> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://finlandonfilm.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to shoot Harman Phoenix II - URL: https://finlandonfilm.com/how-to-shoot-harman-phoenix-ii/ - Published: 2026-11-01T23:58:47.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-01T23:58:47.000Z - Author: Frank Diepmaat - Tags: Blog If shooting film wasn't temperamental enough, some film manufacturers really make us work to get good results from their film stocks. When I first saw the results other people on YouTube were getting with their Phoenix II film, I got very excited. A new film stock, made by a more local company and not a re-spool. So, I surfed my way over the world wide web on my computer to Kamerastore. I bought 4 rolls of the stuff, and eagerly awaited Postnord to drop them off in a nearby postal box.. That weekend, I took my trusty Spotmatic F out on a partially sunny day. An f/8 kinda day in Sunny 16 terms. As a control, I also took some Kodak Gold 200 with me. The first roll was with the Kodak film, just getting used to a 50mm lens, I mostly photographed places familiar to me, to get a feel for this new focal length. Yes, I know, it's a 50mm... But I'm used to shooting wider. Anyway.. after the roll of Kodak Gold 200, I switched to Harman Phoenix II. Also a 200 ISO film made for daylight use. Since the conditions were the same, the camera was the same, location too, I stuck with the same settings. 1/250 and f/8. Fast forward another week, and I got my scans back. And holy shazizzle my eyes hurt, it's like someone barfed over the photos. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_bad_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_bad_2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_bad_3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_bad_4.jpg) Here are some of the photos. As you can see, there's strong halation in the fourth image, that's expected and I like it in a lot of cases. The colors on all of them show reds come through muted and white works. Yellow a bit too. All the other colors are just green sludge or something. Now before anyone posts the "it's fucking underexposed" meme from Reddit, these were correctly exposed according to box speed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/kodak_gold_good.jpg) For reference, here's a picture taken not 30 minutes earlier around the same area, with Kodak Gold 200\. Same camera, same settings, same place, same day, same lighting conditions. Even the same bald goober taking the shot. For now, I put Phoenix II on ice and went with the safer options. ## The Redemption Roll Early fall 2026 and I was having loads of fun testing out my new fish-eye lens for my Konica cameras. And I remembered Phoenix II trying to make everything green, and feeling a bit underexposed at box speed. So I figured I'd give it a little redemption attempt, a rise of the phoenix if you will. In a nice green forest and field environment, overexposed by almost 2 stops, I gave this bird another chance to fly. Overexposure was a fun challenge this day. It was quite windy, and most of my subjects for the fish-eye lens were plants, moving quickly in the wind. So higher shutter speeds were still needed, meaning all compensation had to come from opening the aperture. Anyway, I sunny sixteened it again, adjusted and started blasting. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_4.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_5.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_6.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_7.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_8.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a3/ba/a3baafc6-a5bb-4266-8ab1-a590704fe1cb/content/images/2026/11/harman_phoenix_II_good_9.jpg) And whaddayaknow?! It looks a lot better! Punchy colors, strong grain, halation. Exactly the film stock I was promised by the YouTube film photography crowd. Some side notes though, I can't get it to do grey, it turns green. The rocks in Finland are grey, and these all turned green. The brown on the tree trunks also does not show. Since a lot of the stuff in cities falls in that palette, it's no wonder everything looked green. To sum things up, here's how to get Harman Phoenix II to look noice: - Over expose by 1 to 2 stops. - When in doubt, overexpose a little more - Avoid brown, deep red and grey colors My best memory trick for remembering where to shoot this film, is calling it my Frutiger Aero film stock. Punchy greens, blue skies and pure white. However it does also cover the spectrum between beige to orange. So fall photography on sunny days works well. ## Who is this film stock for? For anyone who knows what they're getting into. I wouldn't recommend this to beginners. If you're expecting to follow box speed, or even put this in something more automatic and snap away, your photos will probably come out as muddy as mine first did. However, if you have a camera that can overexpose on purpose, and you want to try some fun new film, have at it! I do want to close this off by saying I'm impressed by Harman creating a new film stock. It's good to see more film enter the market. And I know it's not easy to do so. This all makes me really excited to see what they make next. I'll definitely keep this film around. When you get it right, the halation and grain really make for cool photos, when shot in the right environment and light.