Jason’s early review of the Harman Phoenix II is a strange but captivating video essay that criticizes the product while showing some of the best-looking photos on the channel.
It’s not easy to break free from the influencer curse, where early access to a free sample entices the author to give a positive review. It’s not just the free sample, it’s the privilege to lead the conversation in a way that brings attention to both the product and the author as a cohort.
To be fair, being perfectly objective when talking about anything other than straight facts is impossible. Even with all the technical details and edit-free scanning techniques, I review film and film cameras from the position of a person who loves this medium. This means I’m excited about films like Phoenix, their potential, and the wild experiments you can do with these technically imperfect emulsions today (like developing them as a slide with Rodinal: analog.cafe/r/harman-phoen…).
But in this video, Jason is being straight with the viewer: the new film is grainy, with hard-to-control colours, despite the massive improvement over the original (review here: analog.cafe/r/harman-phoen…). That said, you can still expect the millennial deadpan humour and outstanding photography from his new upload, along with something new: an ironic use of extreme slow-mo.
Dmitri Aug 6, ‘25