Rising from black & white ashes, Phoenix color triumphs with 11- x 14-inch prints

There’s a new color in town. And that’s the color produced by a brand new Harman Technology Limited color film emulsion. Christened Phoenix, or, more properly, Harman Phoenix 200, this is an ISO 200 film that is sold in 35mm and 120 formats. It’s punchy, it’s colorful, and, best of all, it’s grainy.

While you are able to expose Phoenix 200 at any ISO between 100 and 200, a light meter setting of ISO 200 is the sweet spot for producing good quality color enlargements. Harman claims that during the testing of Phoenix “many users” preferred using ISO 160. Regardless, some exposure bracketing might be prudent during your initial testing of this new color film emulsion.

Remarkably, Phoenix 200 is a C41 color process film. Therefore, development at almost any film developing laboratory, such as The Darkroom, will be both painless and reasonably priced.

Retail priced at $14 for a 35mm, 36 exposure roll of film and $12 for a 120 format roll of Phoenix, this film might seem like a good value, but with an oddball palette and quirky traits how can you tell if it’s a good film for you? Printing a color enlargement is the best way to evaluate this film’s characteristics.

Go Pentax 6×7 and go BIG

One tiny head’s up about the Phoenix emulsion…it’s glossy! Unlike the dull, matte emulsion side typically seen on other negatives, you’ll have to rely on locating and reading the film’s edge printing for determining the emulsion side of the film. In other words, when you can correctly read the edge printing, then the emulsion side is facing away from you.

Not just any enlargement will work for evaluating this film, however. Forget about 5- x 7-inch enlargements and don’t waste your energy with an 8- x 10-inch print, either. The best way for judging the merits of Phoenix film is with an 11- x 14-inch color enlargement.

In order to ensure that the best possible negative is used for printing such a large print, only a large format camera can be used. Therefore, a vintage Pentax 6×7 (original model) camera beast equipped with a SMC Takumar 90mm f/2.8 lens will be used. A roll of 120 format film was loaded into this monster for sampling some Phoenix color glory.

A framed, matted 11- x 14-inch print surrounded by a 16- x 20-inch black wood frame was created by The Darkroom. Good job, people. Upon arrival, a closeup inspection was made of the print. Rather than provide a subjective evaluation of this print, judge for yourself.

At the time of this article’s publication, Harman Technology had released another new color film which was built upon their experience gained with the Phoenix emulsion. Harman Red 125 is a 35mm film that has a distinct “red-scale” appearance that is produced by shooting through the film emulsion.

Yes, Harman Technology has flipped the film inside the 35mm cassette so that exposures are made to the red-sensitive layer first. Very clever. Thankfully, Harman Red 125 has a clear base which facilitates this backwards emulsion flipping magic. Also, over- and underexposing this film will produce distinctly different colors and contrast. So, lots of experimentation and exposure bracketing will be required for obtaining the best results. A 36-exposure roll of Harman Red 125 costs $14 and is available now.

The future of film is very bright and colorful. Just drop a Rollei 35AF or Pentax 17 loaded with some Harman Technology color film into your camera bag and you’ll soon be plastering your walls with color enlargements.

Enjoy.