HARMAN RED 125 on the streets
I don’t want to regularly do gear reviews, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a roll of Harman RED 125, so I spent a day shooting it and thought I'd share my impressions. Especially after my last blog (Why I shoot film), I wanted to highlight some of the fun I have experimenting with it. For those unfamiliar, Harman RED 125 is a new C-41 color negative redscale film based on Harman Phoenix 200. It's simply Harman Phoenix loaded into the canister upside down—that's all there is to it.
It comes in this really cool canister with a red cap, which is pretty sweet:
What is redscale film?
Redscale films like Lomography Redscale XR create a distinctive look by reversing the color spectrum, transforming greens and blues into reds and oranges. While traditional redscale films typically require a two-stop overexposure to compensate for the halation layer and orange mask, Harman RED simplifies this process. Without these layers, it only needs a 2/3 stop adjustment, resulting in a box speed of ISO 125 (compared to Phoenix's ISO 200).
Rather than diving into technical specifications (which you can find in detailed reviews from Japan Camera Hunter here and attic darkroom here), I took a more experimental approach. Based on my limited but insightful experience with Harman Phoenix 200, I decided to push the boundaries by shooting RED at ISO 25-100. Yes, that meant some incredibly slow shutter speeds around 1/30 of a second. My reasoning? Phoenix tends to perform better at ISO 100, delivering cleaner shadows and more balanced colors. Here are some examples from my Phoenix experiments:
As you can see it’s a very light hungry film, so I didn’t want to take any chances with my roll of RED.
Comparisons
During my testing, I captured several comparison shots to understand how exposure affects this film:
After experimenting, my film exposure tip is to expose it at ISO 64 (one stop over box speed) gives my preferred results, but your mileage may vary depending on your artistic goals and lighting conditions. Overexposing will give you tones closer to orange than red; if you want deep reds you are probably better off shooting at ISO 100 or box speed, but note that you will likely lose shadow details.
I was particularly curious about how the film would handle greens, given the box's promise of "dramatic apocalyptic-looking images with striking orange and red hues where there would normally be blues and greens.":
For this test, I shot some green objects (a bin and barricade) at ISO 50. Interestingly, the greens turned almost black—much darker than expected. However, I later noticed that overexposing the film (like in the ISO 25 shots below) helps bring out more of those green tones.
Shooting Harman RED
Taking the film for a test run, I ventured into Hong Kong's streets and markets on an overcast day, ending up at the waterfront. My setup was my standard: a Leica M6 with a 28mm Voigtlander Ultron v1. After shooting, I had it processed with standard C41 chemicals and scanned on a Noritsu HS-1800, presenting the images here without any post-processing:
Shot under overcast conditions at around 1/60th of a second, these images demonstrate the film's distinctive characteristics. While not ideal for everyday photography, the film creates an intriguing effect where highlights and bright colors take on an almost ethereal quality. The overall aesthetic is reminiscent of the Las Vegas scenes from Blade Runner 2049, showcasing the film's potential for creating stylized, atmospheric shots:
Blade Runner 2049. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2017.
This film would excel at capturing these kinds of dystopian, otherworldly scenes, given its unique color characteristics. It would make a great film for moody street shots.
Shooting became particularly challenging as daylight faded. While I experimented with some handheld shots in high-contrast conditions, I ultimately found myself reaching for the flash:
Under flash and artificial lighting conditions, the film delivers strong results. The last photo exhibits an interesting yellow cast in the highlights - a characteristic that emerges when the film is pushed to its exposure limits. The cityscape shot demonstrates the film's strength in creating that dystopian atmosphere I mentioned earlier, with its dramatic color shifts and moody tones.
Conclusions
So what's my take on Harman RED 125? It's a cool film, and kudos to Harman for building on Phoenix's success—it's a logical next step for them.
That said, you need to choose the right film for street photography. It won’t be my go-to (it remains a specialty film). Not only does it lack true-to-life colors (which you typically want when documenting everyday life), but it's also too slow for capturing those fleeting street moments.
Where this film truly shines is in creating post-apocalyptic atmospheres. Its reds are more intense than other redscale films (I'm looking at you, Lomography Redscale), making it perfect for transforming Earth into Mars. In other words, it works best when you have a specific creative vision rather than shooting candid street scenes.
Bottom line: it's exciting to see Harman innovating, but like all redscale films, this isn't meant to be your daily driver.