Technology

Ricoh announces the PENTAX 17 compact film camera

Published

2 years ago

June 17, 2024

With a retro-inspired design and half-frame photo format, the PENTAX 17 is the perfect camera for first-time film photographers who want to share their images on social media

PARSIPPANY, N.J., June 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced the highly anticipated PENTAX 17 compact film camera. The PENTAX 17 is a half-frame camera, capturing two 17mm x 24mm pictures within a single 35mm-format (36mm x 24mm) film frame. It produces vertical-format pictures, with similar ratios to those captured by smartphones, for seamless sharing on social media after the film is developed and scans are produced by a film lab.

The popularity of film cameras has grown rapidly in recent years — especially among young photographers — because of the distinctive, somewhat nostalgic experience provided that is so different from using digital cameras. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the global film camera market is projected to be 5.2% through 2030 and a quick search of the hashtag #filmphotography on Instagram pulls up more than 42.6 million posts.

Borne out of the PENTAX Film Camera Project, a concept first announced in December of 2022, the new camera resulted from a close collaboration between Ricoh Imaging and PENTAX experts and younger engineers. The experts shared their vast knowledge and decades of experience in film and imaging technology with the current team members to design a film camera that would allow photographers to express their originality and creativity by leaving some room for manual operation, rather than making it a fully automatic camera.

| Design merges manual operation and ease of use for maximum creative expression |
The design of the PENTAX 17 was inspired by the PENTAX brand’s heritage, incorporating manual operations unique to film photography that are gaining a loyal following in today’s digital world. This includes a selectable zone-focus system, manual film winding, manual film advance lever, and exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity adjustments, each with their own dials. The classic design of the camera body was developed with high-quality materials; the top and bottom covers are made of solid, lightweight magnesium alloy and the 40.5mm filter mounting thread enables the use of a range of filters.

The PENTAX 17 features a newly-developed 25mm F3.5 lens (equivalent to a 37mm lens in the 35mm format). Further building on the PENTAX brand heritage, the lens is based on optics incorporated in the acclaimed PENTAX Espio Mini — which was marketed in 1994 —redesigned to support the half-frame format. The lens is treated with HD (High Definition) coating to optimize the clarity and sharpness of the half-frame photos. In a nod to Ricoh’s rich history in optics and photography, the designers based the lens design on the lens in the RICOH Auto Half – a best-selling half-frame model first marketed in 1962 – incorporating the angle of view and focal length to make casual, everyday picture-taking simple and flawless.

The camera’s zone-focus system is divided into six focus zones that can be selected on the zone focusing ring to capture subjects at a long distance or as close-up as 25 centimeters away in the macro zone. Its bright optical viewfinder features a bright, Albada-type frame finder to facilitate framing a scene as well as a close-up visual field compensation frame to help users more easily compose close-up images. The zone focus marks can be seen directly through the viewfinder to further support composition.

The PENTAX 17 has seven shooting modes to accommodate different applications and scenarios. It automatically adjusts exposure settings based on lighting data collected by its metering sensor. In addition to the Full Auto mode in which all exposure settings are selected by the camera, it provides six other shooting modes including: Slow-speed sync, which is useful in twilight photography; and Bulb, a long-exposure mode useful for photographing nightscapes and fireworks.

The camera supports a wide selection of ISO film speeds and features a note holder on the back cover where the end of the film package can be inserted for at-a-glance confirmation of the film in use, three strap lugs to accommodate both horizontal and vertical suspensions, and compatibility with the optional CS-205 Cable Switch for use in extended-exposure photography in Bulb mode.

| Industry support for PENTAX 17 |
“Film photography has been growing in popularity over the past decade and especially recently! The new PENTAX 17 film camera is going to kickstart an entirely new generation of film shooters,” said Philip Steblay, Cofounder of The Darkroom, an online film developing service. “This terrific new camera will add to the great pleasure and enjoyment of shooting film. The PENTAX analog functionality, film selection process and thinking more carefully about your shots will enhance the fun of photography. This, coupled with the anticipation that comes with waiting for your images to process, adds to the joy of photography. With new cameras and film coming to market the future of film photography looks bright.”

