SPUR Modular UR New - UK availability?

GLS · Mar 4, 2019

So I've been looking at possibly trying some Agfa Copex Rapid in 120, but am having an extremely frustrating time trying to find a supplier of the recommended SPUR Modular UR new developer (parts A1 + B) either in the UK, or who will ship to the UK.

Maco-direct only seem to stock part A2 alone. Fotoimpex only stock part B. Ars-imago only stock A1 + B on their Swiss site (which will not ship to the EU), and their EU site does not stock it.

The only UK site I can find which stocks any version of the Modular developer is www.processuk.net. They sell a kit (https://www.processuk.net/SPUR_DSX_III_Kit_2_x_120_+_Modular_UR_Developer/p740597_16262122.aspx) with 2x120 rolls of Copex Rapid (Spur DSX), along with the developer. However, I think the developer is not the "new" version, and seems to come in an odd ratio/volume of parts, which makes no sense for any of the development regimes outlined in the data sheet for the new developer (https://www.maco-photo.de/files/images/Data_Sheet_SPUR_Modular_UR-new.pdf).

Why is this so difficult? Does Spur no longer make this developer? I know other developers can be used, but from everything I have read they will all be sub-optimal. Thanks for any advice people can give me on this.

AgX · Mar 4, 2019

-) you could try buying at Spur themselves. They offered selling directly, hower they are off-line since last summer.

-) it is listed at Macodirekt, but indicated as sold out, without taking preorders.

pentaxuser · Mar 4, 2019

ProcessUK is a very good retailer. Worth giving them a ring to check on your concerns

pentaxuser

GLS · Mar 5, 2019

AgX said:
you could try buying at Spur themselves. They offered selling directly, hower they are off-line since last summer.

Yes I saw their website is down. Not much use at the moment.

I decided to just order some Rollei RLC instead and see how that does with the Copex Rapid. I also have some Retro 80S I'm interested to see developed with RLC anyway, as unless you are shooting in very flat light the contrast of this film is just too much even for Pyrocat-HD.

Ian Grant · Mar 5, 2019

I can recommend Process Supplies, they are my preferred supplier these days.

Ian

GLS · Mar 21, 2019

So, I contacted SPUR and got a reply from Heribert Schain himself, who was very helpful. It turns out they no longer make that developer, and it has been superseded by Dokuspeed SL-N for development of Copex Rapid/SPUR DSX.

I did a search on the forums for this developer, but didn't find anything. Has anyone tried this combo? It will be pricey to use, but I'm curious to see the maximum that the film can provide as a baseline before trying alternative developers.

Tor-Einar Jarnbjo · Mar 28, 2019

Spur introduced Dokuspeed SL as a replacement for the Modular UR developer some four years ago. It has received very little attention. You won't find much more about it online than Spur's datasheets and a few publications from Spur, mostly in German.

Modular UR was even more expensive, but the Dokuspeed SL is still very expensive with a cost of around 3€ per roll of film if you are able to make full use of its capacity. It might of course be worth trying, but even if Spur surely has a few good products, they also sell stuff pretty close to snake-oil. It might very well be that Dokuspeed SL is not really worth the money.

JWMster · Mar 28, 2019

If it is not rude to ask, I've been curious about SPUR for a long time. I've read it is very good. Curious whether it works with a JOBO, or whether SPUR and JOBO just don't work well together. Does anyone know?

GLS · Mar 28, 2019

Tor-Einar Jarnbjo said:
Modular UR was even more expensive, but the Dokuspeed SL is still very expensive with a cost of around 3€ per roll of film if you are able to make full use of its capacity. It might of course be worth trying, but even if Spur surely has a few good products, they also sell stuff pretty close to snake-oil. It might very well be that Dokuspeed SL is not really worth the money.

I bought some Dokuspeed SL-N to try. Yeah it's expensive, even more so because I had to pay shipping to the UK. The cost was mitigated somewhat by them throwing in some samples of Acurol-N and HRX though. Anyway, I will see what the results are like and how they compare to some other developers.

GLS · Mar 28, 2019

JWMster said:
If it is not rude to ask, I've been curious about SPUR for a long time. I've read it is very good. Curious whether it works with a JOBO, or whether SPUR and JOBO just don't work well together. Does anyone know?

In principle I don't see why not, but would depend on the developer/film in question I suppose. I doubt constant agitation would be suitable for document films, unless you are going for astronomic contrast.

JWMster · Mar 28, 2019

Only SPUR HRX is available to my knowledge here in the States (from Freestyle).

Tor-Einar Jarnbjo · Mar 28, 2019

JWMster said:
If it is not rude to ask, I've been curious about SPUR for a long time. I've read it is very good. Curious whether it works with a JOBO, or whether SPUR and JOBO just don't work well together. Does anyone know?

I am not sure what you mean here, as your question is a little bit strange. Spur is a German manufacturer of different 'fine art' photographic products. It is not a single product. They make several different developers and have at least previously also sold different repackaged films under their own brand. The current situation is to me a little bit unclear. Their web page has been down for about a year and the availability of their products has been a little bit coming and going even from German retailers. The company owner is however participating in different German web fora and has assured that the company is still up and running. Spur is also the real manufacturer of some of the chemicals sold under the Rollei brand.

Jobo is also making many different products, but if you are talking about the Jobo developer tanks, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to use any of the Spur developers in a Jobo tank. They are all made for manual low-volume processing.

JWMster · Mar 28, 2019

Ah... yes, I am talking about SPUR developers, and HRX is the only SPUR developer available in the US. The documentation for JOBO and the book on JOBO say that high accutance developers aren't well suited to processing in a JOBO. Normal developers, yes. But certain high accutance developers are at their best primarily when agitation is low and/or infrequent. Otherwise, the benefits of sharpness are lost to constant agitation. So I've assumed that SPUR HRX conforms to this description, but have been unable to learn otherwise.

SPUR Modular UR New - UK availability?

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