The Ultimate Guide to Developing Your First Roll of Film
Shooting your first roll of film is an exciting step into the world of analog photography. But once your roll is finished, the next big question is: how do you get those photos developed? While many enthusiasts choose to develop film at home, sending your film to a professional lab is a popular, hassle-free option for beginners. In this post, we'll walk you through the film development process and provide step-by-step instructions on how to send your film to Indie for development.
Overview of the Film Development Process
Whether you develop at home or send your film to a lab, the basic process remains the same. Here’s a quick overview of what happens at Indie:
Receiving the Film: Indie receives your film, checks it into our system and prepares it for development.
Chemical Development: The film is run through a series of chemical baths (developer, stop bath, and fixer) to develop the latent images and make them permanent.
Scanning: Once developed, the negatives are scanned into digital files by the Noritsu scanner or the Frontier scanner.
Corrections: Indie offers Pro Corrected scans which means a color corrector will go through the whole order and make final corrections to the scans based on the desired look of the client.
Digital Contact Sheets: Indie now has digital contact sheets of your negatives that are delivered with your gallery and are a perfect addition to share with the rest of the scans.
Delivery: Your high res digital scan gallery will be emailed to you once completed and then shortly after that your negatives are returned.
Sending your film to a professional lab takes the technical guesswork out of the process, allowing you to focus on capturing great photos. Now, let’s look at how you can prepare and send your film for development. Below is the ordering page on indiefilmlab.com. It can seem like a lot at first so we added some visuals to help. Whether you have 35mm film, disposable cameras, medium format or large format, we can help!
Ship Your Film
Once you’ve completed the online order form and prepared your package, it’s time to ship your film to the lab:
Choose a Reliable Shipping Service: Use a reputable shipping service (like UPS, FedEx, or USPS) with tracking and insurance, especially if you’re sending valuable or irreplaceable film. See the graphic below for how we suggest to package your film.
Track Your Package: Keep an eye on your package with tracking, and check that it arrives at the lab safely.
Wait for Your Results
The turnaround time for film development can range depending on the time of year. Our busiest season is the fall and can take a few extra business days but for the rest of the year the turnaround time is about 5-7 business days. Once you receive your scans, you can review your images, share them online, or order additional prints if desired. Remember, Scan Day is the Best Day!
Enjoy Your Photos!
After your film is processed and you receive your scans then we will return your negatives. Take time to review your images and learn from them. Whether you’re happy with the results or feel there's room for improvement, each roll you shoot will help you grow as a film photographer.
Final Thoughts
Sending your first roll of film to Indie is an exciting step in your film photography journey. Whether you're new to film or a seasoned photographer, Indie makes it easy to transform your negatives into tangible memories. Thank you for trusting us with your work and Long Live Film!