“The PENTAX 17 is a stunning camera, both in form and function,” said Kyle Depew, founder, Brooklyn Film Camera. “Its design is handsome and classic, yet it features elements that are delightfully unique and innovative. It’s amazing to see modern PENTAX engineering applied towards a new film camera. We couldn’t be more delighted.”

“The film photography community is vibrant and growing, and we are thrilled to see Ricoh Imaging recognizing this and creating new products for this market,” said Meredith Reinker, managing partner, Roberts Distributors LP. “Film photography has been growing in popularity over the last several years and supporting this community is supporting a growing industry as well as supporting the arts. We are honored to be partnering with Ricoh to make this camera available through our distribution channel of independent, local and analog-focused businesses. We look forward to watching the analog community embrace this exciting announcement as we all have a shared goal of keeping film photography alive and accessible.”

“This camera has been a reminder to have fun and not take things too seriously,” said Matt Day, photographer. “It’s fun to shoot with, it’s compact enough to carry anywhere, and double the amount of exposures makes it easier to shoot more.”

“Many photographers were first introduced to the joys of photography using a PENTAX film camera. We’re hoping to introduce a new generation to the world of film photography with the PENTAX 17,” said Ken Curry, president, Ricoh Imaging Americas. “It is an ideal model not only for film camera enthusiasts who have enjoyed film photography for years, but also for photographers who are excited about trying film photography for the first time.”

| Pricing and Availability |
The PENTAX 17 will be available late June at www.us.ricoh-imaging.com as well as at Ricoh Imaging-authorized retail outlets nationwide for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $499.95.

| About Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation |
Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., a global technology company specializing in office imaging equipment, production print solutions, document management systems and IT services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Company Ltd. is part of Ricoh Group, which operates in about 200 countries and regions.

The company operating now as Ricoh Company Ltd. was originally founded in 1919, under the name Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co. and launched its first SLR camera in the 1950s under the PENTAX name. Today, the company continues to produce the heritage-rich, award-winning line of PENTAX DSLR cameras, lenses and sport optics equipment as well as Ricoh’s offering of stylish and compact digital cameras, known for their wide-ranging, rich set of features.

For further information, please visit www.us.ricoh-imaging.com

For More Information, Contact:
Stephannie Depa
Breakaway Communications for Ricoh Imaging
+1 530-864-0136 – mobile
sdepa@breakawaycom.com

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SOURCE Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation

Technology

AiPrise Launches Token Sharing to Reduce Duplicate Compliance Checks

Published

36 minutes ago

November 12, 2026

AiPrise Token Sharing infrastructure enables financial institutions to securely exchange verified customer information, eliminate duplicate compliance work, and collaborate on ongoing compliance requests.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — AiPrise, an AI-powered global compliance and verification platform, today announced the launch of AiPrise Token Sharing, a new capability that lets two companies working on the same transaction securely share verified customer information. Each institution keeps full control over its own compliance requirements and decisions.

Repeat business verifications on AiPrise have increased sixfold over the past year, with some businesses verified by as many as 13 different companies over the platform’s history. The growth reflects how payments now move: a single cross-border transaction can involve an on-ramp, a payout partner and local banking providers, each with its own onboarding.

Each of those companies typically collects the same documents and runs its own Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) checks, even when another institution has already verified the information. For compliance teams, that means duplicated work. For the business, it means slower onboarding and delayed transactions.

AiPrise Token Sharing is built to remove that duplication. Rather than sharing only a pass-or-fail verification result, it gives participating companies access to the underlying evidence, including the information provided, checks performed, sources consulted and supporting audit trail. With the verified party’s consent, receiving companies can reuse checks that meet their own requirements, request additional information where necessary and make their own compliance decisions.

alfred, BlindPay, Conduit, dLocal, KAST, Mesta, MoneyGram, nsave, Saber Money, Tazapay and Walapay are among the companies participating in the network.

