Harman Phoenix II was launched today in 35mm and Medium format. We had an opportunity to shoot the 35mm roll of film a few days before the announcement. 

We quickly processed the film in our lab and used Noritsu LS-600 to scan it. It is early days and we are still tinkering with scanning settings. However these are the first samples for your reference. We are yet to scan this film with Fujifilm Frontier scanner. So please stay tuned for a future article.

The film was shot at 125 ISO on Nikon FM3a camera and Voigtlander 40mm f/2 lens.

First impressions: 

According to Harman the Phoenix 2 uses a completely new emulsion however it is still Phoenix in it's DNA. The colour palette fells quite similar to the original albeit being a bit more neutral. The grain is finer as well over the previous generation.

The film latitude has been increased as well (aka dynamic range for folks coming from Digital). I specifically tried to shoot a high contrast scenes and confidently say that the Phoenix 2 outperforms the original but it is still work in progress.

The halation is still there, however it is much less the original. It is better controlled but can still get out of whack on highly reflective surfaces such as car windows and metallic objects. For some of us who LOVE halation on all it's glory, Phoenix 1 is being sold along the new and improved version.

Shadow details have also been improved. However I shot this roll at ISO 125 instead of advertised 200 as it seems that it was a "native" ISO for the original film. More testing required but looking at the results it looks like it was the right choice. ISO 125 definitely helps with shadows details as it allows for 2/3 of stop overexposure over the ISO 200.

With regards to the skin tones you can see the portraits below. We will shoot more to "nail" the look with this film. But hopefully the early samples should give a good idea on that. 

Harman Phoenix II is available now at our store in 35mm and Medium format.