Photolab

I needed five photographs blown up and ten others reproduced for a Celebration of Life ten days from the day I went to Photo Lab. Some of the pictures were from the 1930’s, one was a Polaroid from the ’70’s, and others were more recent. The staff worked with me to determine which pictures would work best in which sizes, and used good artistic judgment in cropping the reproductions according to how they would be displayed. I especially appreciated Melissa patiently helping me wade through about 30 pictures and listening to how they would be used to help me come up with a great collection. My pictures were ready in a week, giving me plenty of time to mount them on foam board. (Photo Lab would have mounted them for me if I had given them enough time.) They also gave me a disk of all the photos they reproduced.
I know I could’ve gone with a do-​it-​yourself online service, but I wanted in-​person guidance from an expert, and that’s exactly what I got with Photo Lab. I will definitely use Photo Lab again for any future photo needs.

exceptional developing !! only place I will go to to get film developed in the Bay Area.

5 stars for their prints and personable customer service! i’ve placed dozens of small print orders with them, and the results are always awesome and fast. i spend countless hours doing color work on my digital images (only to be disappointed ordering from several of the major national prints labs), so it was wonderful to actually receive prints that looked true to my post-​processing. their prices were a tad higher than the others i compared with but there is no question it’s worth the price. i like that they have a matte-​finish print option too. i’m so lucky they’re close by and am proud to support this local biz.

Fucking nightmare. 7 $ per each page u have printed. Extremely rude people. Save your money and don’t bother talking to these awful people. My favorite quote is «you won’t find anyone to print a page for under seven dollars around here». Thanks but I think I will try kinkos or literally any other business

I had some precious negatives to have scanned and Photo Lab staff were helpful, friendly and did a good job. Photos were ready as promised. definitely recommend.

I took 3 rolls of 120 mm film in for processing and got 6 prints made. They are very expensive and each process took about a week, but I was extremely pleased with the prints. Staff was friendly and professional.

Very helpful staff in a well lit space and spectacular service. However I had to step out to post this review because AT&T does not get signal inside.

Normal lab with average quality scans. If you just wanna see what’s there on your film — it’s the right place to go to. Wish the quality was better, since it’s in my city and their location is pretty close to me.

I am a European photographer who has moved to California. And I can honestly say that this is not a PRO lab. Having worked with some of the best labs i find myself thinking that no one knows what quality is over here. I had to provide my own negative sleeves that fit 6×7. Something that is unheard of un the UK. Its standard to get you the RIGHT sleeves and for free no questions asked. The excuse at Photo lab? Not enough people use that size so we just stick them in the standard sleeve and Scotch-​tape the last 3 images to the top! WTH?! Each time I have been in there i have been charged the wrong price. Took ages to find the work i left them and no one gave me a call to tell me the work was ready. They are slow in turn around and have hiked prices to stupid levels. I am sorry. But you are not a LAB based in LA that can charge that amount because they ARE a pro lab. I suspect that Photo Lab make money off the Berkeley enthusiast or hipster, where quality and service are not concerns that they have. There is no excuse for poor service. A stack of 6×7 sleeves would cost them $ 17 or less. Its pure laziness and carelessness that drives this place. And unfortunately, that seems the norm in this area. a lack of knowing what quality is. Steer clear.

I’m new to getting my photos professionally printed, and after window shopping online for local printers, I found Photolab. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the place was nearby and the price was right, so I sent in five jpg files to be enlarged to 8×10.
I went in as soon as I got the email saying my project was ready. (They are FAST! Five photos ready in one day. Wow!) I could see by the sample projects hanging in the lobby my fears were unfounded. The photos in the lobby and my photos were bright where they needed to be bright, and they were dark where they needed to be dark. And *SHARP*! We’re talking super quality, here.
Only a couple of things slightly put me off: there wasn’t anyone in the room where I came in – I had to go into a back room to talk to a clerk & pick up my project, which almost made me feel like I was going in an employee only area (I wasn’t), and their online cropping tool is a little inflexible & constrictive: it cropped off part of one of my photos I wanted to be printed… but not terribly. (And that might just be because I’m not accustomed to their cropping tool. Maybe with practice I’ll get better results.)
I’ll definitely be coming back to Photolab soon, and would recommend their service to anyone needing photos enlarged.

I’ve only had film developed and scanned here, so I can only comment on that experience. Communication with the staff has always been 100% clear. They always meet the expectations they set, my film is always ready when they say it will be. I find it interesting that the only 2 negative reviews here were on rush jobs. Most people in the service industry know that when a client is in a hurry, the possibility of them being satisfied is much lower. I’ve never gone in to Photolab needing something done «yesterday» and i have always been satisfied with their service. I have even brought in some unique shots to be scanned (multi-​frame panoramas) and they handled them professionally and warned that they may cost a little more. To date, I have been 100% satisfied with what they do for me, so there’s no reason to look anywhere else.

