I was looking for a lab to do some black and white prints for me and I saw that The Darkroom was still operating during the Covid-19 crisis. I sent them a couple of files and got back some prints that were spot on perfect. My vision was fully realized with their print service. Considering the world we live in, they did far better than I was expecting in speed of service and price. Well done, and I certainly would no hesitate to use them for any of my future needs. read more

I cannot say enough positive things about my first experience with The Darkroom. I stumbled upon The Darkroom while I had been disappointed with another ship-in film processing company and was looking for some alternatives. The perks: 1) They only charge $10 per roll of film, extra for push/pull or special processing (I just got a Lomography Sprocket Rocket camera as a gift, so I was very happy to see that they would be able to do scan the panoramic pictures). This includes web upload so you can see your scans before they are sent back to you in the mail. 2) Customer service is amazing! I got an email when my film was received and another email for every roll of film that they had finished processing and had uploaded scans onto their website. 3) They also provide pre-paid mailers that must be priority shipping, because my package got from Illinois to California in two business days. 4) The scans were great quality. I had shot a roll of 120 mm film with an old medium format camera, and I had also pushed the ISO from 100 to 400, so I was a bit nervous about how the pictures would come out, but I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed. I had accidentally shot two rolls of blank film, and instead of seeing my scans on their website, I got a note saying that they apologized that the rolls did not turn out. I emailed customer support to ask whether I could get a refund, and someone responded within an hour and told me that I could get a full refund for those two rolls to use with future film development and processing. I was and am so impressed with all aspects of their service. The Darkroom has definitely won me over for future business. read more

Both times I've entered special instructions for the film I've sent them, they've been ignored or overlooked. One of these times, they irreparably ruined an expensive roll of out of production film; not to mention, of course, I could never get back the images on that film. This has left me with the impression of an assembly-line operation, and not the kind of custom attention one might desire when trusting someone else with a one-of-a-kind item like your roll of film. read more

I had several rolls of 120 and 135 developed, printed, and scanned through this service. The developing and wet prints are immaculate and I highly recommend their service for this, however several of the 120 scans came back crooked with a black wedge along one side due to poor alignment when scanning. A big disappointment in an otherwise flawless film developing service. UPDATE: After seeing this review, The Darkroom graciously offered to fix my scans for free, and did an excellent job the second time around. My rating has been updated. read more

The Dark Room is a professional quality lab -- one of the few on the Peninsula (the other one I know about is Keeble & Shuckat in Palo Alto -- the others are in SF and SJ). We've been bringing our 120 and 35 film (b&w and color) here for years. One nice thing is that you can be very specific about the services you want. You can get your film developed and left in one long roll, or cut into strips. You can get proof sheets or prints. They can also do cross processing -- which is really nice, because a lot of labs don't want to bother with it. They do some development in-house and some they ship out (which is standard for many labs -- for example K&S in PA does the same), but regardless I usually get my film back within 3-5 days. They're also open on Saturdays. They also provide a range of other photography services: photos to CD, photo restoration, etc. They carry some film and camera supplies but they're primarily a lab. They've always been very professional and I'm happy with their work product. They actually pay attention to the material: for example, sometimes when I've asked for my negatives to be cut, there will be one negative that they didn't cut, because the photos overlapped and they didn't want to cut in the wrong place and screw up the image (from the customer's / my perspective). I'd definitely recommend them to anybody in the mid-peninsula area. read more

Been using them for years for photo prints &scans. Turnaround is medium slow and they sadly don't process some of the films they used to. Their phone number is (949) 366-1144 idk why they hide it from the customer read more

The Darkroom is AMAZING. Their customer service is out of this world and I (and my clients) are blown away with the scans EVERY TIME. I process every roll of film I shoot for my weddings or portrait aessions and they just nail it every single time and it is just so beautiful. I live in Ohio so the week turn around at first was so pins and needles, but the fact that they upload full res downloaded files for you to have without having to wait on a cd or usb that comes with your negs is DOPE. 10/10 recommend every time. read more

