One Hour Photo Labs: Are They Worth It For Film Photography?
The Cost Of Convenience Vs Benefit of Patience
Editor's Note: This piece was originally written in August 2025 as part of my Substack. As one of my earlier works, it may not reflect my current writing style but I've brought it over as part of archiving all my writing in one place. I hope you enjoy it regardless!
Intro:
On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I decided to try something I'd never done before, try a “One Hour Photo Lab”. With film photography getting trendy again, there’s been a myriad of film labs popping up in Los Angeles, including labs that get your film to you basically instantly.
I’d asked locals for recommendations and of course big names such as The Darkroom came up, but surprisingly, so did "One Hour Photo Lab". A couple of rolls in hand, I went and tried my luck with them. Let’s talk about it.
One Hour Photo Lab, What is it?
From what I understand, one hour labs are a location that are a throwback to when film was mainstream and you could quickly get your film developed immediately after finishing a roll. Being that we live in a world where instant gratification matters more than ever, I can see why this kind of lab would be popular. If you're in LA making content, you'd obviously want pictures of your trendy cafe or event ASAP.
I’d never had the opportunity to try this sort of lab before and being that I had been receiving recommendations for various one hour labs in the area, I figured I'd give it a shot with some of my rolls. After all, I do see the appeal of shooting a roll and instantly seeing the results; while I think it's important to have patience in life, when you're traveling and experiencing novel locations and experiences, how can you not want to see the beautiful photos that commemorate them? Not only that, but it would be a fresh new experience and I believe trying new things is one of life's greatest joys.
Rollei 35RF Voigtlander 40mm f1.5 Kodak ProImage 100
The Experience
I arrived at the lab about an hour or so to closing time. I chatted with the workers to better understand the pricing structure, services offered, film on sale, etc. I opted in for the "social media" tier scans as the price to resolution seemed perfect, filled in my information and made my way to continue my time in Los Angeles.
When I received my photos back the next morning (I dropped off 7 of my rolls right before closing time… I clearly squandered my own first impressions of a one hour lab by dropping off more than an hour of work), I was absolutely excited to see such a fast turnaround on my images. I had gotten used to waiting at least 2 or so days for scans from some of the labs in Tokyo and the east coast so getting back images this quickly was unbelievable.
What You Actually Get Back From a One Hour Lab
I immediately noticed something unusual though… despite opting in to "social media" quality images (this is just to say low resolution scans), I had received .tiff files, which I had always associated with high quality scans. Is this something bad? No, not inherently; from my understanding .tiff files are much better for editing and getting what you want out of photos. That was why I was perplexed. If these images were supposed to be social media-ready, why would they be a file format that isn't generally used for social media such as .jpg or .png?
Upon opening the images, I realized something. These images were simply developed and scanned. That was it. At most, they may all receive batch edits that quickly apply generic settings, but they did not get the care that you would get from other labs with longer turnaround times. It seems as if you get .tiff files so that you can do that work yourself. For something that came from a "social media" tier, this was really surprising, and as someone who actively avoids editing photos after doing it for all my life, this was a bit of a let-down.
Of course, there are tons of photographers who I'm sure would love this. Getting scans that they can immediately start working with? Having a lab that actively sets them up to create exactly the type of image they want? It's a recipe for success when it comes to creative expression.
But to someone who has switched to shooting cameras with film recipes and shooting film to get pleasing colours with minimal work? This was nothing short of a nightmare. I suddenly had 7 rolls worth of images that may require additional work before I could share them… or at the very least required converting to .jpg since not all sites support .tiff files. :/
The Takeaway
In the end, I'm not unhappy with the experience. I'm not unhappy I tried something new, nor am I unhappy that the end result didn't align with what I had grown to expect from trusting film labs to clean up and "pretty up" photos for me. The photos that I put the most work into composing and thoughtfully considering lighting, colours, etc. ended up still looking great. The memories I associate with the photos are still there. All the things I love the most from photography are still there, and the potential to make the photos even better is at least a little exciting.
Will I edit any of the images? No, probably not. Will I go back to a one hour lab? Also no, probably not. I'd rather exercise a little patience and get something a little nicer back.
I think that for anyone who doesn't know better, these scans will make them happy. For anyone who wants to put in the work to build off these images, the results they can achieve will make them happy. For anyone who just wants instant gratification, they will get that.
But for me, I think I'll keep getting my scans done at labs that will take a little more time to pretty up my photos. Maybe this is a "shortcut" to getting nicer images, or maybe I'm relying on other people to make up my deficits as a photographer… but I truly think that in the end, I just want to shoot and have fun. Of course, if the end results are great, that's even better. And to that end, I'll exercise the patience and work with a lab that can help set me up for great results.
After 10+ years of photography since being a child, I've found that I just want to create and not sit in front of a computer pulling my hair out editing images. Sorry One Hour Labs, you guys offer a great service, a great price and dopamine that other labs can't, but unfortunately it doesn't compete with what I get from getting images that I can keep looking back on for multiple hits of dopamine.
Gallery above features some images I took the time to convert to .jpg’s. I’m sure there’s a quick and easy way to batch convert them but it’s just another one of those quirks that takes me out of creating. I don’t want to be find shortcuts and what not. I want to create and look forward to the next venture, project, etc.