Breaking Down the Compliance Silos of Global Finance

“Financial services have become deeply interconnected, but compliance is still done in isolation,” said Rushabh Shah, Co-CEO of AiPrise. “The answer isn’t asking institutions to take each other’s decisions at face value. We believe the future of compliance isn’t simply faster verification. It’s letting verified information move between institutions while each keeps its own compliance responsibilities.”

Today, when one institution passes a verification to another, compliance teams have two choices: accept the other institution’s verification as it is, or start over. AiPrise Token Sharing gives them a middle path: reuse what fits their own rules without skipping their own checks. They can reuse KYC and KYB information already collected by a partner where it meets their policy, run only the extra checks their policy requires, and raise any follow-up questions through the same token.

Unlike a one-time handoff, the token stays active for the life of the customer relationship. An institution can ask for more information or answer a request without restarting onboarding or chasing documents over email. For transactions that involve multiple financial platforms, these requests traditionally take three to five days to resolve. By letting institutions work directly through the same token, AiPrise aims to significantly reduce these delays, helping customers activate and transact sooner.

Building Compliance Infrastructure for the Global Economy

AiPrise envisions a financial system where the work behind every verification can be shared and built on across institutions, products and borders, rather than repeated with every new relationship.

Token Sharing lays the groundwork for that future, starting with transactions where institutions already work side by side.

“Businesses shouldn’t have to start from scratch every time they join a new financial platform,” said Chaitanya Sarda, CEO of AiPrise. “We know because we’ve lived it: we were KYB’d 27 times in our first six months, with each bank, payment provider and vendor asking for the same documents and checking the same registries. Verified information should be able to move with businesses as they build new financial relationships, without taking control away from the compliance teams responsible for making those decisions.”

Availability

AiPrise Token Sharing is available to AiPrise customers from today, November 12, 2026.
For more information about AiPrise Token Sharing, visit aiprise.com/features/token-sharing.

About AiPrise

AiPrise is an AI-powered global compliance and verification platform. Through a single API, companies run KYB, KYC, AML screening and document verification across 200+ countries and 500+ government and business registries. AiPrise’s AI agents analyze the results and help compliance teams decide, in minutes instead of days, whether a business or individual is safe to onboard. Leading payment companies, marketplaces, neobanks, crypto platforms and financial institutions rely on AiPrise to scale their compliance, risk and fraud operations globally. AiPrise is backed by Y Combinator and headquartered in San Jose, California. Learn more at aiprise.com.

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SOURCE AiPrise

Technology

AiPrise Launches Token Sharing to Reduce Duplicate Compliance Checks

Published

36 minutes ago

November 12, 2026

alfred, BlindPay, Conduit, dLocal, KAST, Mesta, MoneyGram, nsave, Saber Money, Tazapay and Walapay are among the companies participating in the network.

Breaking Down the Compliance Silos of Global Finance

Building Compliance Infrastructure for the Global Economy

AiPrise envisions a financial system where the work behind every verification can be shared and built on across institutions, products and borders, rather than repeated with every new relationship.

Token Sharing lays the groundwork for that future, starting with transactions where institutions already work side by side.

Availability

AiPrise Token Sharing is available to AiPrise customers from today, November 12, 2026.
For more information about AiPrise Token Sharing, visit aiprise.com/features/token-sharing.

About AiPrise

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SOURCE AiPrise

Technology

Positron AI Named to the Inaugural 2026 AI 100 List of Top Private AI Companies

Published

36 minutes ago

November 12, 2026

Recognition comes amid a period of significant momentum for Positron, following its $875 million Series C and expanding AI inference deployments

RENO, Nev., Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Positron AI, the AI inference hardware company built to make generative AI dramatically cheaper and more energy-efficient, today announced it has been named to the inaugural 2026 AI 100, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private AI companies in the world, published by Newcomer in collaboration with Bessemer Venture Partners.

