The title pretty much says everything you need to know but as ever, the devil is in the detail! Let’s start with what HARMAN Phoenix is.
- HARMAN Phoenix is a completely new 35mm ISO 200 colour negative film that’s launching worldwide today (December 1st, 2023).
- It’s the first film manufactured by HARMAN Photo and is made in the UK.
- HARMAN Phoenix is shipped in a retail box, comes in 36-exposure DX-coded cans and should retail for around USD$8-10 (not official).
- It can be exposed at EI 100 – 400 but the best results are found at EI 200.
- The film does not have masking dyes and limited anti-halation. You might not see CineStill-style glowing orbs, but you will see some blooming around bright light sources.
- It’s labelled as “an experimental C41 colour film” and is the start of HARMAN’s journey making colour film. Expect changes as the film goes through further iterations.
- Colour-palette wise it’s DEFINITELY got a retro vibe going on, and from what I’ve seen, doesn’t do exceptionally well with under-exposure.
- It has relatively linear reciprocity characteristics when exposed for > 1 second.
- If the name HARMAN rings a bell, it’s because the brand is coming to market from HARMAN technology limited, the same folks behind ILFORD and Kentmere film, paper and chemistry.
Before I get to what HARMAN Phoenix is not, here are a few sample photos courtesy of the folks at HARMAN technology, plus a couple of not so creative box and camera shots from me. Let’s start with those.
HARMAN Phoenix’s has particular scanning needs, so it’s incredibly handy that the team added a super helpful scanning guide on a variety of lab and consumer scanners in their technical datasheet (scroll down for an embedded version).
So, what is HARMAN Phoenix not?
- It’s not made by ILFORD.
- It’s not a rebranded film.
- It’s not a slide film.
- It’s not a black and white film.
- It’s not a 120 film.
- It’s not a “special effects” film
- It’s not quite finished — well, that’s my take, at least.
On the last point above, I’m waiting for my own test rolls to come back from the lab but my view, based on the sample photos I’ve seen to date is that this is definitely a work in progress.
I’ve a feeling this is a film stock that will evolve over time and that we’ll see some changes finessing to its colour palette, profile and light response.
Other interesting reads
I’ll go as far as to say that I’ve no doubt we’ll see folks selling rolls in bulk on innumerable marketplaces at highly inflated prices within just a few years, in the same way as the original V1 Lomochrome Purple and Turquiose are today. I’m not saying you should do that yourself, it’s just a gut feel.
For my part, the most disappointing part of this entire release is that HARMAN shipped a colour film stock that looks so insanely fun under bright sunlight during winter time in the northern hemisphere. There’s no question about it, I’ve gotta move south for the winter.
I’ll be sharing my first review of this film after I get my test rolls back from my lab. You can expect it before Christmas.
In the meantime, thanks for reading and check out the embedded datasheet (and ~20 more photos courtesy of Matt Parry, Michelle Parr and Neil Hibbs below.
~ Em
Sample photos
