One Side of Print is Blurry with Wet Prints

[foggie]

Hay,
I've done a bit of printing recently and I've noticed that the one side of my images is extremely blurry. The center of the image, the part I focused with a micrograin focuser, is sharp and grain is plainly visible. The right side however is very, very muddled and it looks terribly out of focus.

Some notes:
- tried it with 11x14 paper
- same issue with FB (ilford warmtone mg) and RC (agfa mg)
- 4-bladed saunders easel was used
- two different developers. (PQ and some Eco-friendly one.)
- same issue on two different days with the enlarging head set in different positions
- nikon nikkor f2.8 lens

Any ideas what is going on?

Edit:
I'd like to add that I've used different negatives on different rolls and it has the same problem. All of the negatives are flat IE not experience any curl.

 

[ath]

Time for enlarger alignment. Paper and negative have to be parallel. The lens plane should too but is less important.
Or the lens is defective.

 

[noisycheese]

Agreed with the above - sounds like something is out of alignment.

It could also be that your negative is not lying flat.

If a negative is left near the heat of the enlarger bulb too long, it can curl, causing the center of the neg and the sides or edges to be in two different planes of focus. The larger the neg, the more this is an issue but it can happen to 35mm negs as well.

 

[Moto-Uno]

If it's possible on your enlarger,simply raise or lower the easel at or across from the fuzzy focus. If that works it cheap and easy (two magical words in my vocab).
Regrds,Peter

 

[marcr1230]

some enlargers allow you to tilt the head - if so check that the head is square with the base and adjust if necessary - this is basically one of the debugging steps for alignment.

also check the easel and as mentioned, shim it if needed so it is level and square and all focus is sharp.

another place to check is the lens board and lens, it may be possible to insert the lens board in an uneven fashion - check and reposition if needed.

 

[Ronald M]

Level the neg with the base board. Then level the lens using the grain focuser if it reaches into the corners. If not, make an X on a clear neg or use a level.

 

[Bob T]

It also helps to stop the enlarging lens down a bit to increase your depth of focus/field. The most likely cause is an enlarger alignment problem though. What model enlarger are you using and what lens and aperture are you using?

 

[nikon_sam]

Place the film holder in (without a negative) open lens to widest aperture, zero out filters (if it has a color head) then turn on the lamp...all corners should be crisp and clean, if you can measure the distance top to bottom, then side to side...

 

[clayne]

Borrow or buy:

http://www.versalab.com/server/photo/products/parallel.htm

Or alternatively use the clear neg + diagonal lines method. I have a feeling your enlarger just needs a simple alignment.

 

[Mike Riches]

All the above , plus check that neg. is under four pins on the neg carrier. If it has pins.