First roll of Harman Phoenix photos up!

Brad Deputy · Dec 1, 2023

In the USA:
$13 a roll at Film Photography Project.
$14 each from Freestyle Photography.

B&H Photo? Crickets.

Buy it while you still can!

Rolleiflexible · Dec 1, 2023

It's not 120. It's not B+W. Have fun y'all.

analogwisdom · Dec 1, 2023

Exposure tests and cross-processing tests.

pentaxuser · Dec 1, 2023

George Mann said:
Because it's sufficiently different!

Isn't that like buying a car that has an annoying habit of the engine cutting out because its sufficiently different. Another example: Our television system in the U.K. used to be transmitted on 405 lines so its quality by modern standards would be "gritty and nostalgic" and impossible to watch on a screen much above 16 inches. The second word "nostalgic"belongs by the way to the world where the marketeers pretend a sow's ear can be like a silk purse

Would I look at such a picture for nostalgic reasons? Yes possibly but only for a few minutes and for free just to remind myself of what we had to put up with but I wouldn't buy such a television set in a million years

pentaxuser .

Jemzyboz · Dec 1, 2023

{Moderator's Note: This thread now contains posts about the new Harman Phoenix film that have been made after the official notice of the film.
Many of the posts have been moved from the pre-announcement speculation thread, which is now closed, and can be found here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/harman-photo-cryptic-announcement-teaser.202435/#post-2733146}

So everyone ... Harman Phoenix this is freaking awesome news!!! A 100% new C41 film 100% invented and manufactured here in the UK! It's been killing me the past few months to keep my trap shut!

I had the honour of having two rolls early back in October with some merch goodies I'm shooting my second roll over here in Asia, as I will be working here for the next few months, to see how it handles the very different lighting here.

Here are some of the scans below from my first roll! The colours are funky, saturated and intriguing all in one! I have noticed it is quite cool-toned, shadows go quite greenish blue and skin tones a bit reddish.

The film is quite grainy for an ISO 200 film and limited dynamic range which will allow for some interesting creativity! The halation also gives quite an unique look too.

Now that I know how this film functions, I'm looking forward to what my second roll will look like! Just got the last 6 shots left!

Harman Phoenix is to be a limited edition film to be studied, give feedback and funding so Harman can improve their R&D and we'll see even more colour films! So make sure to click buy and use that entire Christmas shopping budget on emptying the stock!

Jemzyboz · Dec 1, 2023

Some more photos from the roll:

chriscrawfordphoto · Dec 1, 2023

LeoniD said:
It LITERALLY looks like Svema DS 4, it's like they opened a portal into 1992(or 1972, DS 4 was in production for a really long time) and yoinked a master-roll from Svema, even sensibilisation bug is still there(red->orangeish red). Well, minus the extreme contrast, I have a feeling that pulling won't do much here

Leonid,

All the sample pics I'm seeing from the new Harmon film are very high in contrast. Was the Svema film like that? I'm wondering if the Harmon stuff is really that awful looking, or if people are scanning it and turning up the contrast too high in Photoshop?

blee1996 · Dec 1, 2023

The film base is kinda clear with purple tint. Maybe it will scan similar to the Kodak Aerocolor 2460.

It's always good to have someone trying new things. I applaud Harman for trying.

Craig · Dec 1, 2023

The colour response I can live with, but I'm really surprised a company like Harman would have coating defects in their films. That's one thing I cherish their B&W products for, is the consistant high quality.

mshchem · Dec 1, 2023

I just ordered 2 rolls of Phoenix from B&H, 14 USD free shipping. I bought a pk of Polaroid SX-70 B&W too.

Flighter · Dec 1, 2023

BMbikerider said:
Technical 'blurb' states it had a retro look with strong visible grain(?) punchy vibrant colours - intense greens, good reds, and vibrant greens. They go on to say that these can be affected by the setting on whatever scanner is used(?)

My take on this is why do they have to have visible grain?

That may be a feature as far as some parts of the market are concerned, it makes it clear you're using film and not digital.

koraks · Dec 1, 2023

chriscrawfordphoto said:
I'm wondering if the ~~Harmon~~ stuff is really that awful looking, or if people are scanning it and turning up the contrast too high in Photoshop?

*Harman.
The datasheet confirms it's a high-contrast film.
The snippets I've glanced at of negatives on light boxes in the videos suggest it's indeed a very high contrast film with a gamma over 1 (normal C41 is 0.6 or so). The H/D curve in the datasheet is consistent with this.

