How to order film processing

A Quick Guide on How to Order Your Film Processing with Jack's Lab

1. What film have you got?

Determine your film format (35mm, 120 or 4x5 large format), and whether your film is standard colour (C41), black & white or E6 (slide) film, and then navigate to the relevant option on our film processing page.

Most film canisters or 120 spools with specify C41 (for colour), Black and White, or E6 processing on them. It's always worth having a good look if you're not sure. There are some films, such as Ilford XP2 or Kodak BW400CN that are black and white in appearance (the photos are B&W), but the films are processed in C41 (colour processing).

If you're really not sure, pop us an email with some pictures and we can help identify them for you.

2. What service do I want?

Once on the correct product page, you can then select your preferred service from the dropdown menu, adjusting the quantity according to how many rolls you would like processed. This includes the following options:

Develop Only - This is where we take your film and develop it for you, resulting in negatives only. No digital scans, and no prints. This option is most common for people who prefer to scan at home, or print in a darkroom for example.

Develop + Standard JPEGs - This option is where we develop your film for you and also includes digital scanning of your negatives where we provide you with our 'Standard' resolution digital JPEG file (or scan) of each of your exposed photos. This option is our most popular, and is ideal for using across social media and can be printed up to 6x4/6x8. (Resolution is approx. 3000 x 2000 (6MP). File size is approx. 3-5mb per photo).

Develop + Large JPEGs - This option is the same as above, but includes digital scanning of your negatives where we provide you with our 'Large' resolution digital JPEG file (or scan) of each of your exposed photos. This option is great if you're after a higher resolution file, and is ideal for using across social media, website portfolios and can be printed much larger. (Resolution is approx. 6000 x 4000 (24MP). File size is approx. 20-25mb per photo).

Develop + Hi-Res TIFFs - This option includes developing of your film, as well as digital scanning of your negatives where we provide you with a high resolution digital 16 bit TIFF file (or scan) of each of your exposed photos. This option is perfect for anyone looking to edit their photos or do any significant post production work to them. As a 16 bit file, they contain about as much data/information as you can get in a scanned image. (Resolution is approx. 6000 x 4000 (24MP). File size is approx. 80-100mb per photo).

3. Do I want prints?

You can then use the next dropdown menu to select if you would like to add any prints to your order. These are available in either 6x4 or 6x8 size, with or without a white border to them.

For additional sets of prints you can add these under 'extras' on the same product page, adjusting the quantity to how many additional sets you'd like.

If you don't want prints, that's absolutely fine, just select 'No Prints'. If you're not sure, it's best to go no prints for now, and wait to get your scans back, you can always order single prints with us later on.

4. How about any extras?

We offer a variety of extra services that you can add-on to your order. Here's a brief description of what's available:

Same Day Express - Our express service is only available with colour (C41) film, but if you've got a tight deadline, or you're just super keen to get your photos back, for an additional £5 per roll we can 'express' your order and get it turned around same day for you.

Archival Sleeving - This option is also available on all 35mm film processing services. As standard we sleeve all 35mm film into 6 strip plastic sleeves. However, we do offer archival sleeving as an additional extra, where we will cut your film into strips of 6 (where possible) and sleeve them in polypropylene archival sleeves. These sleeves are acid-free, protective sleeves that are best utilised for anyone wanting to keep and maintain an archive of their negatives and protect them over time from damage or degradation.

Push/Pull 2 or More Stops - This option is only applicable to colour (C41) film processing, as we don't charge extra for pushing/pulling B&W or E6 film currently. Whilst we are more than happy pushing or pulling your film for you, our colour processor is only capable of pushing +1 stop, so if you require additional pushing or pulling then we need to do this by hand. Hand developing colour film is much more of a labour intensive process, and so therefore we do need to charge a small fee to cover this cost. To find out if you need this service, or for more information on pushing and pulling, you can checkout our FAQ where we cover this is in a bit more detail.

5. That's it! Now Get Your Film To Us.

We have two handy guides here depending on how you plan on getting your film to us:

For customers who would like to post their order in to us.

For customers who would like to drop their order off at the lab or at one of our dropboxes.

That's all. Then, if you've ordered scans, as soon as they're ready we will send you a download link. Easy!