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"Woohoo! As good as it gets!" Is absolutely correct. The Darkroom was easy, fast, great customer service, and great quality. If you're reading this review to decide if you want to use The Darkroom for your film processing then stop! This is the place! Thank you Darkroom! See ya next time. . read more

Standard and enhanced scans are passable. Turnaround time is usually very slow--minimum of 3-4 days once they receive the order. I wish they would explain why it takes this long to process a few roles of 35mm or medium-format film using standard processing. I understand it would take longer if this was custom development, but it isn't. I live someplace where it is very difficult to get film developed, so Darkroom is a viable option, but I don't love their work or their turnaround time. read more

The Darkroom - Standard scan; Tri-X, Rated at 200 and pulled 1 stop. - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - San Clemente, California

I try to support small local businesses as much as possible through work and in private life so when the last local photo lab stopped processing black and white film I was in a bit of a panic. I work in archaeology and black and white negatives are a requirement for curation at most museums because of its archival potential. We process large volumes regularly. After trying many out of city and state photo labs I gave the Darkroom a try and we will not use anyone else. Ordering online is very simple and developed photos are excellent and high quality. Return packaging is excellent and you can tell they put a lot of thought into how negatives and photographs are shipped back. Most labs stopped providing proof sheets but the darkroom gives that option. Which saves a lot of time in not having to create one on the PC. Prices are comparable with what we were paying locally even with shipping and we always receive our photos very quickly. I love that once you use the lab photos are also available online through the website for several weeks. We won't use anyone else. read more

Except for some 6cm X 6cm 120 negatives cut to 2 frames per strip, my numerous multi roll orders have been to my liking. Simple and quick-about a 1 week turn around. I never known what a quality scan could look like or benefit me in the saving of time, but I always have examples of this in their scans. Some of my thinner negatives were set as an useful image to their customer compact disc. I have only used one other mail photo development for comparison, but I get the development I like here. Sometimes I get the actual scans and negatives back the same day as the photo vouchers of my work on my profile on their website. read more

The Darkroom - Co-worker's car. The light spike at 4:00 is from the toy camera light leak. - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - San Clemente, California

Easy ordering. Fast response time with customer support emails. Trustworthy service in handling film. Awesome results.

Remember years ago, if you were at the beach, a roving photographer would take your picture, produce a tiny negative, and put in in a tiny plastic viewer? You would hold it up to light and see the picture. Well, I had 2 of those, one of which was 47 years old. For years, I have asked where I go get those tiny negatives, smaller than a nickel, developed. I stumbled on the darkroom I scanned a photo of my negatives and emailed it to them to ask if they could do it. The answer was yes. I filled out their form and mailed it with the negatives. In a few days, I had my photos. The process is easy, it is reasonably priced, and they respond right away to any questions. I am very happy with them and reccommend them. read more

Ive been using Darkroom for a year now. I've never had any issues. Of course, there's a risk you take when you mail your film. Chances of it being lost, ruined, package being tampered with, etc. This really can happen with ANYTHING not just film. I've accidentally sent a couple blank rolls before and always received a voucher. I've also sent pretty vague instructions or over paid for a service and always received a prompt email to reconfirm or a refund. They do not have a number to contact by phone but they're usually quick with responses. Overall, I've always been satisfied with the service! read more

They were fast, they were honest, they gave me digital copies and are sending back the physical film, I really appreciate them, I'll recommend them to anybody! And I'll be using them again :) read more

Fast quality service, each and every time!

