Dohhh! Clean is important!!

I've been having struggles printing recently, though not every time I was in the darkroom. Prints were flat, I was having to use very high contrast, even though the negs looked OK. At first I thought it was the film - Delta 3200 - maybe I wasn't exposing or developing correctly, but then I started having the same problem with other films. Hmm... the enlarger. I wiped off the lens and condensers, dusted the whole thing, checked to make sure everything was properly aligned..... no change.
I wondered about the paper - a 250 box of MGWT I was nearing the end of - should I have been taking out a bit at a time and leaving the big box in the freezer? How long ago did I open that box? But no - a newly opened box didn't make a difference. Prints still flat and just kinda weird. I cleaned the enlarger again.....

Today I finally twigged that I'm printing 4x5 without any problem, it's the medium format that's giving me grief. I'M USING A DIFFERENT LENS! The 135mm is fine, there's something going on with the 80mm. I took it outside in the sunlight and looked through it. In the dim of the darkroom, I'd been clening the lens, but not holding it up to a bright light. It was fogged between the 2 elements! Disassembled the lens and cleaned ALL the glass surfaces, replaced it in the enlarger and Heh Presto! A lovely crispy print on my next attempt.

I wasted alot of paper before I figured this out.

I'll be smarter next time.

I cleaned my lenses for the Beseler but I'll have to look at the ones for the Lucky. Been a while. Thanks, Lil.

Had some what similar thing happen to me last week. Thinking it was the enlarger ended up taking the enlarger apart condensers and all,and nothing helped. Finally toke a look at the light blub and found it had clear spots and worn areas on the inside coat of the frosting of the bulb.Replaced the bulb and instant even sky's again,had the old bulb for 25 years and never thought of checking it out once in a while.

Mike