I recently moved up from 35mm to lf with an 8x10 field camera and 5x7 reducing b ack. I contact print both formats on a C700 condenser enlarger with 35mm neg car rier in place, sandwiching neg and enlarging paper between plate glass and foam pad. So far, results aren't bad, but a major problem is the short exposure time , e.g. 6 seconds for polycontrast III RC with the head at maximum height and my 50/4 enlarging lens stopped all the way down to f/16, making dodging and burning difficult, if not impossible. I don't want to detach the base because I still n eed the enlarger for 35mm. Because I like the controls the enlarger makes possib le, I'm not ready for a light bulb either. Slower papers, Azo and POP's, to judg e form previous postings, aren't going to allow the same range of choices as do enlarging papers. For money reasons, a bigger enlarger is out of the question. So I'm trying to make do with my little Omega. Is there such a thing as a ND f ilter for the filter drawer? I'm thinking about a lens with a smaller minimum a perture, say f/32, but this idea has got me wondering about the effects, if any, of printing with the lens stopped all the way down. I could use some help here. And while I'm at it, a couple of related questions. Do the much discussed lim itations of condenser (vs. diffusion) enlargers (esp. increased contrast and Cal lier effect) apply when contact printing on an enlarger? Also, Ansel says (Prin t, pp. 68-69) to set the lens focus *forward* from the position that produces sh arp edges of the negative carrier, so that the "image" of the enlarger's diffusi ng screen, or dust on the condenser, will not be projected on the paper ... esp. when the lens is stopped down. Which direction is forward? In any case, here s topping down does seem to bear on image quality. Thanks in advance for any help with these issues.