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Harman Introduces a NEW COLOUR FILM. Phoenix rising!


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Harman says the film produces high-contrast photos with “visible grain and punchy, vibrant colours,” which is backed up by the example photos shared by the company. The DX-coded cassette can be rated between ISO 100 and 400 but Harman believes it performs best at ISO 200 in “good, consistent light, with the possibility of halation.” “We think this is unlike any other colour film on the market,” says Giles Branthwaite, Harman’s sales and marketing director. credit: Harman Photo's Brand New Color Film is Called Phoenix 200 | PetaPixel

 

Sample images = clearly not colour accurate, this is going to be an 'artists film'.

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Edited by Mr.Prime
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1 hour ago, LocalHero1953 said:

In the UK AG Photographic is selling it at £12.99 for 36exp.
I don't think it's for me, but I'm glad they are doing this: "100% designed, engineered and manufactured at the Ilford factory in Cheshire UK"

In the USA it seems to be $13 - $14 a roll (online prices) so definitely not for me. For reference, Portra 400 is about $15/roll online in the USA. The only reason I can see to buy this new film is to support Harmon's future film developments. They are really going to have to either get the price way down or the quality way up. Either way I'm glad they are doing this since who knows if Kodak will be in business in a few years.

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Portra in the UK is about £18 (nearly $23 USD) so Phoenix is significantly cheaper but of course they aren't really comparable. This looks like a statement of intent from Harman, and it's pretty impressive to pull off even an experimental emulsion from scratch in a year or so. Perhaps there's hope for colour photography yet if they can bring us something less quirky in a couple of years, which seems to be their plan. Kodak was becoming almost the sole supplier of mainstream colour film, including the stuff that Fuji was rebadging (as well as the movie film repackaged by brands like Cinestill).

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I just received an email invite to the launch from a local lab in Rome Ars-Imago with an introductory price of 12.90€

However I'm in Melbourne :( checking out that Leica M6 Anti-Panda which I must say looks and feels awesome in the flesh.

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4 hours ago, Anbaric said:

Portra in the UK is about £18 (nearly $23 USD) so Phoenix is significantly cheaper but of course they aren't really comparable. This looks like a statement of intent from Harman, and it's pretty impressive to pull off even an experimental emulsion from scratch in a year or so. Perhaps there's hope for colour photography yet if they can bring us something less quirky in a couple of years, which seems to be their plan. Kodak was becoming almost the sole supplier of mainstream colour film, including the stuff that Fuji was rebadging (as well as the movie film repackaged by brands like Cinestill).

I had no idea Portra 400 is that much more in the UK. I would quit buying it at that price.

I’ve really enjoyed the Fuji branded Kodak film. I think I paid about $8 USD per 36 frame roll (400 speed) when I last bought a lot of it a few months ago. Hopefully Harmon gets there. I’m struggling to see how they are going to sell the current film. 

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If you compare the price with other films it seems clear Harman are in the ballpark at £12.99, the same price as Kodak Gold, and £1 more than Kodak Color Plus. They will sell a lot of Phoenix given the pent up frustration among photographers with the Ferrania debacle and now the Kodak on/off availability and price hikes. It's not the good old days obviously, but at 36p per exposure it isn't going to kill the demand.

And let's not forget, the pompous camera club attitude about colour fidelity and looking at photographs through a microscope is largely a thing of the past, except in camera clubs, but the wider world has moved on and wants films that have some character.

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I think the Harman film is more comparable to other recent launches, rather than to Portra:

  • WOLFEN NC500 (EUR 14,90)and NC400 by Filmotec (the old ORWO factor in Germany)
  • ADOX Colour Mission (EUR 14,99)
  • LomoChrome Metropolis (US$ 13,90) and LomoChrome Color '92 (US$ 12,90)

Perhaps not the best allround films for use at Weddings, but each with unique qualities.

I hope the manufacturers manage to keep this up. 

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I've always believed you should buy the film you want manufacturer's to continue making. However, my buying their film did not stop Fuji from ending their colour film lines so I don't know what else to say. It's nice that other manufacturers want to make colour film but I'm going to stick with Kodak until they stop making film. I guess.

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19 minutes ago, williamj said:

I've always believed you should buy the film you want manufacturer's to continue making. However, my buying their film did not stop Fuji from ending their colour film lines so I don't know what else to say. It's nice that other manufacturers want to make colour film but I'm going to stick with Kodak until they stop making film. I guess.

But Fuji have massive machines that had to be run all day and when the decline in film use happened they couldn't handle smaller production runs, you can't just switch them off and then on again. Unlike Ilford/Harman (and later Kodak) who redesigned the production line much earlier. 

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2 hours ago, Steve Ricoh said:

The halation and grain make this film, as far as I’m concerned, and I hope Harman don’t fix the perceived issues.

If there were a reliable supply of reasonably priced consumer colour films in the UK, I'd be all for another strange and experimental emulsion. As it is, I'd rather have some mainstream competition to Kodak. But I've ordered a couple of rolls of this stuff all the same.

Edited by Anbaric
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4 minutes ago, Anbaric said:

If there were a reliable supply of reasonably priced consumer colour films in the UK, I'd be all for another strange and experimental emulsion. As it is, I'd rather have some mainstream competition to Kodak. But I've ordered a couple of rolls of this stuff all the same.

I think I should place an order as well… before they fix the issues. 

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