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You can download our Android App here:
You can view, edit, and download your images with our Android app.
If you aren’t seeing your most recent uploads, please try logging out, then back in to refresh your albums.
You can now also order film development directly from the app. Just make your selections and check out. Your shipping address is preset in your account settings available on our website. Note that the app currently is limited in ordering capabilities vs. the website.
You can download our iOS App here:
You can view, edit and download your images with our iOS app.
If you aren’t seeing your most recent uploads, please try logging out, then back in to refresh your albums.
You can now also order film development directly from the app. Just make your selections and check out. Your shipping address is preset in your account settings available on our website. Note that the app currently is limited in ordering capabilities vs. the website.
Updated 9-17-2024 This status will be updated as the situation dictates.
We have finished our Spring 2024 maintenance ahead of schedule. The Darkroom is fully open and operational.
We want to keep you in the loop about some temporary changes happening at The Darkroom.
Unfortunately, we’re unable to accommodate local drop-off or pickup at our facility right now. We’re exploring options to make things more convenient and accessible for local customers in the future.
We truly appreciate your patience as we navigate the high demand for film processing and ongoing supply chain issues with Kodak, FujiFilm, and Ilford. We’re working hard to make things run smoothly for everyone.
Thank you so much for being part of The Darkroom community and keeping us busy! We love to see the widespread love for film continue to grow and thrive. Your support means the world to us and we promise to get back to serving everyone as soon as we can. In the meantime, we’ll continue to deliver the top-notch service you deserve.
The Darkroom Team
Yes. Old film doesn’t go bad all at once – colors shift, contrast fades away, and fog builds up. Old film (~10+ years past the process date) will have faded, skewing towards magenta. In many cases, this is preferred and authentic to the time. Learn about old film developing. More on developing expired film.
Pushing ISO doubles every time you increase it 1 stop. So if the box speed is 400, then +1 stop would be 800, +2 stops would be 1600, +3 would be 3200. You can also pull your film – it works the same – you’re just cutting the speed in half for each stop you need to pull. So if the box speed is 400, -1 stop would be 200, -2 stops would be 100, and -3 would be 50.
Pushing and pulling will change the look of the film. Pushing is good for lowlight situations – it will add contrast and often make the grain more noticeable. Pulling will take away contrast giving you better detail in your shadows and will make grain less noticeable. Pulling film works great for black and white especially contrasty scenes with a lot of shadow detail.
You will also need let us know how much you push or pull your film so when we develop your film so we can change the developing time to compensate. Write down your push/pull on the order form which is a $2 fee and be sure to write on the film canister itself the push/pull.
If you would like a spool returned with your 120, 127, 620 film developing order, just let us know. You must request at time of processing. Note that the spool returned will be a similar type, but not your exact original.
The backing paper is not a returnable item.
Yes, of course, you always get your original film back with your order. Negatives are returned cut and sleeved. If you prefer your film uncut, please check the ‘do not cut’ box as well.
35mm slide film is returned uncut and long-sleeved unless you choose the slide film mounting option.
You will also get a link to your postage-paid label and have immediate access to your account dashboard. Remember, the shipping method you choose at checkout is for return shipping back to you.
Also, it’s a great idea to wrap a return address label around your film, just in case your envelope rips during shipping. See shipping FAQ’s for further info.
Download Order From and Printing Label
Then fill out the form, including payment info, put in a padded envelope, tape mailing label on the outside.
If you submit a roll to us and it produces no images, we will issue a voucher for future processing at no charge, less shipping. Please note that “Develop Only” rolls or sheet film orders are not eligible.
Vouchers have no cash value, expire in 1 year, and are not replaceable if lost.
If you submit a type of film to us that we are unable to develop, (Kodachrome, Triple Print, damaged rolls, etc.) we will return the film and you will not be charged for developing.
Almost anything, including C-41, E-6 Slide Film and Black & White processes. We can also do all types of black & white infrared and E-6 slide infrared films. Be sure to write on the package that it contains IR film.
Black and white films are processed using the manufacturer’s suggested times ( then adjusted based on film type trends) as a normal process. 35mm Slide Film is optionally mounted in GEPE plastic mounts.
If you send in old C-22 film, it will be processed as black & white. The chemicals necessary for this color process were discontinued many years ago.
We CANNOT develop any Kodachrome, Disc Film, Triple Print, AGFA Scala, ECN-2 or 5247 Seattle Film Works film.
If you are unsure what you have, just take a photo of the roll with your phone and attach it to our contact form. We will let you know if we can develop it.
If you send it to us, and we can’t do it, we’ll let you know as well.
If you have any other questions about film, please check out our film index.
There can be many reasons why your film didn’t produce any images.
