Analogue AF-1, a point-and-shoot camera in development by Analogue Amsterdam, has just sent an update on their progress.
The brand shares the details of a ready lens prototype, autofocus testing setup, LCD menu with animations (there’s a short clip that demonstrates that), and mechanical updates (battery and lens cover) in their Instagram post (you’ll have to click the next button a few times to get through all of it): instagram.com/p/DMUnXmYCB7P
Analogue Amsterdam promises to share “first images” in August (I’m assuming this is first images taken with the lens and the photos/videos of the prototype itself, which has never been seen by anyone but the select few).
The production stage is to begin in October and deliveries by the end of the year.
Excellent, I’m looking forward to reading about it then!
I’ve recently bought a half-frame camera for everyday shooting and it will likely take me some time to go through 70 exposures. I was thinking about which film to use that would work well for overcast weather — I think Portra 400 or Cinestill 400 would be best, but also a bit on the expensive side for everyday kind of shooting (though the doubled number of photos mitigates that somewhat I guess), and homemade Cinestill has the already mentioned drawback. I guess I’ll just go for Kodak Gold then! haha.
Anyway, thanks for your reply and keep up the good job with the blog!
Funny you ask, I’m working on an article about this exact thing! CineStill absolutely does more to Vision 3 film than just remove the remjet. I found a host of issues trying to make one at home that aren’t a problem on the branded rolls.
Hey, I have a question about remjet-removed Kodak Vision films. I’ve been buying some local “homemade Cinestill” films lately, but the seller warned me not to keep them in the camera for too long, especially in high temperatures and especially when it comes to 250D — he said the film base changes its colour to deep red when exposed to heat which results in strong colour shifts. I’m wondering if you’ve come across anything like that. I’ll likely have to try it out myself, but maybe this is the reason why Cinestill 400D has apparently had some tweaks applied to it in addition to just removing the remjet — maybe they did something to it to prevent the film base discolouration.
To celebrate the release of this new emulsion, I spent weeks preparing an article about processing Phoenix films into slides using the most common chemicals in a photographer’s bathroom: Rodinal and a regular C-41 kit.
Expect unusual results and budget at least an extra 30 minutes of development time. This is an experimental technique for an experimental film; your results may vary. I’ve published a few starting times, temperatures, and dilutions that should yield decent results; I’ve also mentioned a few techniques in this article for improving your odds.
Good luck, enjoy the new film, and let me know what you think :)
In 35mm, Phoenix II still appears fairly grainy in high-resolution scans, yet it’s significantly smoother than other new small-batch film stocks (like Lomography Color’92, analog.cafe/r/lomochrome-c…).
Other than shooting the newer emulsion, there’s one more way to dramatically reduce grain on Harman Phoenix films: develop it as a slide film!
Unfortunately, the datasheets for either Phoenix films don’t share RMS or PGI numbers (both measure how “grainy” the film may appear. I suppose we’ll have to take Harman’s word when they say that Phoenix II has finer grain.
Of course, in medium format, it looks to have very fine grain.
Seeing sample photos alone may not reveal the changes Harman had implemented. Side-by-side comparisons can be helpful, but we don’t have those either.
Thankfully, I have spec sheets with film characteristic curves from both versions of this film, which reveal quite a bit of info about the changes the company made to Phoenix II.
The pink lines that illustrate the dynamic range of Phoenix II (drawn in colour), whereas the black lines are Phoenix I. The new film appears to have an extra stop of DR, which may result in slightly more detail in the highlights and shadows of high-contrast scenes. Though not as wide as that of Kodak Gold, a budget emulsion that offers 8 stops of dynamic range (analog.cafe/r/kodak-gold-f…), Phoenix II shows a significant improvement.
Another thing that those graphs reveal is the density of the negatives. On the right, the numbers indicate the level of opacity the film may exhibit once developed; note how the new film, Phoenix II, displays significantly less overall density. This can make scanning this film easier on some devices. Which is nice!
One of the key upgrades to Harman Phoenix is the contrast control and dynamic range extension.
Dynamic range is roughly the ability of film to simultaneously show detail in shadows and highlights. Films with low dynamic range may struggle to display details in both shadows and highlights in high-contrast scenes, even when the exposure is spot on. (More about dynamic range: analog.cafe/r/dynamic-rang…).
Low dynamic range isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For example, slide films are known for their low DR; while that does make shooting such films more difficult, they produce striking high contrast without the need to make any adjustments after scanning.
But when it comes to colour-negative films, traditional films like Kodak Portra 800 can have up to 12.5 stops of DR (analog.cafe/r/kodak-portra…), which would yield lower contrast but greater flexibility and ease of use.
Phoenix II, according to the datasheet, improves this piece of their emulsion by extending the dynamic range slightly, potentially making it an easier film to shoot.
A halation is the result of relatively bright points of light projecting through the semi-transparent film and then bouncing off a film pressure plate through the layers. Halation occurs to some degree on all films, which is why manufacturers usually include an anti-halation layer with their film (famously, Kodak Vision 3’s remjet: analog.cafe/r/how-to-remov…). Most films don’t use remjet; instead, their anti-halation layer is either dissolvable or integrated deep into the emulsion.
Halations can occur on black-and-white and colour films. Colour films without the remjet layer, like CineStill 800T (analog.cafe/r/cinestill-80…), and, notably, Harman Phoenix.
Harman must have experience with anti-halation layers (since they produce all Ilford-branded black-and-white films, which use anti-halation), which suggests that excluding this feature is a deliberate choice.
Harman updates Phoenix 200 (II) with finer grain, improved colour accuracy, and wider dynamic range.
Ilford/Harman’s first colour film since the 1960s, this emulsion is a significant departure from the portfolio of black-and-white films, papers, and development chemicals at the UK factory plant.
Here’s how the reformulated Harman Phoenix II 200 compares to the original emulsion (reviewed here analog.cafe/r/harman-phoen…), according to their datasheet:
Retailers are struggling (and failing) to keep Harman’s “Blue” release a secret.
Several online stores published the product photos, name, description, and price ahead of the launch date. I’ve been hearing about the leaks since Sunday, but even more shops seem to have mistakenly published all the details ahead of time.
Many of the listings that leaked onto Google Search pages have been taken down, although some remain up, and one will even let you add it to the cart.
This is not new. I’ve seen brands and publishers I respect make the mistake due to the complexity or bugs in the scheduling software. As you can see in the screenshot, one of the indexed Google Search titles spells in all-caps “DO NOT ENABLE!!!” — perhaps a stern instruction that the machine or an employee ignored?
Note: I wrote about inverting film negatives manually in this post, analog.cafe/r/how-to-inver…, and offer a negative inversion product based on the above techniques here: film Q (analog.cafe/app/film-q)
CineStill introduces CS Negative+ Convert Tools with SpectraCOLOR™ — an Adobe Lr/Ps plugin for inverting film scans.
The technology behind CS Negative+ is “informed by the characteristic spectral sensitometric curves of traditional RA-4 darkroom prints and motion picture cinema projection prints.” Best of all, the plugins are free:
“The result is more accurate colors, better contrast, and a closer match to the original negative — all while reducing the need for complex color correction in post-processing.”
I love PetaPixel’s take on this Fujifilm development.
I hope that they are right, and “It would be very bizarre to bring that [pages about formerly discontinued Fujifilm stocks] back online if the film is not truly back in production.”
My suggestion that this event was a bug does not exclude the possibility of a premature deployment. If that’s the case, we may be seeing three highly-regarded, discontinued Fujifilm stocks back on sale!
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