As far as I know Harman had done 4 master roll coating runs of Phoenix as of March 2024 with one more planned with this iteration of emulsion. Perhaps the last (5th) was for 120 or part thereof?
That's a lot of rolls!
. I guess we'll know on Friday.
I really hope this nonsense and other Pemberstone initiatives aren’t the undoing of Harman.
What nonsense would that be?
Harman color film(s). It’s not the only thing that worries me but it worries me.
stuck with an inferior product that doesnb't perform well and, sometimes. doesn't even perform its intended function. That experience tends to hardent the heart regarding "incrementally developed" products.
There is an immense difference between buying an expensive product advertised as excellent from a multi-trillion dollar company (Microsoft) and buying an inexpensive, brand-new product advertised as far from perfect from a very small company. In the first case, you'd be absolutely right to complain, and heaven knows I've complained about things I've spent money on. In the second case, where did Harman do you wrong? They advertised a film as a first step, were very clear about its limitations, sold it at a fair price, and it performs just about exactly how they said it would.It seems that perhaps you've never paid a lot of your own hard-earned money for equipment that the user experience ends up being not much more than beta testing for Microsoft or Oracle or Cisco... and then stuck with an inferior product that doesnb't perform well and, sometimes. doesn't even perform its intended function. That experience tends to hardent the heart regarding "incrementally developed" products.
Even cars are subject to recalls due to too many real-life-use failures. I have a car that was recalled because too heavy a keychain can cause it to shut off while driving. I wonder how heavy the keychain needs to be?
You're within your rights to decry Phoenix, of course. It's a discussion forum for discussing things. I'm not sure how much it's a Pemberstone initiative. It's a while since I looked at any of the promo stuff they did, but the Harman people didn't look like this was something they'd been made to do. Venture capitalists usually have ideas like making every third person redundant, don't they?
Other stuff happening at Mobberley is the Harman Lab operation; not sure when they began that, but it seems an obvious move to me; it's not much of a stretch for a film-factory to be able to develop film, and if there's to be a resurgence of film then there must be a demand for D&P (or D&Scan). Peak Imaging in Sheffield shut in 2022; probably the big competition for the north of England.
(I honestly don't know if the UK lab operation is comparable/bigger/smaller than the US one; I suppose they might have set that one up by buying an existing place; someone here will know)
..And there's the spend on extra machinery, discussed in another thread. That might have been a Pemberstone strategist's idea, I suppose.
Harman color film(s). It’s not the only thing that worries me but it worries me.
Harman color film(s). It’s not the only thing that worries me but it worries me.
Their color film is a big adventure, but it seems that the investment is manageable and even if it doesn't pan out, they'll be able to afford the loss. However, if it does turn out to be successful, the potential gain is enormous. So no, it doesn't worry me. And I also doubt very much that your assessment is correct that this is a "pemberstone initiative". Pemberstone clearly support it, but surely the initiative originated within Harman proper.
Chevy?
Stepping off topic, it's interesting how much chat there is about Phoenix, and how much less about Color Mission, which is much the same sort of effort (even with a helpful self-explanatory name). Whereas with Phoenix all sorts of things went wrong (because I chose to use it in charming old cameras) but I still had a great time and got some photos that seem worthwhile to me, I had a small handful of the first-gen Color Mission, but managed not to use it very well, and don't even have a firm idea whether I like the film or not. The last announcements, around January (?) suggested that second-gen CM ('Helios') was made in test-quantities, and was ISO 3 (three!). I would still buy some.
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