The main causes are:
If you know you were shooting an appropriate speed film in the right lighting conditions, check on your shutter. If the shutter on your camera doesn’t open, your film can’t get exposed to light, and therefore can’t make an image! Simply open the back of your camera (without film in it, of course), cock the camera’s shutter (if necessary), and look through the lens plane while you click the shutter button. You should see a brief circle of light appear and disappear right before your eyes.
If you know you’re shooting the right speed film in the right lighting conditions and your shutter is working fine, your film may not be advancing within the camera. To make sure your film is advancing within the camera when the back door is closed, simply locate the rewind crank on your camera and watch it as you turn the advance wheel. The rewind crank should spin as you advance the film.
If you submit a roll to us for develop/scan or develop/scan/print orders and it produces no images, we will issue a voucher for future film processing with a one-year expiration. The voucher will be returned with your negatives and has no cash value. Lost vouchers cannot be replaced or honored. A voucher is not issued for “develop only” rolls or sheet film.
No—but please don’t misunderstand this as any lack of interest! We’d love to answer your questions.
We know the decision to omit phone support is unusual, but after experimenting with different approaches, we’ve found that starting with email enables us to provide the fastest response. We focus on providing fast and high quality responses by email, so you’re always talking to a human that can help first-hand.
We offer eGift Cards here: Gift Cards
How to order:
No physical card will be mailed to the recipient.
Cards don’t have expiration dates or additional fees. The value of your gift card will be reduced when used to make a purchase
E-Gift Cards are non-transferable, non-refundable, and are not redeemable for cash
TheDarkroom.com gift cards are good for use on all products on TheDarkroom.com, with the following exceptions:
If you need to cancel an order, please let us know right away. Please note that online print orders cannot be canceled as they are imaged immediately after ordering.
Also, note that canceling an order and not placing a new order will be subject to a fee up to 3% to offset to our credit card merchant fee charged to us even for a refunded order.
If you are sending in film to be processed, you can enclose a check, money order, or credit card information.
The best way, however, is to use the online prepay option. Our system will even remember your credit card details if you wish. You can also pay via Paypal online as well. Also under the Paypal button are options for Venmo and Pay Later.
Paying online is also faster because your order goes right into production bypassing other orders being manually logged and charged manually. Additionally, online payment via credit card or Paypal is the most secure payment option.
All our pricing is in USD.
We collect sales tax where legally required. These states currently include:
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States include AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MD, MI, MN, NE, NV, NJ, NC, OH, PA, RI, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY. |
Sales tax states are subject to change at any time.
For further sales tax info, check out these articles by Taxjar – the company that calculates our sales tax online.
For sales tax on info shipping, please see this article.
The Darkroom does not accept resale or exemption certificates.
We know there is a coupon field/gift card field on our checkout page and that many of our customers see this and then search for “The Darkroom coupon codes”, discount codes or promo codes. There are many “deal sites” that list fake coupon codes for The Darkroom and other companies to get indexed in Google and attract users to their website. Our coupon code field is used for very specific scenarios and The Darkroom has the policy to focus on aggressive pricing and value. Our approach is honest pricing and not to inflate the price and create coupons and marketing promotions to discount that inflated price.
While The Darkroom doesn’t create coupon codes, we do have Gift Cards. These are emailed to the recipient on your behalf with a personal message and at a time of your choosing.
The following are our standard production times in business days*. For any current service advisories, please see our current Lab Status Page. We pride ourselves on quality, consistency, and quick delivery. Occasionally, there may be factors (unclear instructions, production problems, etc.) that might cause an order to be delayed. Although we rarely miss our production times, service times are not guaranteed.
We are located in Southern California, so mail takes 2-6 days to reach us from almost anywhere in the country. Occasionally production times and shipping run a bit longer, especially before or after holidays.
If you track your inbound shipments, the USPS notification saying your order was delivered is an acceptance by our local post office, it does not mean it is in our lab yet. There’s typically at least a 1-3 business days delay between the post office “received” notification and actual delivery to our facility. The folks at the post office know us by name and put our stuff in the front of the line! You will receive an email as soon as your order arrives and enters production.
If you are in a time crunch, you are welcome to FedEx or UPS Overnight your film to us and that should shave some time off of your turnaround time. Be sure to send it to our physical address and not our PO Box.
*Business days are Monday-Friday and exclude legal holidays.
The Darkroom does not offer rush or expedited services.
Although we don’t sell film, we can recommend a few places.
B&H Photo
For film reviews, check out our Film Index.
Due to our automated print queuing and print nesting, print orders cannot be changed or canceled after being placed.
The Darkroom’s black & white prints are printed on Ilford Galerie RC Digital Silver Paper. Our preferred format for this product is 8-bit Grayscale JPEG format images. Make sure your monitor isn’t too bright as most monitors are too bright at their default settings.
File size should be 200-300 dpi at the output size for optimum quality.
