Harman Azure Colour Film: Review and First Comparison Shots

It is my favourite kind of day: the one where a new film bursts onto the market and offers film photographers a totally different way to capture their world! Available in both 35mm and 120 from our store for direct shipping to your front door.

And today that film is Harman Azure - or Harman SWITCH Azure for its full title. A brand new colour emulsion from our friends at Harman Technology who have been on a colour journey since the 2024 birth of Phoenix.

The new 'Switch' branding in front of the Azure name tells us two things:
1 - that this is a creative film where two colours are effectively switched in the final image (for Azure this is blue and orange)
2 - that this will not be the last such film...

It looks like Harman are starting to drive a distinction between their creative films (Azure and Red) versus their core colour range that they're building to compete with the global behemoths in Kodak and Fujifilm. Which is a fantastic sign for the level of commitment their bringing to the project! No-one creates such specific brand architecture without a long-term vision in place.

My first roll of Harman Azure 🎿 skiing with 35mm

I received my advance bundle of test rolls in January, which happily coincided with a ski trip to France! Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly bright - and this film is ISO 125 - so I had to wait for my moment. On the penultimate day the sun broke out and I was unleashed on the slopes!

I shot this roll with my Lomography LC-A+ camera and the ISO set at 100 (sorry Harman! The LC-A doesn't have 125 🥲)

You can immediately see that the sky, the snow, the clouds are all turned a gorgeous warm orange-red. What may be less obvious is that anything red in the photos is turned a bright blue! Most noticeable in this photo - where my friend is wearing his RED ski trousers...

"You've turned my trousers into what colour?"

My second roll of Harman Azure 🌳 Nature walks on half-frame 35mm

Having taken the time to study and understand the results from my first roll of Azure, I was keen to make the most of some UK sun and take my Pentax 17 half-frame for a spin.

To help understand the colour SWITCH I also took photos with my phone camera of the same scene each time:

Third and fourth rolls: Harman Azure 120

For the final two test rolls I decided to switch (heehee) to medium format and crack out my Yashica Mat 124G film camera. A gorgeous machine with an ability to fine-tune the exposure according to the scene in front of me.

And I challenged myself straight away with some wildlife photography, shooting into the sun!

As you would expect, the level of detail is much greater in the larger negative and any flecks in the emulsion are barely visible as a result.

Developing tips

In the very earliest Azure conversations, Harman mentioned to us that this film will look different if processed on Fujifilm Frontier versus Noritsu commercial scanners. Fortunately our in-house developing lab has both so we could put this to the test!

The results are definitely slightly different when you use default settings - the machines were designed to try and get 'accurate' colours as much as possible. However we have been able to create bespoke colour profiles to avoid excessive interference in the final images, and we can now produce reliable results that are identical to Harman's initial vision for the film.

If you use our lab to process your Harman Azure then this will be applied as standard - if you use a different lab then please ask them to get the specifications from Harman (or us! we're happy to share) so that you get the best possible results.

I hope you've enjoyed this first look at Harman Azure film - the latest colour creative film on the market and a fantastically unique tool for analogue shooters. See the full Azure range here.

Has this tempted you to try it yourself and what will you photograph with the first roll?!