As I wrote this review two years after the release of Harman Phoenix, I can’t help but really want to lean into my honesty. Even when I interviewed photographers about what this film is, they seemed kind of lukewarm about it. Harman released the first original color film in several years. That’s a wonderful thing. But just because they did it, doesn’t mean that it was something they excelled on in every single way. In fact, that’s really how I feel about the film. I appreciate that it exists and that it looks like a slide film that had color tinting to it. But I think that there are much better films on the market.
For the record, Harman provided the site with a single roll for evaluation, and Blue Moon Camera developed and scanned the film for us. They’re the absolute best at this.
Apparently, the secret to Harman Phoenix is all about how it’s scanned. And for that, I really do trust Blue Moon camera. And for even further research, I went to Lomography’s community hub to see images people have made with the film. There, it all looks like photographers have cross processed their photos. In fact, I think that’s the best way to think about it: Harman Phoenix looks like a film that’s normally cross processed just a bit.
As an addition to the film photography universe, it’s wonderful that Harman Phoenix exists. But within the multiverse of photography, Harman Phoenix is struggling to find a place to fit in. It’s not a look that anyone really asked for and we’re not even totally sure what you’d want to use it for specifically. While I love the fact that it exists, I don’t like the fact that we don’t really know what to use it for. To explain that further, I wouldn’t load it up into my camera randomly at will. Sometimes I know that I want to shoot Portra and sometimes I prefer Ektachrome. But I don’t always think that I want to shoot Harman Phoenix.
This film got a lot of hype when it was released. And I’ve got to be frank, this one is worth skipping or trying out at least once.