We primarily print color prints on Fuji Crystal Archive Supreme Paper. It is available on Glossy or Matte/Lustre surfaces. For the technically inclined, you can read more about Fuji Crystal Archive Supreme here. Occasionally, due to supply issues, we will print on select Kodak or other Fuji papers as well.
If you order True Black & White Silver Gelatin prints, they are printed on ILFORD GALERIE RC Digital Silver (GDS). It is available in Glossy or Pearl (Matte) surfaces. You can read about ILFORD GALERIE RC Digital Silver here. Learn more about preparing digital files, mounting, displaying images on silver gelatin paper.
Yes, you can get prints or scans from your negatives! We support 35mm negatives or slides, 120/220, APS, 110 and 120 Format Film. We scan your film negatives or slides, upload them for convenient web download and send you a CD.
Learn more about Reprints, Enlargements and Scans from Previously Developed Film
After we have developed and scanned your film, we upload it to your “My Account” password-protected portion of our website. Then you’ll get an email and an optional text from us that the images are available along with a link to login.
You can then make products including real photographic prints, photo gifts etc.
You will download will be delivered in a .zip format, usually to your Download Folder. Most Mac computers will unzip automatically. Most Windows systems will require a right-click to “Extract All”.
We are not an image backup or long-term storage service provider. You should always keep backup copies of your photos stored safely on a device or service specifically designated and intended for backup purposes.
The Darkroom requires that you maintain a backup copy of all images and content stored on the Service such that in the event of a catastrophic data loss on the Service, your images will also be available on your local computer or archived media. The download or upload of any material through the service is done at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any loss or damage to your content or image or any damage to your computer system or loss of data that may result in the download or upload of any material. You are solely responsible for creating back-ups of your digital content.
The Darkroom Film Ordering System (FOS) will store each photo album online 60 days for free and as part of your order. The 60 days is valid from the date the photos were uploaded. Storage beyond 60 days requires a subscription.
*What if my album expired? You can sign up for our storage subscription and your albums will be re-enabled within 24 hours. Only orders that were uploaded in the past 24 months are eligible to be re-enabled.
We are not an image backup or long-term storage service provider. You should always keep backup copies of your photos stored safely on a device or service specifically designated and intended for backup purposes.
The Darkroom requires that you maintain a backup copy of all images and content stored on the Service such that in the event of a catastrophic data loss on the Service, your images will also be available on your local computer or archived media. The download or upload of any material through the service is done at your own discretion and risk and that you will be solely responsible for any loss or damage to your content or image or any damage to your computer system or loss of data that may result in the download or upload of any material. You are solely responsible for creating back-ups of your digital content.
This is, by far, our most requested question. It’s kinda complex and has some exceptions so bear with us. Here at The Darkroom, we do many kinds of scans –Standard and Enhanced are the most common.
Our standard scan is a 1024×1536 pixel scan. This equals 4.5 MB when opened in an image editing program like PhotoShop. These scans come as jpegs so they will look small in the file browser but will “puff” up when opened. Depending on your subject matter, some images will compress more than others. This scan is great for prints up to 5×7, emailing, Facebook etc. We have produced tens of millions of these scans in the past several years.
Our enhanced scan is a 2048×3072 pixel scan. This equals 18.1 MB when opened in an image editing program like PhotoShop. These scans come as jpegs so they will look small in the file browser, but will “puff” up when opened. Depending on your subject matter some images will compress more than others. This scan is perfect for prints up to 12×18. It’s just 3 bucks extra for these scans.
Our new, super scan is perfect for those who want professional resolution or to never worry if you have enough resolution for current and future projects. It works very well for advertising, giant prints, and large posters. Scan Sizes 35mm Film – 4492×6774 pixels – 87.1 mb Medium Format 645 – 3533×4824 pixels – 48.8 mb Medium Format 6×6 – 4760×4760 pixels – 64.8 mb Medium Format 6×7 – 4815×5902 pixels – 81.3 mb
Super Scans are 4492×6774 pixels or 87.1 MB when opened in an image editing program like Photoshop. Remember that the file size will appear much smaller until you open it up in an image editing program like Photoshop.
For more information, please see our scan page
A couple of disclaimers: If you have a square format, the scans will default to the short dimension. The standard scan is 1024×1024, and the enhanced is 2048×2048. What we are trying to state is that, if you do not have a 2×3 aspect ratio original, your scan size will vary.
Our scans are 72 dpi. It sounds low, but it’s because it’s the pixel dimensions that matter, not the dpi by itself. If you get your scans and are still concerned, convert them to 300dpi in PhotoShop. Make sure you uncheck the “Resample Image” checkbox. You’ll see the image stays the same. For example, an image that is 5″ x 7″ at 300dpi is the same resolution as a photo that is 29″ x 21″ at 72dpi.
If you have film that requires the sprocket holes to be scanned or have panoramic images, please note there is an extra charge. Sprocket holes can only be scanned from the “Sprocket Rocket” camera.
