For my third roll of Harman Phoenix 200 I decided to change cameras and location to really test the dynamic range of the film in challenging conditions. Woodland photography. I loaded my roll of Harrman Phoenix 200 into my Minolta Hi-matic 7 rangefinder camera, set the camera to full auto, the film speed at 200 iso and went for a walk in my local woodland on a bright sunny day in May.
There's a patch of Bluebells that I'm not sure a lot of people visit, despite it being next to a footpath. It's not particularly densely populated with Bluebells, but it always puts on a show. I headed straight for at as it was the middle of Bluebell season and I didn't want to miss it, especially with the conditions being dry and bright sunshine was pushing columns of light through the canopy.
I knew I was taking a risk with using my Minolta Hi-Matic 7. It has a fixed 45mm f/1.8 lens that is perfect for street photography. However, I really should have used a different camera with a longer focal length to get closer to the flowers than I managed on this occasion. It wasn't a complete bust, I got some nice photos and got as close as I could to the Bluebells without falling over. I'm not good with my balance these days and struggled a bit, but I'm also a stubborn old bugger and got on with it as best as I could.
Once I was happy with my Bluebell photos, I headed to another part of the woodland to visit the old dead tree that local youngsters congregate next to for a few drinks and a laugh around a small camp fire. It's out of the way, does no harm to anyone and it keeps them out of mischief. They keep the area reasonably clean too.
The dead tree is still slowly collapsing, but the tiny sapling I first saw a couple of years ago is still alive. It is growing between the roots of the dead tree and making use of what light comes through the canopy above. It reminds me that the great cycle of life continues to find a way to keep going. The little sapling may not have grown much over the last couple of years, but it is growing. I was having so much fun I soon finished my roll of film and headed home.
I sent my roll of Harman Phoenix 200 to Analogue Wonderland for developing along with my Sakura roll of Harman Phoenix and a roll of ColorPlus. When my film returned I scanned it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.
I am rather impressed with how well Harman Phoenix 200 film responds to DSLR Scanning. My Nikon D700 has a legendary colour profile and dynamic range that is well suited to scanning negatives. Inverting the negative in Affinity Photo 2 gave me decent photos with just a few small adjustments needed to bring my vision to life.
I am also impressed with how Harman Phoenix 200 handled the high contrast between light and shade on a bright sunny day in the woods. The pools of light were bright without being blown out and the shadow areas were still full of detail. I took my time processing my roll of Harman Phoenix as I am still learning how to get the best from this film using my home scanning set up. Harman still have a way to go before we can say Harman Phoenix 200 is even approaching perfect, but they have made a great start. I have another roll to shoot in the coming weeks.
Here's a few favourites from my walk in the woodland to shoot Harman Phoenix 200 in my Minolta Hi-Matic 7 35mm rangefinder camera. As always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
Harman Phoenix 200 - Minolta Hi-Matic 7
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