HP5 Plus in Spur HRX-3 New

[Koolzakukumba]

I've just finished shooting a couple of rolls of HP5+ and was impressed with the results from the Spur fine grain developer. There's another roll hanging up in my shower right now that looks lovely. I've posted about it on my blog here. If anyone is looking for a fastish (250 ISO with this developer) and fine-grained combination, I'd say this is one of the best and definitely worth consideration.

 

[Jan Pedersen]

Look fabulous, great tonality. I have tried HP5+ so many times in various formats but never managed to make it look right. This is one example that shows it can be done.

 

[Koolzakukumba]

Hi Jan,

The pic above and those on my blog are negative scans but I think they'll print really well in the darkroom. As I wrote on my blog, it's very tempting sticking to just HP5 Plus in Spur HRX-3 New for all my "normal" photography and using D76 when I want to push it a stop. Keeps life simple.

 

[DominikDUK]

How does the new Spur developer compare to Perceptol or Microdol-X? It seems to loose some speed just like in the aforementioned developers is the sharpness superior or what would you say would be the advantages?

The images on your blog look good but the grain looks somewhat mushy (scanning?)

Dominik

 

[Ansel]

Nice. HP5 in D75 is an old fave. Have used a lot of the Perceptol, Microdol X variants over the years. Not used Spur.

 

[Koolzakukumba]

How does the new Spur developer compare to Perceptol or Microdol-X? It seems to loose some speed just like in the aforementioned developers is the sharpness superior or what would you say would be the advantages?

The images on your blog look good but the grain looks somewhat mushy (scanning?)

Dominik

Can't comment on Microdol X as I've never used it. Perceptol 1+3 works tremendously well with HP5 Plus. I used to use that combination with 6x9 negs. Differences between developers designed to work in a similar way are very slight and without having side-by-side comparisons I couldn't say if HRX-3 New is superior to Perceptol. I think, to all intents and purposes, there would be little difference between them. Perceptol is expensive, though, and comes as a powder so on price and convenience I'd go with Spur.

Re mushy grain? My scanning abilities are right up there with Obama's truthfulness so it might well be the scanning that's the cause of what you're seeing although most solvent developers will soften grain. The negs certainly look good.

 

[Findus]

Spur HRX-III has been my developer of choice for more than three years now. It was "love at first film" 😉 I am using it for Acros and TriX in medium format, and for Rollei Retro 100 (APX 100) in small format. Highly recommended!

It gives negatives of beautiful tonality, sharp *and* fine-grained at the same time. Please note that you lose some film speed. IMHO it is more aimed at 'fine art' photographers/zone system people than for those who like pushing and huge grain.

If you have a look at my photos at ipernity (link below), you will see most images developed in HRX-III.

The films developed in HRX-III scan and print well. I mostly do landscapes and portraits of my little son, where I want fine grain and details. If I shot mainly street, I guess I would use sth else.

 

[DominikDUK]

Can't comment on Microdol X as I've never used it. Perceptol 1+3 works tremendously well with HP5 Plus. I used to use that combination with 6x9 negs. Differences between developers designed to work in a similar way are very slight and without having side-by-side comparisons I couldn't say if HRX-3 New is superior to Perceptol. I think, to all intents and purposes, there would be little difference between them. Perceptol is expensive, though, and comes as a powder so on price and convenience I'd go with Spur.

Re mushy grain? My scanning abilities are right up there with Obama's truthfulness so it might well be the scanning that's the cause of what you're seeing although most solvent developers will soften grain. The negs certainly look good.

Thank you for your answer, I just wanted to know if there was a pronounced difference between HRX and the older finegrain developers. Convenience and price is a good reason for choosing this developer over the other offerings.

Dominik

 

[Ansel]

Wow. Sandra. This is beautiful:

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/sandra-wittmann/17099681

 

[Koolzakukumba]

Wow. Sandra. This is beautiful:

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/sandra-wittmann/17099681

+1

You have some lovely photographs on your website, Sandra. I share your love of trees. 🙂

 

[Findus]

😱 thank you so much!