Harman Phoenix 120 – My First Few Rolls

Yesterday we posted an article by Alex sharing the news and his first experiences shooting Harman Phoenix in 120 format. As mentioned in that post, having released this film in 2023 in 35mm format, Harman have now produced it in 120 format. I was set to write a release article myself detailing my early experiences, but thanks to a slightly more than averagely busy summer I found myself a little behind with both my writing and my shooting. Thankfully, Alex saved the day with his excellent post which arguably shows off what can be achieved with this film much better than I have. That said, I did manage to shoot a couple of rolls over the summer, as well as managing to get them sent off and developed by Analogue Wonderland. So I thought I would share a few of the results and some of my experiences shooting this film.

First off, I should say I have a lot to be thankful for this film release. It forced me to dig out my Makina 67; a camera I don’t shoot nearly enough. It is one of the only medium format cameras I own, and more specifically one of the only I have ever truly gelled with. I have owned and loaned Hasselblads, Mamiyas, Pentaxes, Zeiss, you name it, very few of which have done much for me beyond annoy me with their size. The Makina is just the perfect MF camera for me, and this experience has been a wonderful reminder of that fact. I had even forgotten the simple joy of only having 10 frames to get through… a stark difference to my recent Pentax 17 experiences.

That said, I have so far only managed to burn through only 3 rolls of Phoenix 120. I took the a roll and a half up a hill in the sunshine on a walk with the dog, and then another on an overcast day on a second walk with the dog on a nearby common. The dog is a new dog, and he has pretty much taken over our lives. Being a one year old New Zealand Huntaway who thrives on 4-5 miles of walking a day, I have lost weight and gained many of the other benefits of regular walks… but yeah, to say he has become very much a constant in our lives feels almost an understatement (he is currently sat on my feet and has a pretty nasty case of the farts – warm feet and a waft of death once in a while consisently reminding me of his presence).

Dog walks have once again become a big feature of my photography too. This, I must admit, is something I am quite pleased about. The opportunity to regularly get out with the family, walk in the countryside, experience the joys of British weather (ok, maybe not so much the last one) is something I have missed since old Murphy (our last dog) became very old and incredibly lazy. New dog, new adventures – we do miss Murph though!!

Anyway, onwards and upwards… Literally in fact, as the first walk was up Midsummer Hill, one of the hills at the southern end of the Malvern Hills with views towards Eastnor in one direction and open countryside/farmland the other. It’s not one of the highest, but it’s a steep and tough old trek, especially on what I think must have been one of the hottest days of the year.

We were a little worried about Kippy in the sunshine – he’s got pretty thick black fur over most of his body, but with plenty of stops in the shade and a lot of water he coped just fine. The rest of us, on the other hand – me especially – huffed and puffed our way to the top quite happy that the dog’s temperature concerns gave me a good excuse for lots of breaks!

These two shots were taken on the way up:

The one at the top of the post was taken at the top of the hill (Kippy was sat in the shade in front of the shelter). And these two on the way down:

For reference these were scanned by Analogue Wonderland with their Noritsu which as I understand it brings its own warmth and contrast to the table. I personally quite like the look of these – the day was so hot, that they just seem to fit my memory. If you want to see some more true to life colour scans, Alex’s article is a good place to start. For my money though, I like what the film and scanner combination has brought to the table here – I think it’s interesting the variance in looks that can be achieved with this film. I am also a fan of the halation visible in the last image – it doesn’t seem to be as obvious in 120 format as it does with 35mm, but it has a really strong impact here.

As mentioned, that walk took up a roll and a half. I shot the second half and most of another roll on a walk on a nearby common. The weather on this walk was much more overcast, and has been largely typical over the summer here this year, cooler too. My first shot was one of my wife Hannah, Norah and new-dog Kippy. Aiming for shots like this on digital has resulted in a lot more failures than success, so getting them all looking at the camera, all smiling and all with their eyes open feels like something of a miracle.

Walking across this particular common is a little like walking into Jurassic park in places – the ferns are beautiful

This common is also known for its mushrooms – in my youth, it was often spoken of as somewhere for harvesting Liberty caps, not that I would know anything about that mind… I do always keep an eye out for mushrooms when I am there though, and this particular one was something of a beaut!

These few overcast shots are a little more contrasty than I got out of my first rolls of 35mm, though I suspect that’s scanning technique/process as much as anything else. I prefer these colours too, so kudos to AW.

This final shot was a roll-ender I took on a third walk up the playing fields near me. It’s a bit of a film photography cliche this one I think, but I like it nonetheless – no harm in taking shots that have been taken a million times before if you ask me. I make no claims to be doing anything original with my photography, I just enjoy the process of doing it and the look of the outcome when it turns out well. I think it turned out well here too.

These latter three images also seem to best show off the benefit of shooting Harman Phoenix in 120 over 35mm too. Admittedly, the Makina lens is awesome – possibly one of my favourite lenses on any camera I have ever tried – but I think the added resolution and smaller relative grain size plays a part too.

Final Thoughts

Shooting a film like Harman Phoenix always feels like something of an experiment to me. Films like these are often referred to as “experimental” after all. Shooting it in 35mm brings a fairly wide range of “experimental” features to the table including the colours shifts you can see viewing samples across this website and the wider internet. But it also brings quite a bit of grain and corresponding softness to the table too. Shooting it in 120 format makes for a much larger negative which, as mentioned, lowers the relative grain size and increases the potential of perception of sharpness. This allows Phoenix to be more about experiments in colours shifts and less about softness and graininess. Personally, I think this will fairly dramatically increase its appeal.

If you want to see what others have achieved with this film, Alex’s article is worth a look here. There’s also some stunning results up on the Harman website here

Finally, thanks to AW for the dev and scan – I really do rate their service, very much recommended!

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