I have poor shifting with the front derailleur with this setup: campagnolo 7 speed (chorus), friction shifting. I have vuelta 41B, 44A chainrings.

The shop recommended I put a compact front derailleur. Will this solve the problem? which should I get? ird? or I can change large chainring to 52.

I would like chainrings close in size to a 42 if possible

I have poor shifting with the front derailleur with this setup: campagnolo 7 speed (chorus), friction shifting. I have vuelta 41B, 44A chainrings.

The shop recommended I put a compact front derailleur. Will this solve the problem? which should I get? ird? or I can change large chainring to 52.

I would like chainrings close in size to a 42 if possible

Your 41/44 should shift like a dream - one of the great advantages of hal-step gearing is that the close front chain rings shift so easily. You need to describe your shifting problem in more detail than "poor." What are "vuelta" chain rings? This is not a model of Campy I can recollect. Any chance your derailleur is for a triple? That could cause the inner cage to hit the small chain ring in a close ratio half-step. And I also don't remember that Chorus was around when 7 speed was the system of choice.

One of the first questions I would have is whether your front derailleur is as low as possible without hitting the large chain ring. Why is your shop offering the compact derailleur as an option? I suspect it is because they don't know anything about half-step gearing or how to properly set up a drive train.

You can easily change to a 52 or larger big ring, but that certainly will not improve your shifting.