Today Harman launched another experimental film in their colour film line-up. This new Harman Switch Azure colour film continues Harman’s experimental approach to analogue photography. Available in both 35mm and 120 (medium format).

If you thought Phoenix or RED were bold, this one takes things in a completely different direction.

So what exactly is Harman Switch Azure? 

It is certainly not a traditional colour film. The film uses an alternate colour arrangement where two of the three colour couplers are switched. In practical terms this means colours don’t behave the way you normally expect them to.

According to the technical information sheet, blue light is recorded in the red channel, green in the green channel and red in the blue channel.

What does that mean in real life?

Think pink and orange skies, cyan bananas, blue tomatoes, strawberries and even blue skin tones. Sunsets can shift into cool blues and purples. Common objects like post boxes, signs, cars, buildings and even wildlife suddenly take on a surreal look. It is familiar, but slightly wrong in the best possible way.

The most obvious comparison here is LomoChrome Turquoise by Lomography. In many ways the film behaves quite similarly, delivering strong colour shifts and unusual palettes. Some hues fall in slightly different places, although many of these differences can be tweaked during scanning or post-processing.

Photographer’s Take.

Another experimental film you say? Why can’t they just make a “normal” one?

Well, creating a brand new colour film from scratch is incredibly expensive. Research and development takes a lot of time and investment, so releasing creative films helps support that process. Harman have openly said in the past that film sales are reinvested into further R&D.

Last year we saw Phoenix II (read our blog here), which already showed improvements over the original Phoenix. So patience is probably the name of the game here. Good things will come with time.

So how does Switch Azure behave when shooting it?

In many ways it feels similar to other Harman films. Since the film is built on the Harman Phoenix II emulsion, the dynamic range behaves in a similar way. Latitude is fairly limited, so shooting around ISO 125 is recommended. Meter for the mid-tones or shadows depending on the scene and bracket exposures whenever possible. Ideally you want to avoid underexposed shadows as they can get crushed quite quickly.

Halation is part of the look and should be expected around bright light sources, artificial lights or direct sunlight. Grain will definitely be visible on 35mm, while medium format will appear a little smoother.

Experimental films can be used in many creative ways to highlight certain colours or completely transform an otherwise ordinary scene. It is probably not an everyday carry film (unless Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is your favourite movie), but it can certainly be used to make bold visual choices. Something that might look fairly ordinary on a standard colour film can suddenly become much more interesting on Azure. As always with films like this, practice and experimentation are key.

Scanning Considerations

Unlike traditional colour negative films, Switch Azure does not have an orange mask. This means scanner response can vary and some adjustments may be required.

Harman provides guidance for common lab scanners such as Noritsu and Fujifilm, as well as flatbed and digital camera scanning setups.

In practice, scanning behaves very similarly to other Harman colour films such as Phoenix I, Phoenix II and Harman RED. Like those films, some colour and saturation balancing is usually needed in post to get the image where you want it. We are developing and scanning a lot of Harman film in our photo lab and created specific scanning profiles to bring the best out of these films.

Because Switch Azure is a creative film with very strong colour shifts, the final look will often come down to personal preference. During our internal testing we noticed that each of us edited the same frame differently, adjusting colour temperature, tint and saturation to reach the result we liked best.

Final Thoughts

Harman Switch Azure is clearly not about colour accuracy. It is about transformation. It takes everyday scenes and introduces an unexpected twist. If you enjoy experimental film, colour shifts, or pushing creative boundaries without needing special chemistry, this could be a very interesting stock to try.

We’re looking forward to seeing what it can do in real-world shooting situations and, of course, running it through our lab workflow to see how it behaves in scanning and final output. More to come once we have had a few rolls through the camera and the lab.

If you are curious about the new Harman Switch Azure 125 film, it is definitely one worth experimenting with.

You can find Harman Switch Azure film at stuckinfilm.co.uk, and once you have shot your rolls our Stuck in Film LAB will happily take care of developing and scanning for you.

More sample images: 35mm taken by Xamuel Pural Rosales













Medium format shots taken by Konstantin Kochkin