Great news!
A great early Christmas present with the release of PHOENIX 35mm colour negative film… kudos to HARMAN – ILFORD.
It’s manufactured entirely by HARMAN/ILFORD. It is a truly wonderful surprise indicating an ever expanding appreciation for analogue photography. Add to this is the financial commitment indicating a very healthy state of affairs with IlFORD’s B&W films and chemistry… good stuff all round!!!
PHOENIX C41 35mm colour film is not perfect with Harman being very candid about this… it’s a work in progress with many improvements in the works and even consideration for 120.
I shot 2 rolls with my results being somewhat consistent with the information provided by Harman and should mention all shots were shot with my Laowa 2.8 100mm macro lens.
My results:
- high contrast
- very sharp grain
- yellow/green cast in a lot of the shots
- colour varies with slight exposure variations.
- reds record as orange
- getting solid black is hit and miss, mostly miss
- colours tend to be very muted which you will either love or hate, I liked it!
- bottom line it’s quirky and unpredictable, but very interesting.
PHOENIX has intriguing possibilities to make painterly, watercolour-like images. I’m excited to going for a shoot in the soft light found on overcast days, even light misty rain or snow would be sensational.. I’ll bracket my exposures not for density but for the variations of colour and contrast. I might even try a 30 magenta filter for a few shots. Should this make for an informative comparison I’ll do a follow-up article.
No excuses, get a roll or two and get out shooting… remember you never know when you’ll discover magic.
Merry Christmas and great shooting!
Item Discussed
About the Author – Crombie McNeill
PHOTONews Flash is honoured to see our contributing editor Crombie McNeill featured in CTV News Ottawa. Tune in to hear Crombie’s story and his mission to help those experiencing homelessness.
Crombie McNeill is a unique artist. He’s a world travelled photographer with numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the best editorial photographers in North America. His credits include Time, Newsweek, ELLE, Life, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Chatelaine, Paris Match, McLean’s, En Route to name but a few.
His Odyssey lead him from the Arctic to high fashion magazine shoots to Olympic Games, World Cup events, the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the altitude with the Snow Birds, interwoven with civil war in Africa, Royalty, presidents to paupers world wide. Not to mention frozen toes at the North Pole.
His photography has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and Europe and has three books to his credit.
Not one to leave behind the uniqueness of traditional film he’s evolved a blending of photography with both hand applied and computer processing to produce truly unique images.
“The art of photography for me” says Crombie “is to convey a timeless essence with a hint of mystery”.
The National Archives predicts he will be credited as one of Canada’s most significant photographers and is on the list for The Order of Canada. The National Art Gallery of Canada has some of his fine art B&W prints included in their permanent collection.
Crombie is now happily retired, in that he no longer accepts editorial or commercial assignments He now lives in Aylmer, with his wife Sue. “This retirement”, he’s delighted to says, “allows me the freedom to search for those magical B&W images, and to determine the ideal technique by which it should be captured and presented.
Crombie often returns to the peaceful amber glow of his wet darkroom as a respite from his extensive digital lab and art board.
Please enjoy!