The inaugural AI 100 recognizes leading private companies driving innovation across the AI ecosystem. Positron’s inclusion reflects its progress in bringing purpose-built inference technology to market as growing AI adoption drives demand for more cost- and energy-efficient infrastructure.

“We’re honored to be recognized among the companies shaping the future of AI,” said Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron AI. “Making AI inference profitable, scalable and accessible takes advanced technology and a business and supply chain built to serve some of the world’s largest technology companies. Positron combines deep semiconductor and systems expertise with customer-driven development and investor backing to position us for growth. I’m proud of the business we’re building as we serve customers today and develop our next generation of technology, and grateful to our team, customers, partners and investors for their support.”

Positron’s recognition follows a series of major company milestones. In September, the company announced an $875 million Series C financing at a $5 billion valuation to accelerate development of its next-generation Asimov silicon, ramp production of Titan and expand manufacturing capacity. Positron has also deployed more than 50 racks of Atlas, its first-generation inference system, at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Most recently, the company announced a partnership with General Compute, which is purchasing Atlas systems and has committed to adopting Titan to support next-generation AI workloads.

The inaugural AI 100 evaluated nominated companies and recognized category leaders across four factors: market leadership (35%), estimated valuation (30%), operating metrics (20%), and people & culture (15%). Only independent AI companies that have not had a majority strategic or private equity M&A transaction or a public listing were eligible. Honorees span foundation models, AI infrastructure and compute, developer tools and agents, AI apps, vertical AI, security, physical AI and robotics, and deeptech and AI for science.

“The artificial intelligence startup set plays by its own rules: there are upstarts with unprecedented revenue growth, companies profiting off of seemingly insatiable inference spending, highly valued speculative research labs, and wildly ambitious robotics companies. These AI native startups are already reshaping the global economy. With our friends at Bessemer, we rethought what matters for the AI age, bringing together the most promising startups harnessing foundation models to transform our digital and physical world,” said Eric Newcomer, founder of Newcomer.

“The AI 100 puts a spotlight on the top 100 companies driving the AI economy forward, built by a generation of founders moving at a speed and scale we’ve never seen before. We’re already seeing that exponential value creation play out across infra, AI applications, and physical AI. The remarkable part is that it’s still early: this inaugural cohort is just the starting point, a natural evolution of our decade-long Cloud 100 franchise,” said Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners.

The inaugural AI 100 is published at ai100.newcomer.co, and was unveiled live onstage at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit in San Francisco.

About Positron AI
Positron AI builds hardware and software to make AI inference dramatically cheaper and more energy efficient. The company’s shipping product, Atlas, is deployed at hyperscaler scale today, and its next-generation custom silicon, Asimov, tapes out in late 2026 with production in the second half of 2027. Asimov powers Titan, a multi-terabyte-memory inference system for long-context and next-generation AI workloads. Positron’s energy-efficient architecture allows its systems to be deployed in air-cooled or liquid-cooled data centers at varying rack densities, without dependence on constrained HBM or CoWoS supply chains. Learn more at positron.ai.

About Newcomer
Newcomer is a media company covering the business of startups and venture capital, founded by independent journalist Eric Newcomer. We write a newsletter, produce a podcast, host technology summits, and more. https://www.newcomer.co/

About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations from inception to build enduring companies. With more than 155 IPOs and 450-plus portfolio companies across industries, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from seed through every stage of growth. Bessemer has backed industry-defining companies including Anthropic, Abridge, Canva, LinkedIn, Perplexity, Pinterest, RocketLab, Shopify, ServiceTitan, Toast, and Twilio, and has $20 billion of assets under management. Bessemer invests globally, with investment teams located in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, London, Bangalore, and Tel Aviv. www.bvp.com

Media Contact:
Inkhouse
press@positron.ai

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SOURCE Positron AI