SOLVED: Problem with my RA-4 printing; fog?

I'm having a problem with my RA-4 printing and I'm not sure what it is.

My prints all have a hazy look to them. I am printing on two different types of roll paper and using different lenses. I did find that one of my lenses had some haze in it so I had that lens cleaned but it's not that. (not entirely anyway.)
I then thought it was the last few rolls of film in a certain camera and so came from foggy negatives so I went back to a known good/sharp negative and printed that, but it also has this slightly hazy look to it.

So I put a bit of Benzotriazole solution into the developer and it seems to be helping though not dramatically so, not like "whoa!." The prints are less hazy but not to the degree that they've gone back to being the way they were several months ago.

The edges of the paper have been 100% clear, no tinting or discoloration, it's just that the prints are most definitely hazy looking; not snappy.

The ONLY other thing that I can see that happened between then and now is that my enlarger bulb blew and I had to re-do my calibration to get proper colors and this is the FIRST time that I've had to use Cyan and Magenta instead of Yellow and Magenta to adjust the color. All of my previous printing has ALL been a combination of Y and M.

So is this just a basic fogging problem or something else ?

Is there a chance that this is aged paper? I have inherited a huge stash of very old RA-4 paper, and while fogging is negligible, there is a profound loss of contrast, very much like what you show here.

To my ever recurring dismay, the whites in color paper become 'dirty' with even modest age. It usually starts slowly, and is usually yellowish, but there is little one can do, other than add a bit of benzotriazole (really a 'bit' as it is a powerful stopper of RA4 development). What you are really doing with the BZ is to shorten the amount of development in order to lessen the developer's attack on the whites. With B&W paper you have that glorious 'liquid gold', AKA Farmer's Reducer that can be applied immediately after fixation in order to clean up those dirty whites. But with color paper you are truly stuck if you demand critical hues.

That said, your magenta stain just might be a bit of contamination. I use potassium ferricyanide and fixer for my 'blix' and it works well ... but if you have even a drop of that developer reaching the blix, you have trouble with contamination. After development, I use stop bath, then I actually fix the print. After that, I make certain to rinse well in water because even after the stop and fix, some 'molecules' of developer can be retained and you do NOT want that to reach the blix.

All I can do for you is to impart my experiences and stress the importance of delivering that print into the blix ONLY AFTER there is absolutely no developer within its emulsion. I have, by necessity, become paranoid about this contamination.

The person who ever 'invents' a way to reduce color prints (like with B&W) is going to set this world on fire! There HAS to be a chemical way but I have searched and searched to no avail. - David Lyga

I agree with Rudeofus, old color paper (uniformly fog purple).
I have also met the case mentioned by David Lyga, namely the contamination of bleaching with a color developer.
It was on a machine to develop hand-made color paper made in 1989.
The color developer worked thermostatically at 31 ° C and the bleaching was nonthermostat.
Developer hot vapor condensed on the lid above the developer and dropped on the emulsion of the color paper that go în bleaching.
It resulted a purple stain with different densities.

George

Like what David and George have said. Older even refrigerated paper, WAY purple. I was starting over with a new darkroom. Impossible to balance, new box of Fuji and in 5 or 6 prints had it pretty much nailed down. I have always used a stop bath, mini lab machines use 2 consecutive blix baths. This might be an answer, but stop and a rinse have worked for me. Tube processing is notorious for stains on color prints from carryover. As cheap as color paper is I would get a fresh box and try that first. Maybe get new chemistry too and compare the two.
I get my chemistry, Kodak, from a friend who runs a real camera store. Develop, stop, Blix, then wash for 1.5 minutes, dry. No stabilizer. Stabilizer is for washless systems. I've been doing it this way since RA-4 came out. Final dumb question, is the film underexposed?
Best Regards, Mike

The paper does not appear to be foggy. The edges do not show typical fog. However, the low contrast is what strikes me. It is either the film or the paper process. That is a guess without knowing the details of the entire workflow without seeing the film as well.

PE

Thanks everyone, the iphone didn't reproduce well, the edges aren't colored at all. I'm now wondering if it's the paper process. I'll investigate.

Problem solved!
The trouble was with my RA-4 developer.

I mixed up a new batch and just did a test print and it's as clear as can be!

The colors are much different from what I was getting but that's to be expected, I'll have to re-calibrate my filter pack defaults.

I learned a great lesson here; keep an eye on those chems.

Thanks PE and everyone who chimed in to help.

Become absolutely obsessed with purity and cleanliness when you are doing color. The developer is unbelievably susceptible to contamination. - David Lyga

Happy to try and help.

PE

Doubt it's the paper. Part B of developer doesn't keep anywhere near as well as other RA4 ingredients.