Harman 200:

Portra 400:

radialMelt · Dec 1, 2023

chriscrawfordphoto said:
Leonid,

All the sample pics I'm seeing from the new Harmon film are very high in contrast. Was the Svema film like that? I'm wondering if the Harmon stuff is really that awful looking, or if people are scanning it and turning up the contrast too high in Photoshop?

This is touched upon in the video I posted.

George Mann · Dec 1, 2023

pentaxuser said:
Isn't that like buying a car that has an annoying habit of the engine cutting out because its sufficiently different.

No, because this film functions sufficiently.

Flighter · Dec 1, 2023

pentaxuser said:
Isn't that like buying a car that has an annoying habit of the engine cutting out because its sufficiently different.

It might be like buying a Citroën DS19 in the late fifties when it was like a car from another planet compared to the rest of the cars on the market!

Vive la différence!

Brad Deputy · Dec 1, 2023

mshchem said:
I just ordered 2 rolls of Phoenix from B&H, 14 USD free shipping. I bought a pk of Polaroid SX-70 B&W too.

Wow, they must've JUST posted it -- I checked at 8am (PST) without luck.

I got my 2 rolls from Film Photography Project, and only $4 shipping. Gladly supporting these folks instead.

Once I get it, and some sunny weather here in the PNW (haha yeah I know), I'll shoot some color and grayscales and build a new Negafix profile for SIlverfast, and see what this stuff can do.

mshchem · Dec 1, 2023

I don't see how I could optically print this stuff. I wonder if I sandwiched a piece of blank processed Portra to pick up the orange base if this would make it easier to print??

I think that in the hands of a skilled person scanning and adjusting in Photoshop one could get some nice pictures.

We shall see.

Ai Print · Dec 1, 2023

I pretty much sold off all my color film years ago as I only really use B&W in analog.

But that being said, I really want to support our beloved and much relied on Ilford so I just ordered 4 rolls from Freestyle. I'll put one box up on my collection shelf and then use the other three in my F3 over the Winter to make a quirky body of work around my ski season.

Props to them for doing this...

analogwisdom · Dec 1, 2023

Brad Deputy said:
Wow, they must've JUST posted it -- I checked at 8am (PST) without luck.

I got my 2 rolls from Film Photography Project, and only $4 shipping. Gladly supporting these folks instead.

Once I get it, and some sunny weather here in the PNW (haha yeah I know), I'll shoot some color and grayscales and build a new Negafix profile for SIlverfast, and see what this stuff can do.

Oh wow. Please share those Negafix profiles when you get that done. I would appreciate that so much!

Arcadia4 · Dec 1, 2023

analogwisdom said:
Interview with Harman R&D folks in this video.

Thanks good video and great to see the enthusiasm its generated in the Harman Team, at all points in their career and what they've managed to achieve in 12 months. I hope people support them in this endeavour, as a down payment for the future.

On the car comparator, plenty of new market entrants have started with some clunky models, people used to be really dismissive of korean cars, but they now (out)compete established european manufacturers for reliability and have caught up on panel fit and quality, and some of the chinese manufacturers have gone on a similar path with electric vehicles.

Sirius Glass · Dec 1, 2023

The Halation is enough to have me pass of this film. I am sure there are some people that love it, but I will wait for the next versions that they bring out. I am looking forward to the improvement and hope that is will fill my needs for 35mm color negative film.

pentaxuser · Dec 1, 2023

Thanks both, George and Flighter, for your replies. Clearly I live on a different planet. Here's another thought I have just had. I have a dentist's appointment on Monday where the use of a drill may be required but I have no desire that it be of the vintage when drills were driven by a series of slow moving loops of wire as I am old enough to have experienced those as well

pentaxuser

Flighter · Dec 1, 2023

pentaxuser said:
Thanks both, George and Flighter, for your replies. Clearly I live on a different planet. Here's another thought I have just had. I have a dentist's appointment on Monday where the use of a drill may be required but I have no desire that it be of the vintage when drills were driven by a series of slow moving loops of wire as I am old enough to have experienced those as well

pentaxuser

Congrats on post 1600!

George Mann · Dec 1, 2023

Flighter · Dec 1, 2023

Arcadia4 said:
Thanks good video and great to see the enthusiasm its generated in the Harman Team, at all points in their career and what they've managed to achieve in 12 months. I hope people support them in this endeavour, as a down payment for the future.

Here, here!

First roll of Harman Phoenix photos up!

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First roll of Harman Phoenix photos up!

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