You may also order color or black and white prints in various sizes, make canvas prints, bamboo blocks as well as order metal prints.
You can also transfer them to your Facebook page, Dropbox or share with friends and family.
Yes, we can ship to most countries via US Postal Service / Your local mail system or FedEx.
If you are not in the US, it is best to order online. You will see additional return shipping options that are not listed on our order form. We are not responsible for duties and taxes required for international shipping.
Please note that our postage-paid shipping labels for inbound film are only good in the U.S.
We prefer to receive sheet film in the manufacturer 3 piece boxes. Film boxes will be returned.
If you do not have access to the boxes, you could use a dark bag made for sheet film. They are available at bhphotovideo.com. Search for “Delta 1 Light Tight Safe-T-Bags”. If you use one of these bags, please pack it carefully so it is not cut by postal equipment.
Note if film is submitted in film holders, there is a $1.00 surcharge per holder.
Make sure you identify exactly what kind of film is being submitted as many notch codes are very similar. Also, do not combine different film stocks in a bag or box.
You can choose various methods for return shipping.
USA
US Mail First Class / USPS Ground Advantage – This usually takes 2-6 days to reach most parts of the country from our California Lab. This return service does not have tracking.
US Mail Priority Mail – This usually takes 1-3 days to reach most parts of the country. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab.
FedEx 2 Day – Takes 2 business days to reach almost all destinations in the 50 states. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab. No PO Boxes.
FedEx Ground – Usually takes 2-5 business days to reach most parts of the country. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab. Not available to Alaska or Hawaii. No PO Boxes.
FedEx Priority Overnight – Available via Online Ordering Only. Next business day delivery. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab. No PO Boxes.
US TERRITORIES – Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands (US), American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, United States Minor Outlying Islands.
US Mail First Class – Service times vary depending on your location. This return service does not have tracking.
US Mail Priority Mail – Estimated service time is 1-3 days. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab.
FedEx – Service times vary depending on your location. Available via Online Ordering Only. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab. No PO Boxes.
CANADA
US Mail/Canada Post – Will take 3-14 days to reach most areas of Canada.
FedEx – Services and times vary depending on your location. Available via Online Ordering Only. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab. No PO Boxes.
INTERNATIONAL
US Mail/Your Mail/Post – Service times vary depending on your location.
FedEx – Services and times vary depending on your location. Available via Online Ordering Only. You will receive a tracking number when the shipment leaves the lab.
ADDITIONAL SHIPPING NOTES
You will receive an email notification when we enter your order into production. Also, you will receive an email if we have any questions about your order before it enters production.
Yes, we can ship to our Northern friends. You will need to apply the correct postage because our prepaid mailers only work in the U.S. Then select the Canada shipping for return shipping. Your package will arrive back via US Mail / Canada Post. FedEx is also an option for return shipping if you order online.
You can use this label on your package to send to us. You will need to check with Canada Post to determine the proper postage rate.
Use for international shipping or large packages
If you are wondering if we have received your film yet, please check your inbound tracking number with the Post Office. If tracking shows your film has arrived at our post office, but you have not been notified, please allow 1 – 3 business days to enter production.
Additionally, check your SPAM folder for notification or in case we sent an invoice for an additional payment due. We use the Paypal platform for invoicing. You do not need a Paypal account to pay an online invoice, any Visa, Mastercard or AMEX credit or debit card will work.
Almost all film we receive is via the US Postal Service using our free postage paid mailers, or our labels taped to a 6×9 envelope. Make sure you record your tracking number before mailing.
Instead of using our free postage paid mailers, some customers feel more comfortable using FedEx, UPS, or DHL, as their shipping systems do offer better tracking of your shipment and a guaranteed delivery time to us. If shipping FedEx, UPS, or DHL, be sure to read the FAQ for FedEx/UPS as you cannot ship to our P.O. Box, you must use our physical address.
FOR CRITICAL FILM, WE SUGGEST USING FedEx OR UPS SHIPPED DIRECTLY TO OUR LAB.
The Darkroom does not have the ability to track inbound USPS shipments and cannot assist with USPS issues.
If you prefer to ship to us using FedEx , UPS or DHL, you will need to ship to our physical street address and NOT to our P.O. Box address.
The Darkroom
946 Calle Amanecer, Suite A
San Clemente, CA 92673 USA
Note that the postage paid inbound labels are only for USPS. The shipping choices on the order form or online are for RETURN shipping only.
Aside from seeing some truly amazing images, we see some very creative techniques ways our customers ship their film.
Gift Cards
Film Index
FAQ
Film Developing
35mm
120/220
Single Use Cameras
110/126/Advantix
Sheet Film
Scan Negs/Slides
Prints
Prints from Digital Files
Enlargements
Canvas, Metal & More
Wood Prints
HD Metal
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