to be right. Here are the six positions, what each one covers, and what they’re good for.
Tabletop
Set the dial to 0.5 m
In focus from
0.47 – 0.54 m
Café still‑lifes, drinks, plates, books on a desk, hands at work. Roughly an arm’s length.
Pairs well with P with bright window light. Or P‑Flash if you’re indoors.
Close portrait
Set the dial to 1.2 m
In focus from
1.0 – 1.4 m
Tight head‑and‑shoulders portraits. The subject should fill most of the half‑frame.
Pairs well with Bokeh for separation, or P‑Flash for fill against a sunlit background.
Casual / waist‑up
Set the dial to 1.7 m
In focus from
1.4 – 2.2 m
Casual snapshots, waist‑up portraits, a person at a table opposite you. Most everyday people pictures land here.
Pairs well with P by day, Slow‑Sync at night.
Group / mid‑range
Set the dial to 3 m
In focus from
2.1 – 5.3 m
Group shots, full‑length people, café interiors, street scenes with subjects close enough to read.
Pairs well with P. The most forgiving zone — wide depth of field.
Landscape / ∞
Set the dial to Infinity
In focus from
5.1 m – ∞
Landscapes, cityscapes, anything more than ~5 m away. Architecture, distant subjects, horizon shots.
Pairs well with P or Slow at dusk. Avoid Bokeh — too narrow at infinity.
All six zones, to scale
0.25 m
0.5 m
1.2 m
1.7 m
3 m
Infinity
∞
Distance compresses non‑linearly past about 3 m. The infinity zone covers everything from ~5 m to the horizon, so when in doubt for landscapes, use it.
Reading the camera
- The icon ring sits at the front of the lens. Symbols on top (mountains, group, person, fork, flower) and metric/imperial scales underneath.
- The selected icon also appears at the bottom of the viewfinder so you can confirm before you press the shutter.
- If the camera detects a close‑focus situation in
P, the blue LED blinks slowly — see LED signals. - Full Auto ignores the focus dial entirely and locks the lens to its hyperfocal distance. Use
Pif you actually want to choose.