If you live somewhere where mailing in is your only option, the Darkroom is a pretty good choice. Their prices are competitive with other similar companies and they do an acceptable job at scanning. They develop the film just fine, but their standard scanning is pretty poor. They chop some pictures in half and leave some with a grey cast. Luckily I have a film scanner at home. When I scanned the pictures that were sent to me with a grey cast on my scanner, they most definitely did not have a grey cast and were actually very lush and green. Also, all 4 of the CDs they sent me had every one of my pictures sideways, which is more of an annoying detail than an actual criticism, but its still pretty annoying. Since I have my own scanner now, I will probably choose a company that has a "develop only" option. read more

Terrible job, they edit the photos instead of sending back the raw files. The editing itself is terrible and they clearly have no idea how photoshop works. Also, the lowest resolution package is almost unusable. Stay away. read more

They made it so easy to order and the results were outstanding. Very pleased with them because they returned my negatives, and their promptness in mailing, not to mention they notified me of receiving my film and when they were sending it back to me! I recommend them highly!! read more

Very fast service as promised--even for the week of Thanksgiving! The scans of my 35mm color film were as advertised, however, there were small but quite noticeable flaws that appeared in many of the pictures. I have yet to send them any other format besides 35mm, but their services and accepted film formats are impressive. read more

For the past 3 years, the Darkroom has made film development not only incredibly simple but does such a killer job when it comes to quality.

An offensively bad business. When I asked why it would take 898 minutes to download two (TWO) scans of my 35mm negatives - that means two images, not two rolls - I was told their servers are backed up because too many customers are downloading! Way to go - blame your customer for your IT incompetence. They said the issue would clear up soon but 4 days later it's even worse. Turns out they use Dropbox for delivery, rather than dedicated servers, and appear totally clueless about IT management. I finally managed to get them to give me two direct URLs for download of my films - but one of the two URLs was wrong. There are better places to spend your money. read more

In my 28 years of professional photography, this is one of my two absolutely worst experiences with a photo lab. Their technical incompetence when it comes to scanning is only surmounted by their arrogance and unconscionable attitude toward their customers. As a test I gave them a roll of Provia 120 film (slide film) to process and scan. When I received the scans, their exposure was all over the place compared to the slides themselves. Their was also severe color casts. They actively attempt to prohibit customers from talking to a person by phone. I finally managed to talk with "Joe" their "Production Manager". He compared the scans to the slides (after my having to mail the slides back) and noticed the color cast and exposure cast immediately. He said the scanner operator will modify the exposure to their own liking without regard to the film. I said; you can't do that, I go to great trouble to get the exposure right in camera, you can't adjust it to be what you'd like. Joe said they'd rescan the transparencies and that in the future to put the verbiage "Match color and density to original transparency" to keep the scanner operator from arbitrarily disregarding the original and setting the exposure and color to their personal liking. I got back redone scans that were significantly better than the first round. So, I submitted another roll of film for processing and scanning. I was careful to include the verbiage Joe dictated to me on the order. When I received the scans I was just astonished. They were much worse than the first even. Although the 9 slide images were identical in exposure, the scans came back with the exposure varying between the images as much as two stops. The nine images were delivered cut in 3 strips of three. Each strip had a significantly different exposure and color cast. These were essentially unusable due to the poor quality. I contacted Joe about this and his whole attitude toward me had changed to being very combative. He insisted they were "within tolerance" but wouldn't state what the tolerance was. He kept insisting I should be fine with this unusable mess. I emailed their customer service to complain about the scan quality and received an email back saying they'd refunded my money and that I should find a different lab. This is outrageous. They claim to be a professional photo lab with 40 years of experience, but the reality of their professionalism is quite different. Their scanning is quite frankly incompetent. It is unacceptable at a consumer level. To hold it out as professional is laughable. Apparently they are still in business due to the severe shortage of film photo labs in today's mostly digital climate. They are NOT professional. read more

Hands down best place to develop your film! I got my first 35mm film camera and was so torn with where to go to get my rolls developed, but I am so happy I chose here. They are so quick in developing your film and getting it to you. I love all that they offer with getting your photos online as well as printed. read more

The Darkroom - Photography Stores & Services Near Me - San Clemente, California

For passport photos, especially non-US passports, this is definitely the place to go. Nice clean place, plenty of parking, polite & fast service, knowledge in different countries' different requirements, what else can you ask for?? read more

