I’ve added new spaces on Analog.Cafe, where I’ll be organizing some of my thoughts on film photography.
You’ll probably notice #editorial🔥 the most since it’s where I write about product launches and share announcements like this. Comments under this tag may end up in your RSS feed, Community Letters¹, or you may hear about them from me on Mastodon and Bluesky.
A #video🍿 tag lists all the comments with a YouTube link. I’ve added a whole bunch of these, including this epic trilogy of Kodak factory tours: analog.cafe/comments/tnq0.
Now that Harman Phoenix 200 has officially launched, I’d like to comment on its dynamic range: it’s extremely narrow!
It’s almost as narrow as that of the notorious Kodak Aerochorme — an extremely expensive and rare infrared film (analog.cafe/r/kodak-aeroch…).
Though I haven’t tried this film yet, I can tell from the characteristic curves in the datasheet by Harman (emulsive.org/wp-content/up…) that Phoenix has just 5 stops of dynamic range. The samples taken with this film confirm what I predicted about it yesterday (analog.cafe/comments/3nj8) — it is an extremely contrasty film.
This means that metering for shadows will not work with Phoenix 200. In fact, shooting it in full sun may not be the best idea — instead, places with soft light or a dynamic range of no more than 7-10 stops would work best. See my guide “How to Make Perfect Exposures on Film” for more: analog.cafe/r/how-to-make-…
Of course, reading graphs and watching others’ samples of the film is not the same as experiencing it first-hand. I’ll be doing that shortly and comparing it to other films, including Ilford Ilfocolor 400 — made by an entirely different company (analog.cafe/comments/3nj8)
Dmitri Mar 16, ‘24
Dmitri Dec 1, ‘23, edited on Mar 13, ‘24