Be an analog photographer long enough and you learn that films come and go. While mostly stable, it is not terribly uncommon to see the occasional film discontinued and it has become fairly common to see a new product introduced to the market. This can take the form of a wholly new film (think Lomochrome Purple or Metropolis), an existing film that has been modified and repackaged (such as Cinestill 800T or the Revolog films) or an existing film that is simply repackaged and resold under a new name (looking at you Lomography Color 100, 200, and 400 and probably Fujicolor 200 too). Several distributors and resellers have become familiar names in this area to film photographers. But one thing none of us saw coming was a brand new color film from the likes of Harman Technology.

So first off, you might be asking Harman who? And that is fair enough. The Harman company name may not be widely recognized even while their main product Ilford film is widely known. We won’t go into the recent, and not-so-recent, history of Harman Technology as that is what Wikipedia is for but suffice it to serve as a basic description of the company that they are the ones producing and marketing Ilford B&W films, darkroom paper and chemistry. It is also true that in the not-terribly-distant past of Ilford there did exist Ilford color film. But that was a couple decades ago and the familiarity of the Ilford brand name has become almost entirely centered around black and white films.

So imagine our collective surprise when Harman Technology announced they were resurrecting a new color negative C-41 film called Harman Phoenix 200. But enough of the preamble, let us take a look at this brand new film!

So, the basics:

Harman Phoenix is an ISO 200 color negative film that is designed for standard C-41 development. At its launch it is only available in 35mm format with no news on any plans to produce it in 120 or any other film format.

In terms of its image-making qualities, you will find Harman Phoenix 200 has a look all its own. It is high contrast, high saturation and high grain. It’s colors really pop and the images have a lot of punch to them. The film shows a halation effect that users of Cinestill color films will be familiar with. Mind you, this doesn’t mean it is descended from a cinema film, it just means it has a fairly tepid anti-halation base… or no anti-halation feature at all. We are familiar with the halation seen on Cinestill films because they remove the anti-halation layer as part of their process for allowing the film to be easily developed in C-41 machines but in truth you can wash the anti-halation layer off most films and recreate this effect, cinema film or not. Why Phoenix 200 allows so much halation we are not certain but you will quickly see when shooting this new film stock.

Punchy and contrasty and showing a distinct halation effect around the highlights. These are the most notable qualities of Phoenix 200.

As noted, the grain of Phoenix 200 is quite visible. It gives this film a very gritty effect that will be either a love it or hate it feature depending on the photographer. Because of the graininess of the images we would not characterize this film as especially sharp. But then again if we want tons of fine detail we would likely want to shoot medium format instead.

Phoenix 200 also is not terribly forgiving of exposure and seems to be a little short on latitude. We exposed one roll at ISO 400 without compensating development and most images lost quite a bit of exposure and detail - more so than what we would expect if you shot a roll of Gold 200 at ISO 400. Similarly erring on the overexposed side seems to have consequences too and the already heightened grain becomes even more pronounced.

Phoenix 200 shot at ISO 400 and processed normally. This film falls off pretty quickly when underexposed.

You can use Phoenix’s tendency toward fast underexposure to creative advantage of course. If you meter specifically for highlights, especially in high contrast scenes, you can create a very graphic look that can be kind of cool.

When processed in standard C-41 chemistry the film has a distinct purple base instead of the usual orangish base seen with most color films. This can cause distinct color shifts when scanning or printing and needs to be taken into account as you get to know this film. If you are doing your own scanning, be prepared for some in-scanner and post-scanner color corrections. Meanwhile, if you are dropping your film off at a lab realize that your mileage is going to vary depending on how much manual correction the lab is willing to perform on your film scans. The purplish base of the film will naturally result in images that have a pronounced yellow/cyan cast to them. In our tests we had to manually dial down the yellow channels and turn up the magenta channel to steer this film toward a more neutral balance. We bring this up because as this film hits the user market and people start developing and scanning it we expect that quality of color in Phoenix 200 sample images will vary a lot. Check out this comparison as an example:

Of the two images shown above the left image is straight off the scanner with only automatic corrections applied. It has a heavy yellow cast due to the nature of the film’s base. Meanwhile the right image was rescanned with -Y and +M (minus yellow, plus magenta) corrections dialed in. There is still a lot of yellow in this image but at least the blue of the sky is more visible. Further color corrections in post could steer this film toward a more natural/neutral look. Depending on how you want the colors of your Phoenix 200 to look, you may or may not need to put in some extra work to get it there.

