From Ilford and Kentmere to a Modern Analog Powerhouse
Harman Technology sits at the center of the analog photography revival, even if many photographers know it better through its brands. The company is the force behind Ilford and Kentmere black-and-white films and papers, as well as Harman Photo color films, making it one of the world’s largest manufacturers of analog photographic films, darkroom papers, and photo chemicals. That reach gives Harman outsized influence over the film photography future, especially as other legacy producers scale back or exit. Rather than treating film as a museum piece, Harman presents it as a living technology—one that blends chemistry, engineering, and constant experimentation. Its recently released behind-the-scenes videos from its Mobberley factory show film being actively rethought, not just preserved. In an ecosystem where users have limited choice and manufacturers struggle with old machinery and processes, Harman’s decision to expand and modernize its operations has effectively turned the company into a bellwether for film stock production.
How Film Is Made Today: From Emulsion to Finished Roll
Inside the Harman film factory, film starts not as a strip but as chemistry. In lab environments, researchers design and mix light-sensitive emulsions, carefully controlling silver halide crystal structures for black-and-white films and far more complex multilayer systems for color. There are no fixed recipes for many of these products—the formulations come directly from ongoing R&D, as seen with experimental color stocks like Harman Phoenix 200. Once a formulation is ready, coating turns theory into material. Multiple layers—emulsions, filters, protective coatings—are applied onto a base in the dark under tightly controlled conditions, often separated into red, green, and blue channels for color film. Even slight inconsistencies in thickness or adhesion can ruin a batch, making precision crucial. After coating and drying, the giant master rolls must be cut, perforated, spooled, and packaged, each step adding cost, potential waste, and technical risk to how film is made.
Old Machines, New Talent: Why Scaling Film Is So Hard
Harman’s videos highlight that film stock production is as much about machines and people as it is about chemistry. Much of the equipment doing the coating, cutting, and spooling was built decades ago and is now operating well beyond its intended lifespan. Replacement parts often no longer exist, turning even routine repairs into bespoke engineering projects. As Harman’s managing director Greg Summers notes, if the company simply “rests on its laurels” with equipment from the 1980s, there will eventually be a hard stop. To avoid that, Harman is investing in new machinery and, crucially, in new talent. The Mobberley hub is being developed as a “center of photographic excellence,” where industry veterans work alongside younger engineers and scientists. Transferring tacit knowledge—much of it never formally documented—is becoming as important as upgrading hardware, because the analog photography revival depends on people who know how to run and evolve these systems.
Rising Demand Meets Niche-Market Reality
Harman’s renewed push into film comes as analog photography enjoys an unexpected resurgence. According to Summers, film photography is a passion for millions, with analog cameras and skills passed down through generations and “new people fall[ing] in love with film photography every day.” This rising demand is visible in sold-out stocks and crowded darkrooms, but it collides with the realities of niche manufacturing. Film production depends on complex chemicals, specialized coatings, and fragile supply chains, any of which can become bottlenecks. Aging infrastructure amplifies those risks, making it difficult to ramp up output quickly even when demand surges. For consumers, that tension shows up as limited choice, occasional scarcity, and sensitivity to disruptions. Harman’s willingness to tackle these structural constraints suggests that, while the film photography future will remain a specialized market, it does not have to be a shrinking one.
What Harman’s Bet Means for the Future of Film Photography
Harman’s ongoing investment in analog is more than corporate optimism; it is a signal about where film is headed. By modernizing equipment, training new specialists, and actively developing new color emulsions rather than relying solely on legacy recipes, Harman is betting that film is not just a nostalgic niche but a durable creative medium. For photographers, that could mean more stable availability of core black-and-white stocks, continued access to darkroom papers and chemistry, and the gradual introduction of new films with distinct looks, like Phoenix 200. At the same time, the sheer complexity and cost of keeping a Harman film factory running suggest that film will remain a carefully managed, limited-scale industry rather than a mass-market commodity. The analog photography revival, in other words, is real—but its future depends on a handful of manufacturers willing to keep reinventing how film is made.