This place is a gem.
They do fantastic work on scanning negatives and producing lovely prints for a very reasonable price.

I had a rush job today for 30×20 prints. I normally go on line to the «factories» (which do an OK job)… Never again. They did a great job and they’re pros, not just hacks working a process. I would recomend actually going in and checking out their setup.
At some time I will also try their on-​line set up (also done professionally).

I’ve had my film processed here for years. I used to send it from Looking Glass in Berkeley but now send it direct. Photolab is by far the most awesome lab I’ve ever worked with. Solid prints (in a huge verity of materials and sizes), great scans, and always correct processing. They’re fast to boot! I’d be lying if I said I’ve never strayed but I always regret it and always come back with my tail between my legs.
I live in Oakland and work in San Francisco so it’s hard to make it over to Photolab during the week sometimes but that doesn’t stop them from getting my business. Lately I’ve been mailing my rolls of film in for processing. It’s so convenient and they keep all of my info on file so all I include is my name and instructions for processing. Most of the time I’ll pick the film up over the weekend but they’ll also mail it back to you for a small fee. SO CONVENIENT.
I’ve also had digital prints made here and sent directly to clients. How awesome is that?! I just upload the work to Photolab’s website and give them the clients address and they ship them their prints. All of my clients have been very satisfied. So not only do they make your work look great, they make you look great.
All of the staff is warm and friendly in person and over the phone and their work speaks for itself. Photolab is super-​mega-​ultra highly recommended.

I got 4 rolls of 35 mm film back yesterday, with CDs of the images — if I’m only going to scan them anyway, I might as well have Photolab put them straight to a CD instead of printing. The pricing was about the same as what I used to pay at a less vaunted photo shop in LA.
The service was great and reasonably quick. I asked for non-​rush developing, which took two days. Two of the rolls had been over-​advanced and were stuck in cameras, and the technician took them out at no charge. The staff that I encountered (two women) were knowledgeable and friendly, and definitely didn’t come off as art snobs to a student fooling around with cameras in her spare time.
I’m looking forward to getting more work done at Photolab, and I would definitely recommend their film developing and scanning services.

Photolab did a great job digitizing a very colorful painting with silver highlights, which can be troubling to capture. Very satisfied with the final result and would recommend to any artist looking to have their paintings photographed.

Little pricy, but then again developing C41 film is these days.
Their quaility is 2^nd to none. The customer service is excellent. Once they were late on a couple rolls I had pulled. They called me several times to make sure I was informed and they gave me a new ETA for the film. Small gesture, but it went a long way.
This is now the ONLY lab I bring my film to in the Bay. Kind of a drive from me coming from East Oakland but well worth it.

I have just good things to say about this professional lab.
After using digital for two years I want to explore the film and artsy side of photography. I started with some black and white film. These days it is hard to find a place to develop real black and white film professionally. Most labs outsource the work, so quality is not guaranteed and it takes days or even weeks to get your film back. Not in this lab! They take my film at 9am, and it will be ready by 4pm the next day. They also scan hi-​res JPEG/​TIFF (resolution of around 2000×3000 for my 35 mm film) onto CD’s, and the results look great! The price is reasonable and it is totally worth it to save time and effort.
Two weeks ago I took an important roll of film with engagement portraits to the store again. Unfortunately I did something stupid to the film when it was inside the camera, and part of the film was torn when it went through their scanner. Without blaming me, they offered to scan the film and digitally stitch the parts together, for free! I am so impressed.
I wish more and more of us shoot film and keep this store in business forever.

Photolab is fantastic. I take all of my medium format film to them. I’ve yet to get any prints made there yet, but the quality and speed of their film processing has been great. I also love that they offer different options for image resolution when scanning. This way, if I don’t need a full resolution scan, I don’t have to pay for it. They also give the option to leave the negatives on a roll or to have them cut, in case you may have to go back and have them scanned at a larger resolution later. You’ll save yourself some money on the scanning with the film uncut.
Thanks, Photolab!

I’m a traditional artist (i.e. drawings and paintings) and not a photographer. I had a difficult time finding a place that could photograph/​scan my larger paintings and make decent prints. However, this place is fantastic, and once I found out about them I didn’t look elsewhere.
They are more than competent when it comes to art prints. When I first looked into them and saw that they have price listings for fine art and giclee prints, it gave me a lot more confidence in them as compared to other photo labs I went to that didn’t really know what to do with anything other than a photograph. I have been bringing my work to them for over a year now and they do a fantastic job of digitizing my art, even the pieces that are more difficult to work with.
The staff is extremely professional and nice. They always remember me when I go in there and I’m completely confident that they care about the results they produce for me.
I’d highly recommend them to any artists wanting to get really nice prints of their work. They’re about as pricey as any photo lab would be, but that’s to be expected for quality art reproductions.