This Phoenix negative was scanned on a Nikon Coolscan 9000 using the ROC (Restoration of Color) setting that helps correct color casts. It removed the cast from the film’s purple base showing that Phoenix is capable of true-to-life colors. This just stresses that depending on the equipment and personnel involved, you can get a wide range of results from Phoenix 200 when printing or scanning it.

Harman has clearly stated that this film is manufactured entirely within their factories; it is not any other film simply repackaged and rebranded. Given that the only other C-41 film that Harman manufactures is Ilford XP2 and given that film has a purple base as well, it is a reasonable guess that they are using a similar manufacturing process as they have employed with XP2 and hence the similarities. But where XP2 is colorless and designed to produce a monochromatic image, Phoenix 200 is intended to produce full color images and the purple base is complicating this to a small degree. Whether this is improved in future generations of the film remains to be seen. Actually, much remains to be seen regarding the future evolution of this film.

How best to use Harman Phoenix 200 then? In truth that question remains up to you to answer because there are many possible ways to use this film. With our sample rolls we took it on nature hikes and city hikes and even did some portraiture with it. We enjoyed its contrast and saturation in landscapes. Given the natural yellow bias this film has the color green can look quite nice, but most colors pop so vibrant landscapes seem a promising subject for Phoenix. Likewise the grain and grit of this film could work well for industrial cityscapes. The halation could be fun at night where bright lights provide ample highlight features for halation to shine through in your images… literally. Portraiture is probably where we struggled the most to see this film fitting since the yellow cast is not particularly flattering for skin tones. But still, we wouldn’t rule this film out for a portrait photographer looking to do something edgy or alternative.

Landscapes are a fun fit for Phoenix 200 where the heightened contrast leads to greater saturation. Even the halation can be a bit fun.

Similarly the punchy colors of the film can lend themselves well to more urban subject matter.

We only made a few portraits with this film and it was… fine. We don’t hate the results we got but at the same time we are not sure what Phoenix brings to the portrait table… at least so far. Despite the slow speed, this might be a fun film for music venues with colored lights. Or even studio portraiture with colored lighting could be fun. Just be aware that getting natural skin tones may be a challenge.

In closing we are excited to see this new film. We have long believed that more options for film photographers are better. While we see both strengths and weaknesses to Phoenix 200 we are definitely not critical of Harman’s decision to manufacture it and market it. In fact, we applaud their bravery in exploring a new film product - especially one so outside of their normal wheelhouse. They have said this film is intended to help raise revenue that will fund further film research and development. So that is definitely a great thing. It does leave the future of Phoenix 200 uncertain. Will this film remain consistent in its look and performance or will Harman improve its emulsion (or base) over future generations? Will it be phased out by Harman’s next color film in a year or two? Will it become available in 120? These are questions we do not yet know the answers to and will have to wait and see. In the meantime we now have a new flavor of color films to feed our cameras and that ain’t a bad thing at all.

Update September 2024: Harman Phoenix was introduced in 120 format. Our first couple rolls with the film suggest that it behaves just like its 35mm counterpart (as you would expect) but due to the larger negative size the film’s grain is much less noticeable (also as you would expect). So yay! We have the film in both 35mm and 120 now!

Want to try a roll of Harman Phoenix 200 yourself? We’ve got it right here!

Here are a few more of our sample images to close this review out.

Film Friday - November 8th, 2024. Harman Phoenix 200.