I've used this service on and off for some time. They do a fairly good job. I like paying upfront and sending the film with my receipt. They are very responsive and will work with you if you have issues. Good folks. read more

So after further exploration, this is a problem that begins and ends with the film manufacturer. They did get back to me and attempt to make the situation right, which I did appreciate. read more

They just confirmed receipt of my film processing order. They somehow have the wrong address - a combination of an old address and my current one. How does that happen? I clearly wrote my current one on the order. I emailed them but only get an automated response. At this rate I will never get my order. Of course there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER available so I can't reach them. They haven't used Twitter in over 2 years so no tweeting @ them. What kind of business is this? I won't be using it again. read more

Awesome place, I'm lucky enough to have a small photo place nearby that does same day processing for C41 35mm but for any other formats like 120,110 or non c41 35mm (E6) I recommend this place. They've been great, quick, real good with emails confirmations. Descent pricing and I get my photos in about a week. read more

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No problem with these folks. They sent me their complimentary shipping package, and so I shipped out my film (just one roll of the usual, color 24 Kodak film) with that. It arrived to them in two days. Took them two days to begin processing my order, one day to finish developing, and two days to get my negatives back. I opted for the normal $12 scan and while my pictures were a bit blurry & grainy, I'm going to attribute this to the fact that I used the cheapest film and a point & shoot camera. I love that classic film look that my pictures have. I'll be using the Darkroom again! P.S. This was the first time I've ever used film. Could I have gone to Walgreens? Yes, but they don't return your negatives. The reason I went out of my way to send my film here is because they were the only place that BOTH returned your negatives and allowed you to send in your film. There's a market for people like me, and they've got it. read more

I have been mailing in my 35mm film for the last few months, and on 3 separate occasions, my negatives were cut mid frame. I wanted to keep developing with them because the turnaround time & shipping was better than most labs, so I gave it another shot after emailing them about the mistakes. I just received my latest negatives back with the same issue. Super disappointing, unreliable & dishonest about addressing the problem! read more

Great service and their website is easy to use. They give very clear instructions on how to send them film for developing. They also send notifications when they receive your film and when your order ships. read more

I heard great things about this place. Was supper excited to use them for my daughters AP art photography. I sent 6 rolls to them on 11/18 was charged and never received my photos. I made numerous attempts to locate them. No communication from the owners or store. Was able to track them and discovered they sent them to the wrong address. The post office sent them back to the dark room. Again no communication from this business. Still do not have the pictures and still paid for them.. and my daughter does not have what she needs to complete her project. Horrible customer service. Super sad.. read more

The absolute best service I've encountered in a long time. Great work!

Never had a problem. Have shipped my fair share of rolls and I'm always happy with the results Thanks Again!

These guys get it done. I go to them for both color and B&W processing and scanning and they do not take long and produce excellent results every time. Getting film processed in New York is super expensive and the speedier turnaround times are not worth the extra cash (as an amateur). I'm glad there's still people out there committed to film - I will continue to use The Darkroom and definitely recommend them! read more

I found several disposable cameras while cleaning my late mom's house and mailed them to the darkroom to develop. I was charged in full for a bunch of negatives, most blank. I contacted Darkroom and was told developing fees did not include photos! FRAUD!!!!! read more

I never write reviews but I had to support one of my favorite businesses ever. The darkroom is the most reliable & in my opinion the fastest film lab out there! Great community & customer service & always beyond satisfied with the results. I get all my film developed here & highly recommend developing here if you are looking for a place read more

I am so happy to have found The Darkroom. I sent in two orders and they were both excellent. I am sure I will find some more old film and cant wait to send it in and see the surprises! read more

I absolutely love this place! The turn around was SO quick! It's crazy! Thanks for doing a great job on my photos, sending me digital downloads, a CD and MY NEGATIVES ! so happy with this company read more